BERTOLT BRECHT ~ February 10, 1898 ~ August 14, 1956

Bertolt Brecht (born Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht; 10 February 1898–14 August 1956) was a German poet, playwright, and theatre director. An influential theatre practitioner of the 20th century, Brecht made equally significant contributions to dramaturgy and theatrical production, the latter particularly through the seismic impact of the tours undertaken by the Berliner Ensemble—the post-war theatre company operated by Brecht and his wife and long-time collaborator, the actress Helene Weigel—with its internationally acclaimed productions.

From his late twenties Brecht remained a life-long committed Marxist who, in developing the combined theory and practice of his 'epic theatre', synthesized and extended the experiments of Erwin Piscator and Vsevolod Meyerhold to explore the theatre as a forum for political ideas and the creation of a critical aesthetics of dialectical materialism. Brecht's modernist concern with drama-as-a-medium led to his refinement of the 'epic form' of the drama. This dramatic form is related to similar modernist innovations in other arts, including the strategy of divergent chapters in James Joyce's novel Ulysses, Sergei Eisenstein's evolution of a constructivist 'montage' in the cinema, and Picasso's introduction of cubist 'collage' in the visual arts. In contrast to many other avant-garde approaches, however, Brecht had no desire to destroy art as an institution; rather, he hoped to 're-function' the theatre to a new social use. In this regard he was a vital participant in the aesthetic debates of his era—particularly over the 'high art/popular culture' dichotomy—vying with the likes of Adorno, Lukács, Bloch, and developing a close friendship with Benjamin. Brechtian theatre articulated popular themes and forms with avant-garde formal experimentation to create a modernist realism that stood in sharp contrast both to its psychological and socialist varieties. "Brecht's work is the most important and original in European drama since Ibsen and Strindberg," Raymond Williams argues, while Peter Bürger dubs him "the most important materialist writer of our time."

Collective and collaborative working methods were inherent to Brecht's approach, as Fredric Jameson (among others) stresses. Jameson describes the creator of the work not as Brecht the individual, but rather as 'Brecht': a collective subject that "certainly seemed to have a distinctive style (the one we now call 'Brechtian') but was no longer personal in the bourgeois or individualistic sense." During the course of his career, Brecht sustained many long-lasting creative relationships with other writers, composers, scenographers, directors, dramaturgs and actors; the list includes: Elisabeth Hauptmann, Margarete Steffin, Ruth Berlau, Slatan Dudow, Kurt Weill, Hanns Eisler, Paul Dessau, Caspar Neher, Teo Otto, Karl von Appen, Ernst Busch, Lotte Lenya, Peter Lorre, Therese Giehse, Angelika Hurwicz, Carola Neher, and Helene Weigel herself. This is "theatre as collective experiment [...] as something radically different from theatre as expression or as experience."

There are few areas of modern theatrical culture that have not felt the impact or influence of Brecht's ideas and practices; dramatists and directors in whom one may trace a clear Brechtian legacy include: Dario Fo, Augusto Boal, Joan Littlewood, Peter Brook, Peter Weiss, Heiner Müller, Pina Bausch, Tony Kushner, Robert Bolt and Caryl Churchill. In addition to the theatre, Brechtian theories and techniques have exerted considerable sway over certain strands of film theory and cinematic practice; Brecht's influence may be detected in the films of Jean-Luc Godard, Lindsay Anderson, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Joseph Losey, Nagisa Oshima, Ritwik Ghatak, Lars von Trier, Jan Bucquoy and Hal Hartley.

Image & Text:wikipedia.com

I met my late friend Jonathan Arlow when he was in a production of Brecht's Mother Courage his freshman year in Yale College. I still have vivid memories of that brilliant production.

Today is the birthday of my Harvard friend Daniel Gallisa, who was married to Kitty on January 17, 2009-- a special day in my own history with Jeffrey Hardy and Dennis Graham.

Dennis' and my friend Samuel Leftwich celebrates his birthday today as well. Sam catered Dennis' surprise 40th birthday party twenty-two years ago last night. Can it be? The picture of Dennis with his first and favorite Cavalier, Nell (on the cover of his funeral service leaflet shown with yesterday's post) was taken only a few seconds after he entered the dining room to find forty of his favorite people crammed into the room to celebrate his 40th birthday.

DANIEL & KITTY

Tonight I had dinner with my friend Daniel Gallisa and his fiancée Kitty at NOPA (North of the Panhandle) the trendy restaurant in an old bank where she works on Divisadero. I met Daniel through his former girl friend Michelle, a beautiful person and soprano, with whom I sing in the Schola Cantorum San Francisco. Daniel is a really good singer too, an alto like me. He used to sing with the Schola and in the Aviary Chorus at the Bohemian Club.

Daniel is a Harvard grad and sang with the Harvard Krokodilos— probably their best a cappella group— and toured the world with them including Tokyo, Istanbul and Venice. He works in advertising in San Francisco.

I called Daniel a few weeks ago to sub for me at Grace Cathedral for one of the upcoming Christmas Concerts. He wasn't able to do it, but we agreed to get together for dinner. He told me his great news about Kitty, but asked me to keep it to myself until he had a chance to tell Michelle, who was on holiday in Japan. Dennis had always hoped Michelle and Daniel would get hitched. Fortunately, they are still good friends. I saw Michelle the Sunday before last at a Schola photo shoot and learned that she already knew. So with Daniel and Kitty’s permission, I am now broadcasting their news to the world— or at least to the few people who read my blog.

Aren’t they a handsome couple? The photo above was taken at Baker Beach moments after Kitty accepted Daniel’s proposal.

I gave Daniel Dennis’ beloved Bianchi racing bike. He called it ‘Aida Bianchi,’ since its color is Celeste Blue— as in “Celeste Aida,” courtesy of Giuseppe Verdi. Daniel said it was great to have such a classic! Damn, I remember when it was brand new!! How carefully Dennis cleaned and waxed the chains. He was so particular in choosing the various components. He particularly loved Campagnola products. Dennis made great friends with Earl and the staff at Seal Rock Bicycle Shop (now out of business) on Geary Avenue beyond the Russian Orthodox Cathedral.

One Christmas, Earl called me to ask if I would go in with him and the staff to buy a present for Dennis. It’s a gold-plated Campagnola cork screw. It is really gorgeous and very effective. Dennis was embarrassed to get it. But when we were in Vicenza in 1987, he was relieved to see the chrome version for sale in several hardware stores. At least the cork screw itself was not excessive (though it is massive and very beautiful).