Table of Contents
Picture Credits ix
General Introduction 1
Part 1 Messingkauf, or Buying Brass 7
Introduction 9
Preamble 19
The First Night 21
(i) Setting the Scene 21
(ii) Naturalism, Realism, Empathy 38
(iii) Tragedy; Learning, Science, Marxism 44
The Second Night 52
(i) Intoxication, Empathy, V-effect 52
(ii) Acting, Performance 56
(iii) Science, Social Class, Learning 59
(iv) Elizabethan Theatre, Shakespeare 64
(v) The Augsburger, Piscator 68
The Third Night 71
(i) The Fourth Wall, Emotion; V-effect, Acting 71
(ii) The Augsburger, Piscator, Weigel 77
(iii) Social Science and Art 83
(iv) 'Extreme Situations' 86
The Fourth Night 88
(i) The Nature of Art 88
(ii) Emotion, Critique, Representation 91
(iii) The Augsburger 95
(iv) Shakespeare 96
(v) Finale 100
Miscellaneous Texts 104
(i) Illusionism, Realism, Naturalism; Social Function of Theatre; Empathy 104
(ii) Acting 109
(iii) Thaëter, Piscator, Neher 115
Plans and Appendices 127
(i) Plans 127
(ii) Appendices 129
Practice Pieces for Actors 134
(i) Parallel Scenes 134
The Murder in the Porter's Lodge (Parallel Scene to Shakespeare's Macbeth, Act 2, Scene 2) 134
The Fishwives' Quarrel (Parallel to Schiller's Mary Stuart, Act 3) 137
(ii) Intercalary Scenes 142
Ferry Scene (To be played between Scenes 3 and 4, Act 4 of Shakespeare's Hamlet) 143
The Servants (To be played between Scenes 1 and 2, Act 2 of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet) 145
(iii) Circular Poems 149
Part 2 Modelbooks 151
Introduction 153
On Life of Galileo (1947-8) from Constructing a Role: Laughton's Galileo 162
Foreword 165
A Sequence from Scene 1: Rotation of the Earth and Rotation of the Brain 172
Background to the Performance 174
On The Antigone of Sophocles (1947-8) from Antigone Model 1948 176
Foreword 178
Ruth Berlau's Prefatory Note 185
Prelude and Bridge to Scene 1 186
Neher's Second Design for the Antigone Stage 194
On Mother Courage and Her Children (1949-51) from Courage Model 1949 195
Opening Remarks 197
Notes and Scene-Photos for the Prologue, Scenes 1 and 2 202
Details from Scene 3 222
Variations in Berlin and Munich 229
Concluding Texts from the Model: Scene 12 233
From Theatre Work (1952) 238
Some Remarks on My Discipline 240
Bertolt Brecht's Stage Direction 241
Phases of a Stage Direction 245
Five Notes on Acting 247
The Berliner Ensemble Models 250
Theatre Photography 252
Does Use of the Model Restrict Artistic Freedom? 253
How Erich Engel Uses the Model 257
How the Director Brecht Uses His Own Model 259
From the Correspondence of the Berliner Ensemble about the Model 259
Creative Evaluation of Models 262
From the Katzgraben Notes 1953 263
Epic Theatre 266
Rehearsal Methods 267
Scenery 268
Crises and Conflicts 269
Politics in the Theatre 271
III, 2 Constructing a Hero 271
Is Katzgraben a Proselytizing Play? 273
The Verse Form 273
Verfremdung 274
II, 3 Revelation and Justification 276
Empathy 277
The New Farmer, the Medium Farmer, the Big Farmer 279
What Are Our Actors Actually Doing? 280
The Positive Hero 283
Second Dress Rehearsal 284
Criticism of Elli and Criticism of Elli 2 285
New Content - New Form 286
'Acting is Not Theoretical' by Di Trevis 293
Select Bibliography 303
Index 305
