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17 - Brecht and stage design: the Bühnenbildner and the Bühnenbauer

from Part III - Theories and Practices

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2007

Peter Thomson
Affiliation:
University of Exeter
Glendyr Sacks
Affiliation:
University of Exeter
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Summary

'The Friends'

The war separated

Me, the writer of plays, from my friend the stage designer.

The cities where he worked are no longer there.

When I walk through the cities that still are

At times I say: that blue piece of washing

My friend would have placed it better.

(Poems, p. 415)

The contribution of Brecht to the scenography of the twentieth century goes far beyond important changes in the appearance of the stage. In his writing and in his practice, he deconstructs the human complexity of the 'director-designer relationship' and offers a mode of creating theatre which, in an organic way, links not only the end products of dramaturgy and scenography, but also centralises within this process the working practices of dramatist, director and scenographer. We have to consider therefore the relationship between Brecht's political and philosophical view of theatre and his expectations of scenography; the way in which these expectations developed in the collaboration with Caspar Neher; and finally the reverberant effects which these ideas and practices have had, and still have, upon contemporary theatre.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2006

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