"A Short Organum for the Theatre" ("Kleines Organon für das Theater") is a theoretical work by the twentieth-century

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

theatre practitioner

Bertolt Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known professionally as Bertolt Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a pl ...

.Brecht, Bertolt. 1949. "A Short Organum for the Theatre". ''Brecht on Theatre: The Development of an Aesthetic.'' Ed. and trans. John Willett. London: Methuen, 1964. . pp. 179–205. It was written while in

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

in 1948 and published in 1949.Willett, John. 1964. "Note". In ''Brecht on Theatre: The Development of an Aesthetic'' by Bertolt Brecht. London: Methuen, 1964. . p.205. In a diary note from the time he refers to it as a "short condensation of the 'Messingkauf'"; when it was re-published in 1953 he identified it as a "description of a theatre of the scientific age"; later still he augmented it with some appendices and linked it to his notes for a " dialectical theatre".

Against ''Poetics''

Returning in the history of theater to the ''

Poetics Poetics is the theory of structure, form, and discourse within literature, and, in particular, within poetry. History The term ''poetics'' derives from the Ancient Greek ποιητικός ''poietikos'' "pertaining to poetry"; also "creative" an ...

'' of

Aristotle Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of phil ...

and taking as an example ancient tragedies and comedies, he rejects the idea of

catharsis Catharsis (from Greek , , meaning "purification" or "cleansing" or "clarification") is the purification and purgation of emotions through dramatic art, or it may be any extreme emotional state that results in renewal and restoration. In its lite ...

: "What liberation is this, given that at the end of all these plays, which worked happily only because of the spirit of their time (providence - the moral order), we live a dream-like execution that punishes exaltation as much as debaucheries?" Brecht here makes reference to the tragedies of

Sophocles Sophocles (; grc, Σοφοκλῆς, , Sophoklễs; 497/6 – winter 406/5 BC)Sommerstein (2002), p. 41. is one of three ancient Greek tragedians, at least one of whose plays has survived in full. His first plays were written later than, or co ...

, and to the comedies and dramas of

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

. He takes

Oedipus Oedipus (, ; grc-gre, Οἰδίπους "swollen foot") was a mythical Greek king of Thebes. A tragic hero in Greek mythology, Oedipus accidentally fulfilled a prophecy that he would end up killing his father and marrying his mother, thereby ...

as an example and mentions that there is still an interest in producing/performing it because such taboos still exist. He attacks the core of the ''

'', that is, the finality of the tragedy. The critique that he made of the ''

'' would become the center of his own poetics and of "Epic Theater".

Politics

He also points out that beyond purging souls, it would be a mistake for theater to try to reproduce the reality of its spectators exactly on stage. He did not believe this identification between the viewer and the dramatic character was acceptable to the needs of the modern stage. Instead, there should be a different kind of relationship between the protagonists and the spectators. This relationship, or rather, this phenomenon, he called ''Verfremdungseffekt'' (in English, distancing or the

alienation effect The distancing effect, also translated as alienation effect (german: Verfremdungseffekt or ''V-Effekt''), is a concept in performing arts credited to German playwright Bertolt Brecht. Brecht first used the term in his essay "Alienation Effects in ...

). This concept of alienation lies at the "boundary of

aesthetics Aesthetics, or esthetics, is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of beauty and taste, as well as the philosophy of art (its own area of philosophy that comes out of aesthetics). It examines aesthetic values, often expressed thr ...

and politics". It consists in "having an object, a character, a process perceived, and at the same time, rendering it unexpected, strange." The goal is to "push the viewer to establish some distance in his relation to reality", to wake him or her up to reality. The effect would allow the viewer to become conscious of his or her own existence or intrinsic reality within the context of the themes of the production. ''Verfremdungseffekt'' thus politicizes consciousness and overcomes the alienation of the individual. Brecht says the great progressive themes of our time: to know that the evils of humanity are in the hands of mankind itself, that is to say that the world can be managed, that Art can and should intervene in History; that it should accomplish the same tasks as the sciences, with which it shares so much. Theater should resolutely come to the aid of the unfurling of the historical process; that stage-techniques themselves are socially engaged; and that in the end there is no eternal "essence" of art, but rather that "each society should invent the art that disposes it best to its own redemption".

Observation: imitation and reflection

The actor should examine the world around him. With all his being he must pay attention to gestures, and imitate the world through a process of reflection. He must amplify what he observes, because the original is too subtle, "it speaks too softly". The construction of one character happens simultaneously with all the others. The actor must take possession of his character and critically calculate its various manifestations. Learning a character is not only a critical process, but one that must evolve with the development of the other characters. The fictive object is a character that has evolved in a society, a given situation, and owes its construction to relationships with other characters. The "possession" of the

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

by the character, and beauty for its own sake, are some of the aspects of traditional acting to which

was opposed.

Not X, but Y

It is important for the actor to understand "not too quickly". He must reflect and interrogate himself about the possibilities; he should surprise himself. Brecht suggested this should be done in terms of an actor evaluating their choices first in terms of what they were not doing, and then in terms of what they were doing. Every choice has an opposite that the actor needs be aware of. In the scientific age, an actor should be able to play an emotion sociologically, by the interaction of the ensemble of characters.

Bibliography

* ''Petit Organon pour le théâtre'', Éd. De L’Arche, Paris, 1948 (Fragments 34, 47 à 49, 58 à 62, )

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Short Organum for the Theatre, A Bertolt Brecht theories and techniques Non-fiction books about theatre Works about playwrighting