The (; singular ) are a radical and experimental form of
modernist
Modernism is both a philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new forms of art, philosophy, an ...
theatre developed by
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 ...
and his collaborators from the 1920s to the late 1930s. The ''Lehrstücke'' stem from Brecht's
epic theatre
Epic theatre (german: episches Theater) is a theatrical movement arising in the early to mid-20th century from the theories and practice of a number of theatre practitioners who responded to the political climate of the time through the creati ...
techniques but as a core principle explore the possibilities of learning through acting, playing roles, adopting postures and attitudes etc. and hence no longer divide between actors and audience. Brecht himself translated the term as ''learning-play'', emphasizing the aspect of learning through participation, whereas the German term could be understood as ''teaching-play''. Reiner Steinweg goes so far as to suggest adopting a term coined by the Brazilian avant garde theatre director
Zé Celso, ''Theatre of Discovery'', as being even clearer.
[Steinweg, Reiner]
Two Chapters from "Learning Play and Epic Theatre"
/ref>
Definition
Although the texts have a highly formal, rigorous structure, this is designed to facilitate insertions or deletions (according to the exigencies of the particular project). With no actor–audience separation, the emphasis in performance is upon the process rather than upon evincing a final product. This diminishes an alienating division within the theatrical apparatus—characteristically deployed in bourgeois
The bourgeoisie ( , ) is a social class, equivalent to the middle or upper middle class. They are distinguished from, and traditionally contrasted with, the proletariat by their affluence, and their great cultural and financial capital. They ...
society, and involving a ''fourth wall''—a ''virtual'' wall that facilitates, and encourages, a distinction between producers and artistic labourers ''versus'' their means of production
The means of production is a term which describes land, labor and capital that can be used to produce products (such as goods or services); however, the term can also refer to anything that is used to produce products. It can also be used as an ...
. The terms of that relationship are contradictory, insofar as ownership of the means of production alienates the labour of the artist. The distinction is no longer operative in the ''Lehrstücke'', Brecht argues.
The primary purpose, intention, or goal of these performances is for the actors to acquire attitudes (rather than to consume an entertainment). This relates to Brecht's theory of Gestus ''Gestus'' (, from Latin meaning "gesture, attitude, carriage") is an acting technique developed by the German theatre practitioner Bertolt Brecht. It carries the sense of a combination of physical gestures and "gist" or attitude. It is a means by ...
, his substitution for traditional drama's mimesis
Mimesis (; grc, μίμησις, ''mīmēsis'') is a term used in literary criticism and philosophy that carries a wide range of meanings, including ''imitatio'', imitation, nonsensuous similarity, receptivity, representation, mimicry, the act ...
. The relation to reality is a ''critical'' one. Brecht's refunctioned mimesis is understood not as a simple mirroring or imitation, but as a measuring; it always involves some kind of attitude on our part. It is not possible, in Brecht's view, to produce a neutral mimesis. Brecht's poem " On Imitation" elaborates this notion succinctly:
He who only imitates and has nothing to say
On what he imitates is like
A poor chimpanzee, who imitates his trainer's smoking
And does not smoke while doing so. For never
Will a thoughtless imitation
Be a real imitation.
Brecht also often had questionnaire
A questionnaire is a research
Research is "creativity, creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge". It involves the collection, organization and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, ...
s handed out at the end of the performances, and would rewrite the plays based on the audiences' answers to them.
Ideally, the ''Lehrstücke'' project tries to set up a whole series of new dialectic
Dialectic ( grc-gre, διαλεκτική, ''dialektikḗ''; related to dialogue; german: Dialektik), also known as the dialectical method, is a discourse between two or more people holding different points of view about a subject but wishing ...
al relations. Firstly, the relation between form and content is subsumed or synthesised into a higher dialectic of function
Function or functionality may refer to:
Computing
* Function key, a type of key on computer keyboards
* Function model, a structured representation of processes in a system
* Function object or functor or functionoid, a concept of object-oriente ...
; "the means have to be asked what the end is". It thus attempts to side step the whole form and content question in favour of one concerning function
Function or functionality may refer to:
Computing
* Function key, a type of key on computer keyboards
* Function model, a structured representation of processes in a system
* Function object or functor or functionoid, a concept of object-oriente ...
. The actor–audience interaction is supposed to become dialectical, as is that between the actor and the text. Principles of interaction govern these two relations.
Brecht eventually abandoned his experiments with the ''Lehrstücke'' form, but it has been taken up and developed in the last few decades by the postmodernist
Postmodernism is an intellectual stance or mode of discourseNuyen, A.T., 1992. The Role of Rhetorical Devices in Postmodernist Discourse. Philosophy & Rhetoric, pp.183–194. characterized by skepticism toward the " grand narratives" of moderni ...
dramatist Heiner Müller
Heiner Müller (; 9 January 1929 – 30 December 1995) was a German (formerly East German) dramatist, poet, writer, essayist and theatre director. His "enigmatic, fragmentary pieces" are a significant contribution to postmodern drama and postdr ...
(in plays such as ''Mauser
Mauser, originally Königlich Württembergische Gewehrfabrik ("Royal Württemberg Rifle Factory"), was a German arms manufacturer. Their line of bolt-action rifles and semi-automatic pistols has been produced since the 1870s for the German arme ...
'' (1975) and '' The Mission'' (1982)) and by the Brazilian director Augusto Boal
Augusto Boal (16 March 1931 – 2 May 2009) was a Brazilian theatre practitioner, drama theorist, and political activist. He was the founder of Theatre of the Oppressed, a theatrical form originally used in radical left popular education movemen ...
. Boal's "forum theatre
Forum theatre is a type of theatre created by Brazilian theatre director Augusto Boal. It is one of the techniques under the umbrella term of Theatre of the Oppressed (TO). This relates to the engagement of spectators influencing and engaging with ...
" took the abolition of the actor–audience division proposed by Brecht and realized it through the use of what he calls a " spect-actor"—a member of the audience who is able to get up onto the stage to actively intervene in the drama presented. The theatrical experience becomes a collective experiment and search for solutions to social problems experienced by the audience.
The German peace researcher Reiner Steinweg Reiner may refer to:
*Reiner (crater), a crater on the Moon, named after Vincentio Reiner
*Reiner Braun, a fictional character in the anime/manga series ''Attack on Titan''
People with the given name Reiner
* Reiner Knizia, a board game designer
*R ...
de used his seminal analysis of the ''Lehrstücke'' form in the work of Brecht (''Das Lehrstück. Brechts Theorie einer politisch-ästhetischen Erziehung'') to develop his own self-reflexive peace-activist educational work, which initiated his local activism project "Gewalt in der Stadt".[See the German-language Wikipedia article on Steinweg.]
Some of Brecht's ''Lehrstücke''
* ''The Flight across the Ocean
''The Flight across the Ocean'' (german: Der Ozeanflug, link=no) is a '' Lehrstück'' by the German dramatist Bertolt Brecht, inspired by '' We'', Charles Lindbergh's 1927 account of his transatlantic flight in the plane '' Spirit of St. Louis'' ...
''
* '' The Yes Sayer'' and '' The No Sayer''
* ''The Horatians and the Curiatians
''The Horatians and the Curiatians'' (Die Horatier und die Kuriatier) is a '' Lehrstück'' ("''Schulstück''" in the collected plays) by the German dramatist Bertolt Brecht written in collaboration with Margarete Steffin in 1933–34. It is a ...
''
* ''The Baden-Baden Lesson on Consent
''The Baden-Baden Lesson on Consent'' (german: Badener Lehrstück vom Einverständnis) is a '' Lehrstück'' by the German dramatist Bertolt Brecht, written in collaboration with Slatan Dudow and Elisabeth Hauptmann. Under the title ''Lehrstück'' ...
''
* '' The Decision''
* ''The Exception and the Rule
''The Exception and the Rule'' (in German ''Die Ausnahme und die Regel'') is a short play by German playwright Bertolt Brecht and is one of several ''Lehrstücke'' (Teaching plays) he wrote around 1929/30. The objective of Brecht's Lehrstücke w ...
''
* ''Round Heads and Pointed Heads
''Round Heads and Pointed Heads'' (german: Die Rundköpfe und die Spitzköpfe) is an epic parable play written by the German dramatist Bertolt Brecht, in collaboration with Margarete Steffin, Emil Burri, Elisabeth Hauptmann, and the composer Hann ...
''
See also
* Walter Benjamin
Walter Bendix Schönflies Benjamin (; ; 15 July 1892 – 26 September 1940) was a German Jewish philosopher, cultural critic and essayist.
An eclectic thinker, combining elements of German idealism, Romanticism, Western Marxism, and Jewish mys ...
* Augusto Boal
Augusto Boal (16 March 1931 – 2 May 2009) was a Brazilian theatre practitioner, drama theorist, and political activist. He was the founder of Theatre of the Oppressed, a theatrical form originally used in radical left popular education movemen ...
and his Theatre of the Oppressed
The Theatre of the Oppressed (TO) describes theatrical forms that the Brazilian theatre practitioner Augusto Boal first elaborated in the 1970s, initially in Brazil and later in Europe. Boal was influenced by the work of the educator and theoris ...
References
Further reading
* Calabro, Tony. ''Bertolt Brecht and the Art of Dissemblance''. Longwood Academic, 1990.
* Calico, Joy. ''Brecht at the Opera.'' Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008.
* Benjamin, Walter. 1928. "Program for a Proletarian Children's Theater". Trans. Susan Buck-Morss. Performance
A performance is an act of staging or presenting a play, concert, or other form of entertainment. It is also defined as the action or process of carrying out or accomplishing an action, task, or function.
Management science
In the work place ...
1.5 (March / April 1973): 28–32. Trans. from Über Kinder, Jungend und Erziehung. Edition Suhrkamp
Suhrkamp Verlag is a German publishing house, established in 1950 and generally acknowledged as one of the leading European publishers of fine literature. Its roots go back to the "arianized" part of the S. Fischer Verlag.
In January 2010 the ...
, 391. Frankfurt am Main
Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...
: Suhrkamp Verlag
Suhrkamp Verlag is a German publishing house, established in 1950 and generally acknowledged as one of the leading European publishers of fine literature. Its roots go back to the "arianized" part of the S. Fischer Verlag.
In January 2010 the ...
, 1969.
* Squiers, Anthony (2014). ''An Introduction to the Social and Political Philosophy of Bertolt Brecht''. Amsterdam: Rodopi. .
* Steinweg, Reiner (ed.). 1976. ''Brechts Modell der Lehrstücke. Zeugnisse, Discussionen, Erfahrungen'' Frankfurt/M.: Suhrkamp. .
* Steinweg, Reiner. 1995. ''Lehrstück und episches Theater: Brechts Theorie und die theaterpädagogische Praxis''. Frankfurt/M.: Brandes & Apsel. .
* Steinweg, Reiner
Two Chapters from ''Learning Play and Epic Theatre''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lehrstucke
Bertolt Brecht theories and techniques
German words and phrases