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Feb 17 - ‘Kabaret' celebrates life and ideas of Bertolt Brecht
Bertolt Brecht's heyday may have been the 1930s and '40s, but his message still rings as true today as it did three quarters of a century ago, as evidenced in Brecht's Kabaret, the latest production by the Theatre and Stagecraft & Event Technology departments at Douglas College.
"As with all great artists, Brecht's observations of his own world of the early 20th century speak eloquently and passionately to us today," says Allan Lysell, Theatre Instructor at Douglas and compiler and director of the piece.
"A lot of Brecht's work was about freeing people from tyranny. As we look around today at the Irans, the Afghanistans, the Egypts, we see that so many people are still being tyrannized. So the question remains: how do we as a society move out of that to create a more democratic world?"
Set in an old, rundown cabaret club, the performers in Brecht's Kabaret use their proximity to the audience to engage in a conversation about war, the class struggle, how to act and even how to be an audience member.
"We use elements of Brecht's Epic Theatre, including projections, signs, music, clowns and direct address of the audience."
Brecht, one of the most influential theatre practitioners of the 20th century, is best known for his plays, which include The Threepenny Opera, The Good Person of Szechwan and The Caucasian Chalk Circle. But Brecht's Kabaret examines Brecht in a new light: through his poems.
"Mostly we think of Brecht through his theatrical productions, but this time I thought we'd look at him through his poetry, with excerpts from plays, plus music and songs, to get a different feeling of who Brecht was and how he influenced theatre and performance style."
Brecht's Kabaret focuses on two important aspects of Brecht's artistic life: the political and the theatrical. His political work includes vehement anti-Nazi poetry and commentary, as the rise of Nazi power coincided with Brecht's rise as an artist.
The other aspect explored is Brecht's theatrical life and the creation of Epic Theatre, a form of didactic drama presenting a series of loosely connected scenes that avoid illusion and often interrupt the storyline to address the audience directly with analysis, argument or documentation.
"His whole mode of acting advanced in the last half of the 20th century," says Lysell. "We regard it today as just being modern acting, but when he created it it was revolutionary."
Brecht's Kabaret is presented by the Theatre and Stagecraft & Event Technology departments at Douglas College. It runs March 4-12 at Douglas College Studio Theatre, 4140-700 Royal Ave., New Westminster. Tickets ($8-$15) are available through the Massey Theatre.
For more information see Arts Events or call 604 527 5723.
Warnings: contains coarse language, puppet violence and adult themes. Not recommended for children under 17.
