The Life and Works of Bertolt Brecht Essay -- Theatre Practitioner Dra

The Life and Works of Bertolt Brecht In this essay I will consider the life and works of Bertolt Brecht, the famous theatre practitioner who has had such a dramatic impact on our understanding of the theatre and acting. First of all I will give a biography of Brecht because it is important to know the background of his life in order to understand the motives he had for writing and producing plays in the way he did. We will see a direct correlation between events in his life and the plays and techniques that he propagated. I will then move to explore the methods and techniques that Brecht developed, looking at how they came about and who influenced his work. I will look at Brecht’s theory of Epic theatre, tracing the beginnings of this style and looking at the influences that may have helped to form it. To get a clear view of what Epic theatre is like I will compare it to dramatic theatre, which Brecht did himself, in regard to how the audience reacts to it. I will examine Brecht’s theory of using Montage and the effect that he intended to have on the audience. I will consider the origination of Verfremdungseffekt and how this was not an original idea of Brecht’s but something that he identified with because it supported his ideas. Geste was the technique that Brecht wanted actors to use when portraying a character, I will examine what geste is and what may have influenced Brecht to use it. Music for Brecht was a vital part of theatre and I will look at what interested him about using music and the role of music in his Epic theatre. I will consider Brecht’s ideas of what stage design should be like and how he viewed it as something separate to the text and the music. Brecht was a political writer and after reading the works of Karl Marx he wrote and produced didactic plays that reflected the philosophy of communism. Brecht wanted to involve the audience in the debates that he presented in the text and in this way the audience would learn about the arguments and be able to come to an informed conclusion of what they thought. The plays that did this are called ‘The Lehrstuck’ or ‘Learning Plays’ and I will consider how they were presented in order to involve the audience and get them to respond. Brecht was born in 1898 to a middle class family in the south of Germany. In his teenage years the First World War broke out and ... ... was so against. In the writings of Karl Marx he found a philosophy that mirrored his and he began to write more vigorously to inspire political change. His belief was that the oppressed poor people had to be inspired to fight for political change and thereby relieve their suffering. These plays were written for a music festival and they took place on a very open stage, which allowed more audience involvement. Behind the stage there was a projection screen which displayed the text and invited the audience to join in by singing along. Sometimes there would be actors in the audience to lead the audience response. In this way Brecht hoped to involve the audience in the political debates within the text. Throughout his life Brecht collaborated with other writers, musicians, directors and designers. His work was always an amalgamation of efforts and yet he managed to claim it as his own. By the end of his life he was a leading figure in theatre his productions had changed the way people viewed theatre because of their innovative ideas and detailed acting and design. Through exploring Brecht’s work I have learnt more about the theatre, its origins and its potential.

Ethics †morality Essay

When asking people â€Å"what does ethics mean? † we get many different replies. Some relate ethics to feelings, others relate it to religion, others might relate it to the law, others relate it to society and some just do not know. They are all wrong. Ethics refers to well-founded standards of right and wrong. Feelings, religion and the law may misguide people from what is ethical. The majority of people misunderstand what being ethical means. Some think that being ethical means following the law. The law often incorporates ethical standards to which most citizens subscribe. But laws, like feelings, can deviate from what is ethical. Our own pre-Civil War slavery laws and the old apartheid laws of present-day South Africa are grotesquely obvious examples of laws that deviate from what is ethical. Adela Cortina (March, 2000) said, â€Å"A natural law standpoint which, whether in its traditional or ‘post traditional’ version, ultimately takes only what is just from a certain moral conception as ‘valid law’, is not an acceptable basis for legal legislation in a morally pluralist society. † Nor should one identify ethics with religion. Most religions, of course, advocate high ethical standards. Yet if ethics were confined to religion, then ethics would apply only to religious people. But ethics applies as much to the behavior of the atheist as to that of the devout religious person. Religion can set high ethical standards and can provide intense motivations for ethical behavior. Ethics, however, cannot be confined to religion nor is it the same as religion. Praveen Parboteeah, Martin Hoegl and John B. Cullen (June, 2008) mention â€Å"some studies have found no difference between religious and non religious individuals on unethical behaviors such as dishonesty and cheating. Many people tend to equate ethics with their feelings, but being ethical is clearly not a matter of following one’s feelings. A person following his or her feelings may recoil from doing what is right. Feelings frequently deviate from what is ethical. Just like Ken Bowen (August, 1994) said, â€Å"With a set of rules guilt is all too often a conflict between what is said to be wrong and what one feels to be right and can be devastating to an individuals personality. † What, then, is ethics? Ethics is two things. First, ethics refers to well-founded standards of right and wrong that prescribe what humans ought to do, usually in terms of rights, obligations, benefits to society, fairness, or specific virtues. Ethics, for example, refers to those standards that impose the reasonable obligations to refrain from rape, stealing, murder, assault, slander, and fraud. Ethical standards also include those that enjoin virtues of honesty, compassion, and loyalty. And, ethical standards include standards relating to rights, such as the right to life, the right to freedom from injury, and the right to privacy. Such standards are adequate standards of ethics because they are supported by consistent and well-founded reasons. Secondly, ethics refers to the study and development of one’s ethical standards. As mentioned above, feelings, laws, and social norms can deviate from what is ethical. So it is necessary to constantly examine one’s standards to ensure that they are reasonable and well-founded. Ethics also means, then, the continuous effort of studying our own moral beliefs and our moral conduct, and striving to ensure that we, and the institutions we help to shape, live up to standards that are reasonable and solidly-based. Most people do not really know what the meaning of ethics is. They all have a different idea of it. They relate it to things like religion, law and feelings. Well these usually deviate us from what is right and wrong. That is not all there is to ethics. Ethics has to do with standards of right and wrong. They may change through time. One must always examine one’s standards.

Essay on Genocide in Germany - 863 Words

Genocide in Germany Beginning in the early 1930s, officials in Germany saw that they could put the blame of their troubles onto the Jews. After the First World War, the German public was extremely angry with the government officials, especially because of the aftermath of the war. The German economy tumbled to a point that children could use blocks of German Marks as building blocks, French from right across the border could get pastries and other goods in Germany for less than an eighth the price of the same goods in France. Added onto that was the fact that Germany owed many war debts to the Allies. Adolf Hitler, a man who fought in World War I, saw that he could use this hatred to his†¦show more content†¦Due to Americas own depression, many Americans felt resentment toward the Jews also. The papers only talked about oppression towards Jews and the beatings, something that was occurring in the U.S. in smaller numbers than in Germany. The information given to the American public wasnt enough to make them care too much, and due to their own problems Americans didnt feel the need to go looking for information that might have been readily available. Many Americans, because of the depression during the early 1930s, had long hated the Jews. In America during the depression, like Germany, many people saw Jews as a people who succeeded in anything and for that they hated them. Jews have been known throughout history as great businessmen. When Americans read that Jews were kicked out of their businesses in Germany, Americans secretly enjoyed hearing news like this; it meant that not only was the depression hurting them, but also Jews who were known for their success during the depression were now in the same boat as the rest of the country. 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