Brecht in Theory - Helene Weigel on Epic Theatre

Helene Weigel

Born: 12 May 1900
Died: 6 May 1971

Helene Weigel was from a Jewish family. She was also a Communist. The fact that she was these two things gives an idea as to how difficult life would have been for her in Germany in the 1930s and 40s. Yet despite or even because of these circumstances, Helene Weigel was one of the most important and brilliant actresses of the twentieth century, and her performance as the central character in Mother Courage is a benchmark for all acting. Given this, she still resolutely refused to see herself as a "star", and remained incredibly loyal to her theatre and to her husband's (Brecht's) beliefs and ethics. Pretty much all her professional work was for one company, The Berliner Ensemble, and there is very little record of her performances. Yet when in 1956, the year that Brecht died and The Berliner Ensemble came to London the influence of the three plays they performed and in particular of her performance as Mother Courage in many ways can be seen to be incalculable. The English Stage Company at the Royal Court which through its Kitchen Sink Dramas changed British theatre for good, Joan Littlewood's company in Stratford East and ultimately the major companies - Peter Hall's ensemble at the RSC and Olivier's tenure at the National Theatre were all directly influenced/transformed through their experience of Weigel's and The Berliner Ensemble's work. She was the perfect embodiment of the theories that Brecht strove for. Every moment and every image of her work was honed down to its simplest and most meaningful statement. These are not my words, even though I wholeheartedly agree with them, they are the words of Bill Gaskill who was a director who was central to the work at the Royal Court and at the National Theatre. Helene Weigel's most famous image was probably that of her silent scream, at the moment when Mother Courage hears of her son's death. This embodies everything that is extraordinary about her work. There was no sentimentality, or melodrama, or excess emotion about her work. Just the pure direct, intensely honest power that her work embodied. Even though she does not ask for sympathy, this moment still carries such overwhelming power that we can't help but be moved. Brecht's fundamental idea of Gestus which is the combination of gesture, facial expression and body language establishes a meaning which is communicated to the audience via the circumstances in which these gestures are placed, is perfectly indicated by Weigel's scream.


Helene Weigel's Silent Scream in Mother Courage

Brecht and Marxism

Brecht's desire and need to change the world be it society or theatre found its natural home in his belief in Marxism. Once he'd realized that the teachings of Karl Marx were the one true way forward, he allowed those teachings to infiltrate all areas of his work. The challenge of Marxism to question the accepted "truths" that society took for granted and to revolutionize the way people thought about the world and specifically society chimed with Brecht's desire to challenge the way that theatre saw itself in the early part of the twentieth century. His creation of the ensemble embodies the Marxist idea of a collective striving and fighting together for the good whole - everyone's own ego and personal need to "stand out" is subsumed into the good of the group striving together for the good of the play. Brecht loved to contradict. Marx and his beliefs was a way in which Brecht could explore that. Be it contradicting, accepted political ideas in his plays, or be it contradicting accepting acting methods in his direction of his actors, Brecht intellectually strived to forge a new way of seeing both the world and the theatre.

Brecht also realized that once change has begun, the need to explore and question and excavate never ends. This creates a very active and "alive" feeling in a rehearsal room or on a stage, and the reports of how Brecht worked with his actors bears this out. Brecht's desire for inquiry and for his need for his actors to have inquiring minds often manifested itself in a desire for inquiring about history. Marxism played a pivotal part in such inquiries - the more aware his actors were of what his theatre was about the more he knew the process would be fruitful. In an unashamedly political play such as Mother Courage or The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, a vital expose and critique of Hitler and his methods, Brecht wanted his actors to not shirk from the idea log inherent in the work. The actors' shared political vision with their playwright would give the theatre of the Berlin Ensemble its undeniable power.

Brechtian Techniques In Action

One of the most acclaimed British productions of Brecht started at the Citizens' Theatre in Glasgow in 1967. Michael Blakemore directed Leonard Rossiter in the title role of Arturo Ui and it was said that he created a vividly alienated caricature.

Brecht's own wife, Helene Weigel had huge success as Mother Courage. In more recent years a production at The National Theatre directed by Deborah Warner and starring Fiona Shaw was successful. In that production a lot of these alienation techniques could be seen. For instance, the stage was stripped back to the walls of the theatre and teams of stage hands and stage management who would normally be expected to wear black could be seen in their everyday clothes. Rather than an audience experiencing sound ethereally, sound effects were created by a man standing at the front of the stage in full view of the audience.

Brechtian Techniques

Alienation/Strange-making/Verfremdungseffect (The "V" Effect)


The distancing effect is a performing arts concept coined by Bertolt Brecht. The distancing effect is achieved by the artist (actor) performing as though there is no metaphorical fourth wall between the performers and the audience.

Bertlot Brecht's alienation effect means that for him should not "live" in his part but be outside it. Whilst he must completely understand his part it should only be enough to make a "comment" on it. The audience meanwhile is expected to judge each character critically. Brecht did not mean it as a rigid discipline but more as a guide and the result is the "theatre of debate". We can see his early plays proclaiming the advantages of Communism. Some of the techniques one might see in his plays include a narrator singing, slides and lighting simply as illumination not for effect.

An Introduction to Brechtian Theatre

Political Theatre

To me, Political theatre is about taking risks in performance. Not everything you show your audience is something they are going to enjoy or want to see. Many of the subject matters brought up in Political theatre are things a lot of people are not ready to see or hear or talk about, but it makes you listen and by the end you will be questioning what you saw and be able to discuss more freely topics you would have found difficult to talk about before.

Peter Hall, a famous theatre director in England, wrote that "theatre remains any society's sharpest way to hold a live debate with itself, if it doesn't challenge, provoke or illuminate, it is not fulfilling in its function". This I feel is a very true statement, and I think Political theatre is the best kind of theatre to do that. More often than not it will challenge your beliefs and challenge how you see the world. I believe this is why a fantastic way to perform Political theatre is through Brechtian techniques. Brechtian theatre is ruthless. It does not care whether the audience want to see it or not, it will show it anyway. It will always challenge you and make you think about what you just saw.