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.