Brecht in L.A.

Rick Mitchell

• Publisher: Intellect Books
• Year: 2003
• Print ISBN: 9781841501055
• eBook ISBN: 9781841508900
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Performing Arts

Bertolt Brecht, perhaps the most important dramatist/director/theorist of the twentieth century, is still widely studied and his plays and theories remain staples in the curricula of university theatre departments, literature departments, and theatre-artist training programs throughout the world. Additionally, productions of Brecht's dramas continue to be popular. The play Brecht in L.A. focuses on Brecht's life in America, where he resided from 1941 through 1947.

Additionally, Brecht in L.A., winner of the 2002 SWTA National New Play Contest (US), is already a critically acclaimed play, which suggests that the work has the potential to be widely (and successfully) produced. And such productions will enhance the marketability of the book. A play influenced by Brecht is, in itself, not unique, since many leading, contemporary dramatists--such as Caryl Churchill, Edward Bond, Tony Kushner, Heiner Muller, and Howard Barker--have been affected by Brechtian dramaturgy. But a Brechtian-influenced play with Brecht as the lead character is unique. The play represents the only dramatic work in English which features Brecht himself as the title character.

Brecht in L.A., centering on Brecht while adapting/critiquing Brechtian dramatic form, also provides a unique opportunity for the instructor who is teaching Brechtian theatre since--with just one text (which will includes endnotes and appendices)--the instructor can cover epic theatre, the "Brecht debate," Brecht's biography, and contradictions between Brecht's theatrical practices and his everyday life.

The book's wide-ranging audience will include theatre artists; playgoers; students of drama, theatre, English, and performance studies; scholars; and readers interested in Brecht, Hollywood, and/or biography. Brecht in L.A. will also be an important addition to the considerable collections of books about Brecht which are carried by countless libraries.

Brecht in L.A.

Characters (in order of appearance)

Ruth Berlau
Angel
Bertolt Brecht
Tom
Fritz Lang
Charles Laughton
Elsa Lanchester
Marshal (male; can be played by an actor who’s playing another role)

(If some actors play more than one role—i.e., if the actor playing LAUGHTON also plays LANG, the actor playing TOM also plays the MARSHAL, and if the actor playing BERLAU also plays LANCHESTER—the play can be performed with five actors.)

Setting

Los Angeles County. 1940s.
(Brief scenes in Copenhagen, New York, and Washington, D.C.)

Note: Brecht in L.A. must be played at a brisk pace, and the set should be somewhat abstract so that there’s little or no down time between scenes. Additionally, productions may utilize video imagery to subvert and/or enhance the on-stage action. (If you use video, avoid—as much as possible—imagery that has too literal of a connection to the stage action.) Also, several of the characters, especially the men, are often smoking—or at least handling—cigars. (The size of a character’s cigar may increase or decrease as his/her power increases or decreases.) As far as the character of BRECHT goes, it is important that BRECHT seems vulnerable at times, that he cares about many of the people around him, about the world, ideas. In spite of Brecht’s many essays that call for a theatre without emotion, the character BRECHT should often be empathetic. When a character’s line ends with '—' the following character should speak over the previous character’s last words. And there are numerous other times throughout the text where slight overlapping of dialogue (and/or a compression of time/space between lines) will help the actors to play the proper 'rhythm' of the piece (which is crucial). When working on this play, please keep in mind Brecht’s advice to the players of the Berliner Ensemble: 'Keep it quick, light and strong'.

Brecht in L.A. was first performed on 11 November 2001 as a staged reading, directed by Rick Mitchell, as part of the Edge of the World Theater Festival, Los Angeles, at the Bitter Truth Playhouse, with the following cast:

RUTH	BERLAU Mary Beth O’Donovan
ANGEL	Del Toro
BERTOLT BRECHT	Brent Blair
TOM	Brian Scott
FRITZ LANG	Jon Peterson
CHARLES LAUGHTON	Edmund Shaff
ELSA LANCHESTER	Catherine McGoohan
MARSHAL	Jon Peterson

ACT I

PROLOGUE

(Throughout much of the play, ANGEL may sit in a far corner of the stage, at a workbench full of books and manuscripts, rolling cigars. LIGHTS UP on BERLAU, who unfolds a poem written on a well-worn piece of paper.)

BERLAU	From a poem by Bertolt Brecht...to me, Ruth Berlau... I’ve longed for love engulfed by fire, Yet resistant to becoming ash. We both complete the other’s desires, As we’re burning, but never yearning, For ash. (As BRECHT holds a bag of groceries he embraces BERLAU; they are looking up at the stars.)
ANGEL	A winter evening, Copenhagen.
BRECHT	(BRECHT points to some stars.) Do you see it now?
BERLAU	What?
BRECHT	The letter?
ANGEL	Mid 1930s.
BERLAU	(pause) No.
BRECHT	Right there... The W.
BERLAU	Oh, okay... I think I see it.
BRECHT	Right up there. (BRECHT draws a slanted W in the air.)
BERLAU	Yes, yes...
BRECHT	Cassiopeia has five stars. And that’s ours, in the middle. Where both sides come together... From now on, whenever we’re apart, we’ll always meet up there.
BERLAU	Up in heaven...
BRECHT	All right? (BERLAUlaughs, kisses BRECHT.)
BERLAU	But heaven’s not real.
BRECHT	The star’s real. You can see it.
BERLAU	It’s unattainable.
BRECHT	But it’s always there. Burning.
BERLAU	I need something I can hold.
BRECHT	Here, you can carry the groceries. (BRECHT hands her the grocery bag.)
BERLAU	Too bad you can’t carry me. (BRECHTscoops her up.) Aaahhh... Brecht, be careful. There are eggs in there.

SCENE ONE

(BRECHT’S front yard.)

(Discretely, under partial cover, TOM—the BRECHTS' next-door neighbor—may periodically scan the scene in front of BRECHT’S house with a telescope, other surveillance devices, throughout much of the play. BRECHT, with an open loaf of Wonderbread on his lap, is eating a slice of bread. A pile of mail sits next to him. BERLAU works, rakes, takes notes. BRECHT smokes a cigar. Note: scene settings may be projected or announced by ANGEL.)

ANGEL	Los Angeles, California. 1940s.
BRECHT	Proper bread cannot be sliced and then sit in a waxed-paper wrapper for several weeks.
BERLAU	It’s the only one you haven’t tasted yet.
BRECHT	All I want is proper German bread... I’d even take French...Italian...
BERLAU	Brecht, you’ve already tried that.
BRECHT	No, I’ve tried American versions of French and Italian. Which, underneath the bright fluorescent lighting, look decent enough. So you pick it up while it’s still warm, plop it on the dinner table... Slice off the end... And then the inside, it just crumbles. Or the knife doesn’t cut through at first. It just pushes down on the crust, ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Epic Theatre, Naturalistic Artifice, and American Acting: Brecht in L.A. in L.A.
• Brecht in L.A.
• Afterword
• Appendix I: Historical Footnotes, Etc.
• Appendix II: Review of Performance of Brecht in L.A.: Brecht, Bobos, & L.A., by Ralph Leck
• Works Cited