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Bradley, Laura. Brecht and Political Theatre: “The Mother” on Stage. Oxford: Clarendon Press (Oxford Modern Languages and Literature Monographs), 2006. 280 pp. £50. ISBN 9780199286584, Forum for Modern Language Studies, Volume 43, Issue 3, JULY 2007, Page 318, https://doi.org/10.1093/fmls/cqm016
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Extract
This monograph contains in-depth performance analyses of Brecht's play Die Mutter ranging from the 1931 premiere, via Brecht's exile, his 1951 staging at the Berliner Ensemble, other Berliner Ensemble productions of the play after Brecht's death, and further stagings by directors as diverse as Berghaus, Stein and Peymann up to 2003. The chapter on productions outside Germany rounds off this impressive work. Die Mutter lends itself to such a comprehensive treatment because of its multilayered character straddling traditions of Lehrstück, epic theatre, historical theatre and tragedy. The value of performance analysis is self-evident, as traditional Germanistik with its insistence on the drama text can only scratch the surface and is prone to over-emphasising Brecht's often polemical writings on epic theatre. Bradley's meticulous source-driven reconstruction of the various productions, which are presented in a roughly chronological manner, clarifies and illuminates many aspects of Brecht's development and the history of theatre in Germany from the Weimar Republic to the present. Bradley does not shy away from pointing out the contradiction between Brecht's willingness to adapt to the changing contexts of his productions, and his authoritarian approach insisting that the least “epic” production of 1951 became the model for all further stagings. This policy, which has been continued by his heirs, has been running contrary to the very nature of Die Mutter and Brecht's plays in general.
