Tolvskillingsoperan

by Bertolt Brecht, Bert Brecht

168 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1928

About the author

Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht was a German poet, playwright, and theatre director. A seminal theatre practitioner of the twentieth century, Brecht made equally significant contributions to dramaturgy and theatrical production, the latter particularly through the seismic impact of the tours undertaken by the Berliner Ensemble—the post-war theatre company operated by Brecht and his wife and long-time collaborator, the actress Helene Weigel—with its internationally acclaimed productions.

From his late twenties Brecht remained a life-long committed Marxist who, in developing the combined theory and practice of his 'epic theatre', synthesized and extended the experiments of Piscator and Meyerhold to explore the theatre as a forum for political ideas and the creation of a critical aesthetics of dialectical materialism. Brecht's modernist concern with drama-as-a-medium led to his refinement of the 'epic form' of the drama (which constitutes that medium's rendering of 'autonomization' or the 'non-organic work of art'—related in kind to the strategy of divergent chapters in Joyce's novel Ulysses, to Eisenstein's evolution of a constructivist 'montage' in the cinema, and to Picasso's introduction of cubist 'collage' in the visual arts). In contrast to many other avant-garde approaches, however, Brecht had no desire to destroy art as an institution; rather, he hoped to 're-function' the apparatus of theatrical production to a new social use. In this regard he was a vital participant in the aesthetic debates of his era—particularly over the 'high art/popular culture' dichotomy—vying with the likes of Adorno, Lukács, Bloch, and developing a close friendship with Benjamin. Brechtian theatre articulated popular themes and forms with avant-garde formal experimentation to create a modernist realism that stood in sharp contrast both to its psychological and socialist varieties. "Brecht's work is the most important and original in European drama since Ibsen and Strindberg," Raymond Williams argues, while Peter Bürger insists that he is "the most important materialist writer of our time."

As Jameson among others has stressed, "Brecht is also ‘Brecht’"—collective and collaborative working methods were inherent to his approach. This 'Brecht' was a collective subject that "certainly seemed to have a distinctive style (the one we now call 'Brechtian') but was no longer personal in the bourgeois or individualistic sense." During the course of his career, Brecht sustained many long-lasting creative relationships with other writers, composers, scenographers, directors, dramaturgs and actors; the list includes: Elisabeth Hauptmann, Margarete Steffin, Ruth Berlau, Slatan Dudow, Kurt Weill, Hanns Eisler, Paul Dessau, Caspar Neher, Teo Otto, Karl von Appen, Ernst Busch, Lotte Lenya, Peter Lorre, Therese Giehse, Angelika Hurwicz, and Helene Weigel herself. This is "theatre as collective experiment [...] as something radically different from theatre as expression or as experience."

There are few areas of modern theatrical culture that have not felt the impact or influence of Brecht's ideas and practices; dramatists and directors in whom one may trace a clear Brechtian legacy include: Dario Fo, Augusto Boal, Joan Littlewood, Peter Brook, Peter Weiss, Heiner Müller, Pina Bausch, Tony Kushner and Caryl Churchill. In addition to the theatre, Brechtian theories and techniques have exerted considerable sway over certain strands of film theory and cinematic practice; Brecht's influence may be detected in the films of Joseph Losey, Jean-Luc Godard, Lindsay Anderson, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Nagisa Oshima, Ritwik Ghatak, Lars von Trier, Jan Bucquoy and Hal Hartley.

During the war years, Brecht became a prominent writer of the Exilliteratur. He expressed his opposition to the National Socialist and Fascist movements in his most famous plays.

Reviews

[Johanna Blom]

Brecht!!!

[Theodor Lannerö]

Själva storyn är inte logisk:( konstigt slut

[Chris Pettersson]

An interesting and surprisingly funny play. I honestly didn’t expect to laugh as much as I did, but several scenes made me laugh out loud. The humor surrounding the beggars and Macheath’s gang was especially good.

What stayed with me most was the relationship between Macheath and Brown. There was something both beautiful and incredibly frustrating about their friendship and loyalty to each other. I also really enjoyed the sharp dialogue and was surprised by how many clever observations and insights Brecht managed to weave into the story.

The historical setting and social criticism were fascinating as well. Brecht’s stage directions are clear and vivid, which made it very easy to picture the scenes and characters in my head.

However, the play is quite uneven as a reading experience. The many songs probably work much better on stage than on the page, and some sections felt surprisingly dull and almost pointless. I kept waiting for the story to really take off and become exciting, but it rarely did.

And then there is the ending. After all that buildup… that’s it? I found it almost comically undramatic and was left wanting a much stronger payoff.

Overall, The Threepenny Opera is clever, well-written and much funnier than I expected. I enjoyed the characters, the dialogue, the social criticism and especially the humor, but I wish the story had given me more excitement and a stronger conclusion.

A good play that I suspect I would enjoy even more on stage.

[Hedvig Loeb]

Tyckte den var lite rolig. Hade velat ha mer förfrämligande-effekter men vi kanske kommer till det på seminariet.