Measures Taken and Other Lehrstucke

Front Cover
Bloomsbury Academic, 1977 - Drama - 79 pages

The Lehrstücke (or 'learning-plays') lie at the heart of Brechtian theatre.
Written during 1929 and 1930, years of far-reaching political and economic upheaveal in Germany and the period of Brecht's most sharply Communist works, these short plays show an abrupt rejection of most of the trappings of conventional theatre.

The Lehrstücke are spare and highly formalized pieces intended for performance by amateurs, on the principle that the moral and political lessons contained in them can best be taught by participation in an actual production. There is nothing in the drama of the twentieth century to match the precision of their language and the economy of their theatrical technique.

From inside the book

 

Contents

Introductory Note
6
The Exception and the Rule
35
He Who Says Yes
61
Copyright

Other editions - View all

Measures Taken and Other Lehrstucke
Bertolt Brecht
Limited preview - 2015
Measures Taken and Other Lehrstucke
Bertolt Brecht
Limited preview - 2015
The Measures Taken and Other Lehrstücke
Bertolt Brecht
No preview available - 2001
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Common terms and phrases

agitators represent Arthur Waley attack bandits beats bellies Need Bertolt Brecht border bottle BOY enters area boy in area Caucasian Chalk Circle change the world Chinese city of Mukden class-conscious CONTROL CHORUS coolie goes coolie's coolies slips Custom dangerous journey dead desert expedition eyes fallen ill fighters FOUR AGITATORS GUIDE head hurl innkeeper Instruction about curing John Willett JUDGE Jungle of Cities leaflet learning-play Lehrstücke lime-pit Listen Measures Taken Medicine and instruction MERCHANT Methuen misery mother mountains narrow ridge Need their dinner oppressed OVERSEER paperback PARTY HOUSE police POLICEMAN porter Pull faster push Your neighbour Ralph Manheim reaching Urga REC'D revolution river Saint Joan SECOND CARAVAN second worker shoot sings Station stone TEACHER tell theatre thing THREE AGITATORS THREE STUDENTS Threepenny Opera Tientsin tired from climbing turn back unemployed uninhabited wages wait want us wanted water-bottle water-holes YOUNG COMRADE

References to this book

About the author (1977)

Bertolt Brecht was born on February 10, 1898 in Augsburg, Bavaria, and died on August 14, 1956. He was a German playwright, theatre director and Marxist. The modest house where he was born is today preserved as a Brecht Museum. Brecht formed a writing collective which became prolific and very influential. He wrote many lyrics for musicals and collaborated with Kurt Weill to create Die Dregroschenoper -- the biggest hit in 1920s Berlin. Brecht experimented with his own theater and company -- the Berliner Ensemble -- which put on his plays under his direction and which continued after his death with the assistance of his wife. Brecht aspired to create political theater, and it is difficult to evaluate his work in purely aesthetic terms. Brecht died in 1956.

Bibliographic information

TitleMeasures Taken and Other Lehrstucke
Brecht's plays, poetry and prose
Methuen Drama
Methuen modern plays
Modern Plays
AuthorBertolt Brecht
Editionreprint
PublisherBloomsbury Academic, 1977
Original fromthe University of California
Digitized30 Jun 2008
ISBN041337310X, 9780413373106
Length79 pages
Subjects ›  › 

Drama / European / General
Drama / European / German
Drama / General
Fiction / Literary
  
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