The Theatre of Bertolt Brecht...

[fajrdrako]

I went tonight to see The Theatre of Bertolt Brecht. It was a National Arts Centre Production, sort of, but not held at the NAC - it was held at the Domion-Chalmers United Church, one of my favourite places in town, though I haven't been there in years.

Now, Peter Hinton directed it, and I have sometimes been less than enchanted with his productions. But it's part of a sort of educational series - last year they did a medieval miscellany, which I enjoyed. This year: Bertolt Brecht.

I was more familiar with the music than the text of the plays, or the story of Brecht's live. (Most interesting: Now I want to read a biography.) My favourite part was the very beginning - the whole troupe singing "Mack the Knife" - and the very end: a scene from The Life of Galileo. Though the whole show was about Brecht's sense of realism and his anti-Romantic approach to theatre, the more they said he wasn't a Romantic, the more I found myself thinking how Romantic his attitude was. Thoughtful idealism.

I expected to recognize some of the actors, like Bruce Dow, whom I saw as the Emcee in Cabaret a few months ago in Stratford - looking much younger and sweeter as himself, though I have a photo of him in scarlet robes, right here in my living room. There were a few familiar faces from Stratford like Diane D'Aquila and Lucy Peacock, and, suprise, suprise, Jovanni Sy - a Toronto actor whose sister used to be a good friend of mine. I once spent a weekend in New York with Jo and a group of mutual friends. I think that's the time we went to see Ian McKellen's Richard III, a memorable occasion.

I'm not sure whether I like Brecht's writing, but I do like his attitude.

Comments

[rose-etta.livejournal.com]

I learned "The Rise andf Fall of the City of Mahagonny" before I traveled to Munich to learn German there, and my pronunciation was so much better for it.

That opera makes me tear-up at times. It has the song in English, Oh, Show Us the Way to the Next Whiskey Bar. (It's got a different actual title but I don't want to look it up.......)

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Oh, Show Us the Way to the Next Whiskey Bar

They did a bit of that last night. It was brilliant. Makes me want to hear a lot more of his work. Wish I had time to brush up my long-neglected German.

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