TY - JOUR
T1 - The Rise and Fall of Modelbooks, Notate and the Brechtian Method
T2 - Documentation and the Berliner Ensemble's Changing Roles as a Theatre Company
AU - Barnett, David Julian
PY - 2016/7/1
Y1 - 2016/7/1
N2 - Documentation is often descriptive, yet Brecht’s approach to the task was to unpack as much of the process as possible in order to share his method and to make it available to other theatre-makers. This article initially examines how such documentation functioned and goes on to consider how and why it gradually declined over time. By the mid-1960s, the Berliner Ensemble had entered a period of crisis, yet the development of post-Brechtian practices in the early 1970s did not lead to a resurgence of documentation. By the time an orthodox Brechtian took the helm of the company in 1977, documentation again did not burgeon. However, at certain points, interest in manufacturing the carefully taken Notate resurfaced. The article thus investigates the relationship between documenting and transmitting Brechtian practices. Documentation becomes a yardstick of sorts by which to measure the fêted company’s self-understanding as Brecht’s theatre.
AB - Documentation is often descriptive, yet Brecht’s approach to the task was to unpack as much of the process as possible in order to share his method and to make it available to other theatre-makers. This article initially examines how such documentation functioned and goes on to consider how and why it gradually declined over time. By the mid-1960s, the Berliner Ensemble had entered a period of crisis, yet the development of post-Brechtian practices in the early 1970s did not lead to a resurgence of documentation. By the time an orthodox Brechtian took the helm of the company in 1977, documentation again did not burgeon. However, at certain points, interest in manufacturing the carefully taken Notate resurfaced. The article thus investigates the relationship between documenting and transmitting Brechtian practices. Documentation becomes a yardstick of sorts by which to measure the fêted company’s self-understanding as Brecht’s theatre.
KW - Berliner Ensemble
KW - Bertolt Brecht
KW - Ruth Berghaus
KW - Manfred Wekwerth
KW - Heiner Müller
KW - theatre documentation
KW - modelbooks
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84975260949&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1017/S0307883316000031
DO - 10.1017/S0307883316000031
M3 - Article
SN - 0307-8833
VL - 41
SP - 106
EP - 121
JO - Theatre research international
JF - Theatre research international
IS - 2
ER -
