Baal (play)

"Baal" was the first full-length play written by the German modernist playwright Bertolt Brecht.Willett (1967, 22-23).] Set in Berlin's underworld, it concerns a wastrel youth who becomes involved in several sexual affairs and at least one murder. It was written in 1918, when Brecht was a 20-year-old student at Munich University,Willett and Manheim (1970, vii)] in response to the expressionist drama "The Loner" ("Der Einsame") by the soon-to-become-Nazi dramatist Hanns Johst.Thomson (1994, 25)] "Baal" did not receive a theatrical performance until 1923, when it opened on the 8th December at the [http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altes_Theater_(Leipzig) Altes Theater] in Leipzig (in a production directed by Alwin Kronacher in which Brecht participated for most rehearsals).Sacks (1994, xviii)] Brecht wrote "Baal" prior to developing the dramaturgical techniques of 'epic theatre' that characterize his later work. He wrote a revised version with Elisabeth Hauptmann in 1926 for a brief production at Max Reinhardt's Deutsches Theater in Berlin, where he had worked recently as a dramaturg. It opened on the 14th February for a single matinée performance. It was performed by the Junge Bühne and directed by Brecht and Oskar Homolka (who also played the title role), with set-design by Caspar Neher. [Willett (1967, 22-23) and Sacks (1994, xviii).]

The story traces the decline of a drunken and dissolute poet, Baal, an anti-hero who rejects the conventions and trappings of polite society. This honors the German "Sturm und Drang" tradition which celebrates the cult of the genius living outside the conventions of society that would later destroy him. "The outcast, the disillusioned tough becomes the hero; he may be criminal, he may be semi-human," argues John Willett, "but in plays like "Baal" he can be romanticized into an inverted idealist, blindly striking out at the society in which he lives."Willett (1967, 68).] Baal roams the countryside, womanizing and brawling. He seduces Johanna, who subsequently drowns herself. He spurns his pregnant mistress Sophie and abandons her. He murders his friend Ekart, becoming a fugitive from the police. Defiantly aloof from the consequences of his actions, Baal is nonetheless brought low by his debauchery, dying alone in a forest hut, hunted and deserted, and leaving in his wake the corpses of deflowered maidens and murdered friends.

The play is written in a form of heightened prose and includes four songs and an introductory choral hymn ("Hymn of Baal the Great"), set to melodies composed by Brecht himself.

Characters

:"as per the Bentley/Esslin translation"
*Baal -"a poet"
*Mech -"a publisher & big businessman"
*Mrs. Mech (Emily)
*Dr. Piller -"a critic"
*Johannes Schmidt
*Johanna -"fiancee of Johannes"
*Ekart -"a composer"
*Louise -"a waitress"
*Two Sisters
*Landlady
*Sophie Barger
*Bum
*Lupu
*Mjurk -"owner of a nightspot"
*Chanteuse
*Pianist
*Parson
*Bolleboll
*Googoo
*Old Beggar
*Maja -"a beggarwoman"
*Young Waitress
*Watzmann
*Two Rangers
*Teamsters, Farmers, Lumberjacks, "etc".

etting

*About 1911, in Augsburg, Germany and the surrounding region.

BBC production

In 1982, musician/actor David Bowie played the title role for a BBC television production of "Baal". John WIllett provided the English translation and screenplay. Bowie's recordings of the play's five songs were released as an EP, "David Bowie in Bertolt Brecht's BAAL".

Notes

References

* Sacks, Glendyr. 1994. "A Brecht Calendar." In Thomson and Sacks (1994, xvii-xxvii).
* Thomson, Peter. 1994. "Brecht's Lives". In Thomson and Sacks (1994, 22-39).
* Thomson, Peter and Glendyr Sacks, eds. 1994. "The Cambridge Companion to Brecht". Cambridge Companions to Literature Ser. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521414466.
* Willett, John. 1967. "The Theatre of Bertolt Brecht: A Study from Eight Aspects." Third rev. ed. London: Methuen, 1977. ISBN 041334360X.
* Willett, John and Ralph Manheim. 1970. "Introduction." In "Collected Plays: One" by Bertolt Brecht. Ed. John Willett and Ralph Manheim. Bertolt Brecht: Plays, Poetry and Prose Ser. London: Methuen. ISBN 0416 03280 X. p.vii-xvii.