COL 5103H: THE BRECHTIAN LEGACY: SIGN, GESTUS and FEMINIST THEORY
Instructor: Professor Pia Kleber
Location: Conference Room, Comp. Lit
TIME: Wednesday 2-4pm
Office Hours: Before / After Class or by appointment
(pia.kleber@utoronto.ca; Tel.: 416 978 7483)
Course Description:
The main focus of the course will be the study of Bertolt Brecht ’s theory and practice and their relationship to theatre semiotics and feminist theory. We will investigate if Brecht can be seen as one of the first semioticians of theatre and how valid Brecht’s theatre is as a model for “ways of feminist seeing”.
The course will deal with the following tasks:
1. To study Brecht’s theory and put it into a historical context.
2. To examine the implementation of Brecht’s theory on stage as exemplified by the 1957 staging of The Good Person of Szechwan , directed by Benno Besson at the Berliner Ensemble. We will have a look at the model book of this production.
3. To investigate the adequacy of a semiotic approach of analyzing a production.
4. To study the different streams of feminist theatre studies.
5. To test feminist theories as applied to the following Brecht’s plays:
The Mother (1933)
Mother Courage(1939)
The Good Person of Szechwan ( 1941)
The Caucasian Chalk Circle (1949)
Course Organization:
The format of the course will consist of lectures, seminars, a short paper, videos and a research paper.
Each student has to conduct at least one seminar . The introductory and summary will be submitted a week later for evaluation (Short paper)
Evaluation:
Class seminar(s) 30%
Short essay 20%
Research essay 35%
Class participation 15%
Tentative Timetable :
Sept. 12 Introduction to the course
Introduction to Bertolt Brecht
19 Brecht: Structural technique
Sept.22&23 Dreamers,Renegades, Visionaries: The Glenn Gould Variations (Convocation Hall; both days 10 am-1pm;3pm-6pm)
26 Brecht: concept of design
Oct. 1 Dress rehearsal of Die Fledermaus by Johann Strauss (COC; 7:30)
3 Brecht: Concept of acting
10 Semiotic theorists: Keir Elam; Erika Fischer-Lichte
17 “ “ : Umberto Eco / Patrice Pavis
24 Bertolt Brecht and Semiotics
31 Main goals of feminist theories
Nov. 7 “ “ “
14 The Mother; Mother Courage
21 Caucasian Chalk Circle
28 Summary
Dec 14 Research Essay Due
BIBLIOGRAPHY
BRECHT
Brecht, Bertolt, Brecht on Theatre, trans. by John Willett, London: Methuen, 1964.
Kleber, Pia, Exceptions and Rules: Brecht, Planchon and ‘The Good Person of Szechwan’. Frankfurt a.M., Bern, New York: Peter Lang, 1987.
Kleber, Pia and Visser, Colin, (eds.), Re-Interpreting Brecht: His Influence on Contemporary Drama and Film. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990.
Wright, Elizabeth, Postmodern Brecht. A Re-Presentation. London, New York: Routledge, 1989.
Bentley, Eric, The Brecht Commentaries. New York: Grove Press, Inc., 1981. Dort,
Bernard. Lecture de Brecht. Paris: Seuil, 1960.
SEMIOTICS
Aston, Elaine and Savona, George, Theatre as Sign-System: A Semiotics of Text and Performance, New York: Routledge (1991).
Barthes, Roland, Essais critiques, Paris: Seuil, 1964.
Campbell, Patrick, ed., Analysing Performance. A critical reader, Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1996.
Corvin, Michael, “A propos des spectacles de R. Wilson: Essai de lecture sémiologique”, in: Cahiers Renard-Barrault 77 (1971), pp. 90-111.
Corvin, Michael, “Approaches sémiologique d’une texte dramatique. La parodie d’Arthur Adamov”, in Literatur 9 (1973), pp. 86-110.
Eco, Umberto, “Semiotics of Theatrical Performance”, in The Drama Review (1977),21, pp.107-17.
Elam, Keir, The Semiotics of Theatre and Drama, London: Methuen, 1980.
Eschbach, Achim, Pragmasemiotik und Theater, Tübingen: Narr Verlag, 1979.
Fischer-Lichte, Erika, Semiotik des Theaters, 3 vol., Tübingen: Narr Verlag, 1983.
_________ , The Semiotics of Theatre, transl. by Jeremy Gains and Doris L. Jones, Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1992.
Helbo, André, ed., Sémiologie de la representation, Brussels: Complexe, 1975. Kowzan, Tadeusz, Analyse sémiologique du spectacle théâtrales, Lyon: Centre d’études et de recherches théâtrales, Universite de Lyon II, 1976.
Moehrmann, Renate, ed., Theaterwissenschaft heute, Berlin: Dietrich Reimer Verlag, 1990.
Pavis, Patrice, Theatre at the Crossroads of Culture, London and New York: Routledge, 1992.
_______, Languages of the Stage, New York: Performing Arts Journal Publications, 1982.
________ , Problèmes de sémiologie théâtrale, Montreal: Les Presses de l’Université du Quebec, 1976.
Pfister, Manfred, The Theory and Analysis of Drama, transl. by John Halliday, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988.
Quinn, Michael L., The Semiotic Stage: Prague School Theater Theory, New York: Peter Lang, 1995.
Schechner, Richard, Essays on Performance Theory, 1970-76, New York: Drama Book Specialists; 1977.
Toro de, Fernando, Theatre Semiotics. Text and Staging in Modern Theatre, Toronto, Buffalo: University of Toronto Press, 1995.
Ubersfeld, Anne, Lire le théâtre, Paris: Editions Sociales, 1977.
________ , L’école du spectateur, Paris: Editions Sociales, 1981.
FEMINIST THEORY
Aston, Elaine, An Introduction to Feminism & Theatre. London, Ncw York: Routledge, 1995.
Benjamin, Walter, Versuche über Brecht. Frankfurt a.M.: Suhrkamp, 1971.
Bryant-Bertail, Sarah, “Women, Space, Ideology: Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder”, In: Brecht: Women and Politics. The Brecht Yearbook 12. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1983, pp. 43-61.
Butler, J., Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity, London: Routledge, 1990.
Case, Sue Ellen, ed., Performing Feminisms: Feminist Critical Theory and Theatre.
Baltimore, London: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1990.
Case, Sue Ellen, “Brecht and Women: Homosexuality and the Mother”, In: Brecht: Women and Politics. The Brecht Yearbook 12. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1983, pp. 65-74.
Case, Sue Ellen, Feminism and Theatre, London: Macmillan, 1988.
Chodorow, Nancy, Berkeley, The Reproduction of Mothering. Psychoanalysis and the Sociology of Gender. Los Angeles, London: University of California Press, 1978.
Diamond, Elin, “Brechtian Theory/Feminist Theory. Toward a Gestic Feminist Criticism”, In: The Drama Review, Vol. 32, No.1, Spring 1988, pp. 82-94.
DeLauretis, T. Alice Doesn’t: Feminism, Semiotics, Cinema. Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 1987.
Dolan, J. The Feminist Spectator as Critic. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1988.
Dolan, Jill. “Gender Impersonation Onstage: Destroying or Maintaining the Mirror of Gender Roles”, In: Women in Performance, Vol. 2, 1985, pp.5-11.
Dunn, Leslie and Nancy A. Jones, Eds., Embodied Voices: Female Vocality in Western Culture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994.
Hermann, Anne, “Travesty and Transgression: Travestisrn in Shakespeare, Brecht, and Churchill”. In: Theatre journal, Vol. 41, No.2, May 1989, pp.133-154.
Kleber, Pia, “Die Courage der Mütter”. In: Verklärt, verkitscht, vergessen.
Die Mütter als ästhetische Figur: Stuttgart, Weimar: VerlagJ.B. Metzler, 1996, pp. 130-144.
Lennox, Sara, “Women in Brecht’s Work”. In: New German Critique, 14, Spring 1978, pp. 83-96.
Reinelt, Janelle, “Rethinking Brecht: Deconstruction, Feminism, and the Politics of Form”. In: Brecht Yearbook. College Park, MD: International Brecht Society, Vol. 15,1990, pp. 99-107.
Rubin, Gayle, “The Traffic in Women: Notes on the Political Economy of Sex”:, In: Toward an Anthropology of Women, ed. by Rayna R. Reiter. New York, London: Monthly Review Press, 1975, pp. 157-210.
Rich, Adrienne. Of Woman Born. Motherhood as Experience and Institution. Norton New York, London: W.W. & Company, 1976.
Solomon, Alisa, “Materialist Girl. ‘The Good Person of Szechwan’ and Making Gender
Strange”, In: Theater, Vol. 25, No.2, 1994, pp. 42-55.
PLAYS
Bertolt Brecht, The Mother
“ , Mother Courage
“ , The Good Person of Szechwan
“ , The Caucasian Chalk Circle
