9. Brecht As Director Carl Weber (1967) [P.84-89]

• P.84 Brecht had worked for the theatre nearly all his life, as a critic first, then as a playwright and director.
• When Brecht returned to Europe after his wartime stay in the US, the East German authorities offered to let him direct a production of 'Mother Courage' with his wife, Helene Weigel, in the lead.
• The production opened in 1949, at the Deutsches Theatre, Berlin, and was the turning point of German theatre history, perhaps in this century -- surely at least since Max Reinhardt.
• One thing: it was the first time I [Weber] had ever seen people on the stage behave like real human begins; there was not a trace of 'acting' in that performance, though the technical brilliance and perfection of every moment were stunning.
• Anyone who had a legitimate interest could watch rehearsals....Brecht wanted actors to get used to spectators, to get laughs, to be in contact with the people down there as early in the process as possible, to work with an audience.
• P. 86 To Brecht, blocking was the backbone of the production: ideally, he though t, the blocking should be able to tell the main story of the play - and its contradictions- by itself, so that a person watching through a glass wall unable to hear what was being said would be able to understand the main elements and conflicts of the story.
• P.87 After the last dress rehearsal Brecht always did an exercise, which he called the 'marking' or 'indicating' rehearsal: the actors, not in costumes, but on the set, had to walk quickly through all the actions of the show, quoting the text very rapidly, without any effort at acting, but keeping the rhythm, the pauses, etc, intact.....This proved to be an extremely helpful device; it made the actors relax, helped them to memorize every physical detail and gave them a keen sense for the show's rhythmic pattern.
• Brecht would tell them [actors/ directors who are new at Ensemble], 'Fast results are always to be regarded with suspicion. The first solution is usually not a good solution. Not enough thinking goes into it. Instinct is a very dubious guide, especially for directors.'

Carl Weber

A Model of Courage