One unanticipated benefit of the Bush presidency and its policies is a renewed interest in the plays of Bertolt Brecht – not as 20th Century "classic drama", but as political theater, as Brecht had intended. Philip Tirard reviews a new production of Der aufhaltsame Aufstieg des Atruo Ui in Brussels:
(trans.)"The stage director Hugues Chamart has also sought to draw a parallel with our own era. Thus, interspersed with images from the 1930s of the Nazi dictator, we see George W. Bush making brief appearances in battledress following the terror attacks of September 11, 2001. Moreover, Arturo Ui bears a striking resemblance here to Italy’s Berlusconi, particularly during a live shot when he is seen haranguing the public from a speaker’s rostrum. Elliptical and presented in black-and-white terms, the method leaves one feeling a bit discomfited. And one begins to dream of a new play, a Brechtian analysis of the global geopolitical stage of the last 15 years. It is up to each spectator, essentially to build his own scenario."
Bush has created the perfect conditions for stage revivals of other Brecht plays such as Mutter Courage (the permanent "War on Terror") and Life of Galileo (the assault on science).
In 1931- as the economic and political crisis of the Weimar Republic was reaching its fateful climax – Brecht and his good friend Walter Benjamin conceived of a new magazine for and by left-wing intellectuals that would channel criticism into effective political action. The magazine was to be put out by Rohwolt and was to be called Krise und Kritik.
"Die Zeitschrift nimmt ›Kritik‹ in seiner doppelten Bedeutung, indem sie dialektisch das ganze Stoffgebiet in eine permanente Krisis umdenkt, also die Zeit als in zweifacher Bedeutung ›kritische Zeit‹ auffasst." (Bertolt Brecht)
That project unfortunately never got off the ground, but this week at the Literaturforum in Brecht-Haus the project is being revitalized as Krise und Kritik 2006. Also, via Ostblog, we learn that a journalist collective is being formed under the same name: Krise und Kritik. The collective will include journalists from France, Germany and Poland.
August 14, 2006 will mark the 50th anniversary of Brecht’s death. His work continues to provoke.
