Brechtian Opera
Donnacha:
August 19th, 2006
One of the more fascinating plays i’ve seen at this year’s Edinburgh Festival has been a double bill of Brechtian Opera. For two nights only the Opera National de Lyon performed two of Brecht’s shorter works, “The Lindbergh Flight” and “The Seven Deadly Sins.”
The production was sumptuous with exquisite singing and vivacious, original dance numbers from the eponymous Sins.
At the end of the night i was left with a feeling i had seen something particularly unusual but i couldn’t quite work out what. The it struck me- the plays were political, overtly political. It came as a shock to me but you don’t get that much these days. “The Lindbergh Flight” explored the nature of a hero in industrial society and the mastery of nature by man’s mechanical inventions. “Seven Deadly Sins” laid bare the corrupting influence of rampant capitalism and greed.
I suspect that, if Brecht was writing today he would find it difficult to get staged. We are told political theatre is resurgent but i’m convinced critics would dismiss his works as pure propaganda and consign them to the dustbin of history. On the Royal Mile here there are no shortage of costumed American marines, Afghan fighters or bandaged Iraqis but they are all in “docuplays”.
There is a lack of original, fictional, political drama in our theatre culture today. Where it is tolerated it has had to adopt the look, feel and some of the rigours of documentary. The Tricycle theatre’s Tribunal Plays (Nuremberg Trials, Colour of Justice, Bloody Sunday etc.) refuse to create any original dialogue while plays like David Hare’s recent “The Permanent Way” or “Stuff Happens” rely on original documents or interviews for their legitimacy.
As it is Brecht is safe because luscious revivals are “heritage” not “agitprop.”
It wasn’t long ago theatres were full of the intensley political, epic dramas of Brenton, Hare and Bond. Even the early 90s were full of “In Yer Face” political theatre from Sarah Kane or Mark Ravenhill.
Plays based on real life and documented history are an important, informative and entertaining part of our theatrical culture but we shouldn’t underestimate the political power of fiction.