A Short Organum for the Theatre

Bertolt Brecht

(1948)

PROLOGUE aesthetic concepts enough weapons to defend them-

selves against the aesthetics of the Press they sim-
T HE following sets out to define an aesthetic
drawn from a particular kind of theatrical per-
formance which has been worked out in practice
ply threatened to transform the means of enjoyment
into an instrument of instruction, and to convert cer-
tain amusement establishments into organs of mass
over the past few decades. In the theoretical state-
communication (Notes to the opera Mahagonny
ments, excursions, technical indications occasion-
[see No. 13]): i.e. to emigrate from the realm of
ally published in the form of notes to the writers
the merely enjoyable. Aesthetics, that heirloom of a
plays, aesthetics have only been touched on casu-
by now depraved and parasitic class, was in such a
ally and with comparative lack of interest. There
lamentable state that a theatre would certainly have
you saw a particular species of theatre extending or
gained both in reputation and in elbowroom if it
contracting its social functions, perfecting or sifting
had rechristened itself thaeter. And yet what we
its artistic methods and establishing or maintaining
achieved in the way of theatre for a scientific age
its aesthetics if the question arose by reject-
was not science but theatre, and the accumulated in-
ing or converting to its own use the dominant con-
novations worked out during the Nazi period and
ventions of morality or taste according to its tactical
the war when practical demonstration was im-
needs. This theatre justified its inclination to social
possible compel some attempt to set this species
commitment by pointing to the social commitment
of theatre in its aesthetic background, or anyhow to
in universally accepted works of art, which only fail
sketch for it the outlines of a conceivable aesthetic.
to strike the eye because it was the accepted com-
To explain the theory of theatrical alienation except
mitment. As for the products of our own time, it
within an aesthetic framework would be impossibly
held that their lack of any worthwhile content was
awkward.
a sign of decadence: it accused these entertainment
Today one could go so far as to compile an aes-
emporiums of having degenerated into branches of
thetics of the exact sciences. Galileo spoke of the
the bourgeois narcotics business. The stages inac-
elegance of certain formulae and the point of an ex-
curate representations of our social life, including
periment; Einstein suggests that the sense of beauty
those classed as so-called Naturalism, led it to call
has a part to play in the making of scientific discov-
for scientifically exact representations; the tasteless
eries; while the atomic physicist R. Oppenheimer
rehashing of empty visual or spiritual palliatives, for
praises the scientific attitude, which has its own
the noble logic of the multiplication table. The cult
kind of beauty and seems to suit mankinds position
of beauty, conducted with hostility towards learn-
on earth.
ing and contempt for the useful, was dismissed by
Let us therefore cause general dismay by revok-
it as itself contemptible, especially as nothing beau-
ing our decision to emigrate from the realm of the
tiful resulted. The battle was for a theatre fit for
merely enjoyable, and even more general dismay by
the scientific age, and where its planners found it
announcing our decision to take up lodging there.
too hard to borrow or steal from the armoury of

B ERTOLT B RECHT 1 A Short Organum for the Theatre

Let us treat the theatre as a place of entertainment, what it brought over from the mysteries was not its
as is proper in an aesthetic discussion, and try to former ritual function, but purely and simply the
discover which type of entertainment suits us best. pleasure which accompanied this. And the cathar-
sis of which Aristotle writes cleansing by fear
1
and pity, or from fear and pity is a purification
Theatre consists in this: in making live represen- which is performed not only in a pleasurable way,
tations of reported or invented happenings between but precisely for the purpose of pleasure. To ask
human beings and doing so with a view to entertain- or to accept more of the theatre is to set ones own
ment. At any rate that is what we shall mean when mark too low.
we speak of theatre, whether old or new.
5
2
Even when people speak of higher and lower de-
To extend this definition we might add happenings grees of pleasure, art stares impassively back at
between humans and gods, but as we are only seek- them; for it wishes to fly high and low and to be left
ing to establish the minimum we can leave such in peace, so long as it can give pleasure to people.
matters aside. Even if we did accept such an ex-
tension we should still have to say that the theatre 6
set-ups broadest function was to give pleasure. It Yet there are weaker (simple) and stronger (com-
is the noblest function that we have found for the- plex) pleasures which the theatre can create. The
atre. last-named, which are what we are dealing with in
great drama, attain their climaxes rather as cohab-
3
itation does through love: they are more intricate,
From the first it has been the theatres business to richer in communication, more contradictory and
entertain people, as it also has of all the other arts. more productive of results.
It is this business which always gives it its particu-
lar dignity; it needs no other passport than fun, but 7
this it has got to have. We should not by any means And different periods pleasures varied naturally
be giving it a higher status if we were to turn it e.g. according to the system under which people lived
into a purveyor of morality; it would on the contrary in society at the time. The Greek demos [literally:
run the risk of being debased, and this would occur the demos of the Greek circus] ruled by tyrants had
at once if it failed to make its moral lesson enjoy- to be entertained differently from the feudal court
able, and enjoyable to the senses at that: a princi- of Louis XIV. The theatre was required to deliver
ple, admittedly, by which morality can only gain. different representations of mens life together: not
Not even instruction can be demanded of it: at any just representations of a different life, but also rep-
rate, no more utilitarian lesson than how to move resentations of a different sort.
pleasurably, whether in the physical or in the spiri-
8
tual sphere. The theatre must in fact remain some-
thing entirely superfluous, though this indeed means According to the sort of entertainment which was
that it is the superfluous for which we live. Nothing possible and necessary under the given conditions
needs less justification than pleasure. of mens life together the characters had to be given
varying proportions, the situations to be constructed
4 according to varying points of view. Stories have to
Thus what the ancients, following Aristotle, de- be narrated in various ways, so that these particular
manded of tragedy is nothing higher or lower than Greeks may be able to amuse themselves with the
that it should entertain people. Theatre may be said inevitability of divine laws where ignorance never
to be derived from ritual, but that is only to say mitigates the punishment; these French with the
that it becomes theatre once the two have separated; graceful self-discipline demanded of the great ones

B ERTOLT B RECHT 2 A Short Organum for the Theatre

of this earth by a courtly code of duty; the English- they rely little. Thus the greater part of our enjoy-
men of the Elizabethan age with the self-awareness ment is drawn from other sources than those which
of the new individual personality which was then our predecessors were able to exploit so fully. We
uncontrollably bursting out. are left safely dependent on beauty of language, on
elegance of narration, on passages which stimulate
9
our own private imaginations: in short, on the inci-
And we must always remember that the plea- dentals of the old works. These are precisely the po-
sure given by representations of such different sorts etical and theatrical means which hide the impreci-
hardly ever depended on the representations like- sions of the story. Our theatres no longer have either
ness to the thing portrayed. Incorrectness, or con- the capacity or the wish to tell these stories, even the
siderable improbability even, was hardly or not at relatively recent ones of the great Shakespeare, at all
all disturbing, so long as the incorrectness had a clearly: i.e. to make the connection of events cred-
certain consistency and the improbability remained ible. And according to Aristotle and we agree
of a constant kind. All that mattered was the illu- there narrative is the soul of drama. We are more
sion of compelling momentum in the story told, and and more disturbed to see how crudely and care-
this was created by all sorts of poetic and theatrical lessly mens life together is represented, and that
means. Even today we are happy to overlook such not only in old works but also in contemporary ones
inaccuracies if we can get something out of the spir- constructed according to the old recipes. Our whole
itual purifications of Sophocles or the sacrificial acts way of appreciation is starting to get out of date.
of Racine or the unbridled frenzies of Shakespeare,
by trying to grasp the immense or splendid feelings 13
of the principal characters in these stories. It is the inaccurate way in which happenings be-
tween human beings are represented that restricts
10
our pleasure in the theatre. The reason: we and our
For of all the many sorts of representation of forebears have a different relationship to what is be-
happenings between humans which the theatre has ing shown.
made since ancient times, and which have given en-
tertainment despite their incorrectness and improb- 14
ability, there are even today an astonishing number For when we look about us for an entertainment
that also give entertainment to us. whose impact is immediate, for a comprehensive
and penetrating pleasure such as our theatre could
11
give us by representations of mens life together, we
In establishing the extent to which we can be sat- have to think of ourselves as children of a scientific
isfied by representations from so many different pe- age. Our life as human beings in society i.e. our
riods something that can hardly have been pos life is determined by the sciences to a quite new
sible to the children of those vigorous periods them- extent.
selves are we not at the same time creating the
suspicion that we have failed to discover the spe- 15
cial pleasures, the proper entertainment of our own A few hundred years ago a handful of people,
time? working in different countries but in correspon-
dence with one another, performed certain experi-
12
ments by which they hoped to wring from Nature
And our enjoyment of the theatre must have be- her secrets. Members of a class of craftsmen in the
come weaker than that of the ancients, even if our already powerful cities, they transmitted their dis-
way of living together is still sufficiently like theirs coveries to people who made practical use of them,
for it to be felt at all. We grasp the old works by a without expecting more from the new sciences than
comparatively new method empathy on which personal profit for themselves.

B ERTOLT B RECHT 3 A Short Organum for the Theatre

 Crafts which had progressed by methods virtu- was performed without the new intellectual methods
ally unchanged during a thousand years now devel- that made it possible ever illuminating the mutual
oped hugely; in many places, which became linked relationships of the people who carried it out. The
by competition, they gathered from all directions new approach to nature was not applied to society.
great masses of men, and these, adopting new forms
18
of organization, started producing on a giant scale.
Soon mankind was showing powers whose extent it In the event peoples mutual relations have become
would till that time scarcely have dared to dream of. harder to disentangle than ever before. The gigantic
joint undertaking on which they are engaged seems
i6 more and more to split them into two groups; in-
It was as if mankind for the first time now began a creases in production lead to increases in misery;
conscious and coordinated effort to make the planet only a minority gain from the exploitation of nature,
that was its home fit to live on. Many of the earths and they only do so because they exploit men. What
components, such as coal, water, oil, now became might be progress for all then becomes advance-
treasures. Steam was made to shift vehicles; a few ment for a few, and an ever-increasing part of the
small sparks and the twitching of frogs legs re- productive process gets applied to creating means of
vealed a natural force which produced light, carried destruction for mighty wars. During these wars the
sounds across continents, etc. In all directions man mothers of every nation, with their children pressed
looked about himself with a new vision, to see how to them, scan the skies in horror for the deadly in-
he could adapt to his convenience familiar but as yet ventions of science.
unexploited objects. His surroundings changed in-
19
creasingly from decade to decade, then from year to
year, then almost from day to day. I who am writ- The same attitude as men once showed in face of
ing this write it on a machine which at the time of unpredictable natural catastrophes they now adopt
my birth was unknown. I travel in the new vehicles towards their own undertakings. The bourgeois
with a rapidity that my grandfather could not imag- class, which owes to science an advancement that it
ine; in those days nothing moved so fast. And I rise was able, by ensuring that it alone enjoyed the fruits,
in the air: a thing that my father was unable to do. to convert into domination, knows very well that its
With my father I already spoke across the width of rule would come to an end if the scientific eye were
a continent, but it was together with my son that I turned on its own undertakings. And so that new sci-
first saw the moving pictures of the explosion at Hi- ence which was founded about a hundred years ago
roshima. and deals with the character of human society was
born in the struggle between rulers and ruled. Since
17
then a certain scientific spirit has developed at the
The new sciences may have made possible this vast bottom, among the new class of workers whose nat-
alteration and all-important alterability of our sur- ural element is large-scale production; from down
roundings, yet it cannot be said that their spirit de- there the great catastrophes are spotted as undertak-
termines everything that we do. The reason why the ings by the rulers.
new way of thinking and feeling has not yet pen-
etrated the great mass of men is that the sciences, 20
for all their success in exploiting and dominating But science and art meet on this ground, that both
nature, have been stopped by the class which they are there to make mens life easier, the one setting
brought to power the bourgeoisie from op- out to maintain, the other to entertain us. In the
erating in another field where darkness still reigns, age to come art will create entertainment from that
namely that of the relations which people have to new productivity which can so greatly improve our
one another during the exploiting and dominating maintenance, and in itself, if only it is left unshack-
process. This business on which all alike depended led, may prove to be the greatest pleasure of them

B ERTOLT B RECHT 4 A Short Organum for the Theatre

all. for its theme, and with greater keenness than ever
now that man is everywhere hampered by men from
21
self-production: i.e. from maintaining himself, en-
If we want now to surrender ourselves to this great tertaining and being entertained. The theatre has to
passion for producing, what ought our representa- become geared into reality if it is to be in a position
tions of mens life together to look like? What is to turn out effective representations of reality, and
that productive attitude in face of nature and of so- to be allowed to do so.
ciety which we children of a scientific age would
like to take up pleasurably in our theatre? 24
But this makes it simpler for the theatre to edge
22 as close as possible to the apparatus of education
The attitude is a critical one. Faced with a river, it and mass communication. For although we can not
consists in regulating the river; faced with a fruit bother it with the raw material of knowledge in all
tree, in spraying the fruit tree; faced with move- its variety, which would stop it from being enjoy-
ment, in constructing vehicles and aeroplanes; faced able, it is still free to find enjoyment in teaching and
with society, in turning society upside down. Our inquiring. It constructs its workable representations
representations of human social life are designed of society, which are then in a position to influence
for river-dwellers, fruit farmers, builders of vehicles society, wholly and entirely as a game: for those
and upturners of society, whom we invite into our who are constructing society it sets out societys ex-
theatres and beg not to forget their cheerful occupa- periences, past and present alike, in such a manner
tions while we hand the world over to their minds that the audience can appreciate the feelings, in-
and hearts, for them to change as they think fit. sights and impulses which are distilled by the wis-
23 est, most active and most passionate among us from
the events of the day or the century. They must be
The theatre can only adopt such a free attitude if it
entertained with the wisdom that comes from the so-
lets itself be carried along by the strongest currents
lution of problems, with the anger that is a practical
in its society and associates itself with those who are
expression of sympathy with the underdog, with the
necessarily most impatient to make great alterations
respect due to those who respect humanity, or rather
there. The bare wish, if nothing else, to evolve an
whatever is kind to humanity; in short, with what-
art fit for the times must drive our theatre of the sci-
ever delights those who are producing something.
entific age straight out into the suburbs, where it can
stand as it were wide open, at the disposal of those 25
who live hard and produce much, so that they can And this also means that the theatre can let its spec-
be fruitfully entertained there with their great prob- tators enjoy the particular ethic of their age, which
lems. They may find it hard to pay for our art, and springs from productivity. A theatre which converts
immediately to grasp the new method of entertain- the critical approach i.e. our great productive
ment, and we shall have to learn in many respects method into pleasure finds nothing in the ethi-
what they need and how they need it; but we can be cal field which it must do and a great deal that it
sure of their interest. For these men who seem so can. Even the wholly anti-social can be a source of
far apart from natural science are only apart from it enjoyment to society so long as it is presented force-
because they are being forcibly kept apart; and be- fully and on the grand scale. It then often proves
fore they can get their hands on it they have first to to have considerable powers of understanding and
develop and put into effect a new science of society; other unusually valuable capacities, applied admit-
so that these are the true children of the scientific tedly to a destructive end. Even the bursting flood
age, who alone can get the theatre moving if it is of a vast catastrophe can be appreciated in all its
to move at all. A theatre which makes productivity majesty by society, if society knows how to master
its main source of entertainment has also to take it it; then we make it our own.

B ERTOLT B RECHT 5 A Short Organum for the Theatre

 26 differ one from the other, but the central figures have
For such an operation as this we can hardly accept to be kept general, so that it is easier for the onlooker
the theatre as we see it before us. Let us go into one to identify himself with them, and at all costs each
of these houses and observe the effect which it has trait of character must be drawn from the narrow
on the spectators. Looking about us, we see some- field within which everyone can say at once: that is
what motionless figures in a peculiar condition: they how it is.
seem strenuously to be tensing all their muscles, ex- For the spectator wants to be put in possession
cept where these are flabby and exhausted. They of quite definite sensations, just as a child does
scarcely communicate with each other; their rela- when it climbs on to one of the horses on a round-
tions are those of a lot of sleepers, though of such about: the sensation of pride that it can ride, and has
as dream restlessly because, as is popularly said of a horse; the pleasure of being carried, and whirled
those who have nightmares, they are lying on their past other children; the adventurous daydreams in
backs. True, their eyes are open, but they stare which it pursues others or is pursued, etc. In leading
rather than see, just as they listen rather than hear. the child to experience all this the degree to which
They look at the stage as if in a trance: an expression its wooden seat resembles a horse counts little, nor
which comes from the Middle Ages, the days of does it matter that the ride is confined to a small
witches and priests. Seeing and hearing are activi- circle. The one important point for the spectators
ties, and can be pleasant ones, but these people seem in these houses is that they should be able to swap
relieved of activity and like men to whom something a contradictory world for a consistent one, one that
is being done. This detached state, where they seem they scarcely know for one of which they can dream.
to be given over to vague but profound sensations, 29
grows deeper the better the work of the actors, and
That is the sort of theatre which we face in our op-
so we, as we do not ap prove of this situation, should
erations, and so far it has been fully able to trans-
like them to be as bad as possible.
mute our optimistic friends, whom we have called
27 the children of the scientific era, into a cowed, cred-
As for the world portrayed there, the world from ulous, hypnotized mass.
which slices are cut in order to produce these moods 30
and movements of the emotions, its appearance is
True, for about half a century they have been able
such, produced from such slight and wretched stuff
to see rather more faithful representations of human
as a few pieces of cardboard, a little miming, a bit
social life, as well as individual figures who were in
of text, that one has to admire the theatre folk who,
revolt against certain social evils or even against the
with so feeble a reflection of the real world, can
structure of society as a whole. They felt interested
move the feelings of their audience so much more
enough to put up with a temporary and exceptional
strongly than does the world itself.
restriction of language, plot and spiritual scope; for
28 the fresh wind of the scientific spirit nearly withered
the charms to which they had grown used. The sac-
In any case we should excuse these theatre folk, rifice was not especially worth while. The greater
for the pleasures which they sell for money and subtlety of the representations subtracted from one
fame could not be induced by an exacter representa- pleasure without satisfying another. The field of
tion of the world, nor could their inexact renderings human relationships came within our view, but not
be presented in a less magical way. Their capacity within our grasp. Our feelings, having been aroused
to represent people can be seen at work in various in the old (magic) way, were bound themselves to
instances; it is especially the rogues and the minor remain unaltered.
figures who reveal their knowledge of humanity and

B ERTOLT B RECHT 6 A Short Organum for the Theatre

 31 Oedipus; . for taboos still exist and ignorance is
For always and everywhere theatres were the no excuse before the law. Into Othello; for jeal-
amusement centres of a class which restricted the ously still causes us trouble and everything depends
scientific spirit to the natural field, not daring to let on possession. Into Wallenstein; for we need to be
it loose on the field of human relationships. The free for the competitive struggle and to observe the
tiny proletarian section of the public, reinforced to rules, or it would peter out. This deadweight of old
a negligible and uncertain extent by renegade intel- habits is also needed for plays like Ghosts and The
lectuals, likewise still needed the old kind of enter- Weavers, although there the social structure, in the
tainment, as a relief from its predetermined way of shape of a setting, presents itself as more open to
life. question. The feelings, insights and impulses of the
chief characters are forced on us, and so we learn
32
nothing more about society than we can gel from
So let us march ahead! Away with all obstacles! the setting.
Since we seem to have landed in a battle, let us fight!
Have we not seen how disbelief can move moun- 35
tains? Is it not enough that we should have found We need a type of theatre which not only releases
that something is being kept from us? Before one the feelings, insights and impulses possible within
thing and another there hangs a curtain: let us draw the particular historical field of human relations in
it up! which the action takes place, but employs and en-
courages those thoughts and feelings which help
33
transform the field itself.
The theatre as we know it shows the structure of so-
ciety (represented on the stage) as incapable of be- 36
ing influenced by society (in the auditorium). Oedi- The field has to be defined in historically relative
pus, who offended against certain principles under- terms. In other words we must drop our habit of
lying the society of his time, is executed: the gods taking the different social structures of past periods,
see to that; they are beyond criticism. Shakespeares then stripping them of everything that makes them
great solitary figures, bearing on their breast the star different; so that they all look more or less like our
of their fate, carry through with irresistible force own, which then acquires from this process a certain
their futile and deadly outbursts; they prepare their air of having been there all along, in other words of
own downfall; life, not death, becomes obscene as permanence pure and simple. Instead we must leave
they collapse; the catastrophe is beyond criticism. them their distinguishing marks and keep their im-
Human sacrifices all round! Barbaric delights! We permanence always before our eyes, so that our own
know that the barbarians have their art. Let us create period can be seen to be impermanent too. (It is
another. of course futile to make use of fancy colours and
folklore for this, such as our theatres apply precisely
34
in order to emphasize the similarities in human be-
How much longer are our souls, leaving our mere haviour at different times. We shall indicate the the-
bodies under cover of the darkness, to plunge into atrical methods below.)
those dreamlike figures up on the stage, there to take
part in the crescendos and climaxes which normal 37
life denies us? What kind of release is it at the end If we ensure that our characters on the stage are
of all these plays (which is a happy end only for moved by social impulses and that these differ ac-
the conventions of the period suitable measures, cording to the period, then we make it harder for
the restoration of order -), when we experience the our spectator to identify himself with them. He can-
dreamlike executioners axe which cuts short such not simply feel: thats how I would act, but at most
crescendos as so many excesses? We slink into can say: if I had lived under those circumstances.

B ERTOLT B RECHT 7 A Short Organum for the Theatre

And if we play works dealing with our own time our structure, by mentally switching off the motive
as though they were historical, then perhaps the cir- forces of our society or by substituting others for
cumstances under which he himself acts will strike them: a process which leads real conduct to acquire
him as equally odd; and this is where the critical an element of un- naturalness, thus allowing the
attitude begins. real motive forces to be shorn of their naturalness
and become capable of manipulation.
38
The historical conditions must of course not be 41
imagined (nor will they be so constructed) as mys- It is the same as when an irrigation expert looks at
terious Powers (in the background); on the contrary, a river together with its former bed and various hy-
they are created and maintained by men (and will pothetical courses which it might have followed if
in due course be altered by them): it is the actions there had been a different tilt to the plateau or a dif-
taking place before us that allow us to see what they ferent volume of water. And while he in his mind is
are. looking at a new river, the socialist in his is hearing
39 new kinds of talk from the labourers who work by
it. And simi larly in the theatre our spectator should
If a character responds in a manner historically in
find that the incidents set among such labourers are
keeping with his period, and would respond oth-
also accompanied by echoes and by traces of sketch-
erwise in other periods, does that mean that he is
ing.
not simply Everyman? It is true that a man will
respond differently according to his circumstances 42
and his class; if he were living at another time, The kind of acting which was tried out at the Schiff
or in his youth, or on the darker side of life, he bauerdamm Theater in Berlin between the First and
would infallibly give a different response, though Second World Wars, with the object of producing
one still determined by the same factors and like such images, is based on the alienation effect (A-
anyone elses response in that situation at that time. effect). A representation that alienates is one which
So should we not ask if there are any further differ- allows us to recognize its subject, but at the same
ences of response? Where is the man himself, the time makes it seem unfamiliar. The classical and
living, unmistakeable man, who is not quite iden- medieval theatre alienated its characters by mak-
tical with those identified with him? It is clear that ing them wear human or animal masks; the Asiatic
his stage image must bring him to light, and this will theatre even today uses musical and pantomimic A-
come about if this particular contradiction is recre- effects. Such devices were certainly a barrier to em-
ated in the image. The image that gives historical pathy, and yet this technique owed more, not less, to
definition will retain something of the rough sketch- hypnotic suggestion than do those by which empa-
ing which indicates traces of other movements and thy is achieved. The social aims of these old devices
features all around the fully-worked-out figure. Or were entirely different from our own.
imagine a man standing in a valley and making a
43
speech in which he occasionally changes his views
or simply utters sentences which contradict one an- The old A-effects quite remove the object repre-
other, so that the accompanying echo forces them sented from the spectators grasp, turning it into
into confrontation. something that cannot be altered; the new are
not odd in themselves, though the unscientific eye
40 stamps anything strange as odd. The new alien-
Such images certainly demand a way of acting ations are only designed to free socially-conditioned
which will leave the spectators intellect free and phenomena from that stamp of familiarity which
highly mobile. He has again and again to make protects them against our grasp today.
what one might call hypothetical adjustments to

B ERTOLT B RECHT 8 A Short Organum for the Theatre

 44 46
For it seems impossible to alter what has long not Our own period, which is transforming nature in so
been altered. We are always coming on things that many and different ways, takes pleasure in under-
are too obvious for us to bother to understand them. standing things so that we can interfere. There is a
What men experience among themselves they think great deal to man, we say; so a great deal can be
of as the human experience. A child, living in made out of him. He does not have to stay the way
a world of old men, learns how things work there. he is now, nor does he have to be seen only as he is
He knows the run of things before he can walk. If now, but also as he might become. We must not start
anyone is bold enough to want something further, with him; we must start on him. This means, how-
he only wants to have it as an exception. Even if ever, that I must not simply set myself in his place,
he realizes that the arrangements made for him by but must set myself facing him, to represent us all.
Providence are only what has been provided by That is why the theatre must alienate what it shows.
society he is bound to see society, that vast collec- 47
tion of beings like himself, as a whole that is greater
In order to produce A-effects the actor has to dis-
than the sum of its parts and therefore not in any
card whatever means he has learnt of getting the au-
way to be influenced. Moreover, he would be used
dience to identify itself with the characters which
to things that could not be influenced; and who mis-
he plays. Aiming not to put his audience into a
trusts what he is used to? To transform himself from
trance, he must not go into a trance himself. His
general passive acceptance to a corresponding state
muscles must remain loose, for a turn of the head,
of suspicious inquiry he would need to develop that
e.g. with tautened neck muscles, will magically
detached eye with which the great Galileo observed
lead the spectators eyes and even their heads to-turn
a swinging chandelier. He was amazed by this pen-
with it, and this can only detract from any specula-
dulum motion, as if he had not expected it and could
tion or reaction which the gesture may bring about.
not understand its occurring, and this enabled him to
His way of speaking has to be free from parsonical
come on the rules by which it was governed. Here
sing-song and from all those cadences which lull the
is the outlook, disconcerting but fruitful, which the
spectator so that the sense gets lost. Even if he plays
theatre must provoke with its representations of hu-
a man possessed he must not seem to be possessed
man social life. It must amaze its public, and this
himself, for how is the spectator to discover what
can be achieved by a technique of alienating the fa-
possessed him if he does?
miliar.
48
45
At no moment must he go so far as to be wholly
This technique allows the theatre to make use in its
transformed into the character played. The verdict:
representations of the new social scientific method
he didnt act Lear, he was Lear would be an anni-
known as dialectical materialism. In order to un-
hilating blow to him. He has just to show the char-
earth societys laws of motion this method treats so-
acter, or rather he has to do more than just get into
cial situations as processes, and traces out all their
it; this does not mean that if he is playing passion-
inconsistencies. It regards nothing as existing ex-
ate parts he must himself remain cold. It is only
cept in so far as it changes, in other words is in
that his feelings must not at bottom be those of the
disharmony with itself. This also goes for those hu-
character, so that the audiences may not at bottom
man feelings, opinions and attitudes through which
be those of the character either. The audience must
at any time the form of mens life together finds its
li.iv. complete freedom here.
expression.
49
This principle that the actor appears on the stage
in a double role, as Laughton and as Galileo; that

B ERTOLT B RECHT 9 A Short Organum for the Theatre

the showman Laughton does not disappeai in the a pretence made possible by the rules of the game
Galileo whom he is showing; from which this way but as something to be distinguished from yester-
of acting gets id name of epic comes to mean day and some other place, so as to make visible the
simply that the tangible, matter-of-fin i process is knotting-together of the events.
no longer hidden behind a veil; that Laughton is ac-
51
tually there, standing on the stage and showing us
what he imagines Galileo to have been. Of course This matters particularly in the portrayal of large-
the audience would not forget Laughton if he at- scale events or ones where the outside world is
tempted the full change of personality, in that they abruptly changed, as in wars and revolutions. The
would admire him for it; bin they would in that case spectator can then have the whole situation and the
miss his own opinions and sensations, which would whole course of events set before him. He can for
have been completely swallowed up by the charac- instance hear a woman speaking and imagine her
ter. He would have taken its opinions and sensations speaking differently, let us say in a few weeks time,
and made them his own, so that a single homoge- or other men speaking differently at that moment
neous pattern would emerge, which he would then but in another place. This would be possible if the
make ours. In order to prevent this abuse the actor actress were to play as though the woman had lived
must also put some artistry into the act of showing. through the entire period and were now, out of her
An illustration may help: we find a gesture which memory and her pledge of what happened next, re-
expresses one-half of his attitude that of showing calling those utterances of hers which were impor-
if we make him smoke a cigar and then imagine tant at the time; for what is important here is what
him laying it down now and again in order to show became important. To alienate an individual in this
us some further characteristic attitude of the figure way, as being this particular individual and this
in the play. If we then subtract any element of hurry particular individual at this particular moment, is
from the image and do not read slackness into its re- only possible if there are no illusions that the player
fusal to be taut we shall have an actor who is fully is identical with the character and the performance
capable of leaving us to our thoughts, or to his own. with the actual event.

50 52
There needs to be yet a further change in the actors We shall find that this has meant scrapping yet an-
communication of these images, and it too makes other illusion: that everyone behaves like the char-
the process more matter-on-fact. Just as the ac- acter concerned. I am doing this has become I
tor no longer has to persuade the audience that it is did this, and now he did this has got to become
the authors character and not himself that is stand- he did this, when he might have done something
ing on the stage, so also he need not pretend that else. It is too great a simplification if we make ac-
the events taking place on the stage have never been tions fit the character and the character fit the ac-
rehearsed, and are now happening for the first and tions: the inconsistenies which are to be found in
only time. Schillers distinction is no longer valid: the actions and characters of real people cannot be
that the rhapsodist has to treat his material as wholly shown like this. The laws of motion of a society
in the past: the mime his, as wholly here and now.1 are not to be demonstrated by perfect examples,
It should be apparent all through his performance for imperfection (inconsistency) is an initial part
that even at the start and in the middle he knows of motion and of the thing moved. It is only neces-
how it ends and he must thus maintain a calm inde- sary but absolutely necessary that there should
pendence throughout. He narrates the story of his be something approaching experimental conditions,
character by vivid portrayal, always knowing more i.e. that a counter-experiment should now and then
than it does and treating its now and here not as be conceivable. Altogether this is a way of treating
1 Letter to Goethe, 26.12.1797 [quoted on p. 210].

B ERTOLT B RECHT 10 A Short Organum for the Theatre

society as if all its actions were performed as exper- mankinds highest decisions are in fact fought out
iments. on earth, not in the heavens; in the external world,
not inside peoples heads. Nobody can stand above
53
the warring classes, for nobody can stand above the
Even if empathy, or self-identification with the human race. Society cannot share a common com-
character, can be usefully indulged in at rehearsals munication system so long as it is split into warring
(something to be avoided in a performance) it has classes. Thus for art to be unpolitical means only
to be treated just as one of a number of methods to ally itself with the ruling group.
of observation. It helps when rehearsing, for even
though the contemporary theatre has applied it in an 56
indiscriminate way it has none the less led to sub- So the choice of viewpoint is also a major element
tle delineation of personality. But it is the crudest of the actors art, and it has to be decided outside
form of empathy when the actor simply asks: what the theatre. Like the transformation of nature, that
should I be like if this or that were to happen to of society is a liberating act; and it is the joys of lib-
me? what would it look like if I were to say this eration which the theatre of a scientific age has got
and do that? instead of asking: have I ever heard to convey.
somebody saying this and doing that? in order to 57
piece together all sorts of elements with which to Let us go on to examine how, for instance, this
construct a new character such as would allow the viewpoint affects the actors interpretation of his
story to have taken place and a good deal else. part. It then becomes important that he should not
The coherence of the character is in fact shown by catch on too quickly. Even if he straightway es-
the way in which its individual qualities contradict tablishes the most natural cadences for his part, the
one another. least awkward way of speaking it, he still cannot re-
54 gard its actual pronouncement as being ideally nat-
Observation is a major part of acting. The actor ob- ural, but must think twice and take his own general
serves his fellow-men with all his nerves and mus- opinions into account, then consider various other
cles in an act of imitation which is at the same time a conceivable pronouncements; in short, take up the
process of the mind. For pure imitation would only attitude of a man who just wonders. This is not only
bring out what had been observed; and this is not to prevent him from fixing a particular character
enough, because the original says what it has to say prematurely, so that it has to be stuffed out with af-
with too subdued a voice. To achieve a character terthoughts because he has not waited to register all
rather than a caricature, the actor looks at people the other pronouncements, and especially those of
as though they were playing him their actions, in the other characters; but also and principally in or-
other words as though they were advising him to der to build into the character that element of Not
give their actions careful consideration. But on which so much depends if society, in
the shape of the audience, is to be able to look at
55 what takes place in such a way as to be able to af-
Without opinions and objectives one can represent fect it. Each actor, moreover, instead of concentrat-
nothing at all. Without knowledge one can show ing on what suits him and calling it human nature,
nothing; how could one know what would be worth must go above all for what does not suit him, is
knowing? Unless the actor is satisfied to be a parrot not his speciality. And along with his part he must
or a monkey he must master our periods knowledge commit to memory his first reactions, reserves, crit-
of human social life by himself joining in the war of icisms, shocks, so that they are not destroyed by be-
the classes. Some people may feel this to be de- ing swallowed up in the final version but are pre-
grading, because they rank art, once the money side served and perceptible; for character and all must
has been settled, as one of the highest things; but not grow on the audience so much as strike it.

B ERTOLT B RECHT 11 A Short Organum for the Theatre

 58 so on. The attitudes which people adopt towards one
And the learning process must be co-ordinated so another include even those attitudes which would
that the actor learns as the other actors are learning appear to be quite private, such as the utterances
and develops his character as they are developing of physical pain in an illness, or of religious faith.
theirs. For the smallest social unit is not the single These expressions of a gest are usually highly com-
person but two people. In life too we develop one plicated and contradictory, so that they cannot be
another. rendered by any single word and the actor must take
care that in giving his image the necessary emphasis
59
he does not lose anything, but emphasizes the entire
Here we can learn something from our own the- complex.
atres deplorable habit of letting the dominant ac-
62
tor, the star, come to the front by getting all the
other actors to work for him: he makes his charac- The actor masters his character by paying critical
ter terrible or wise by forcing his partners to make attention to its manifold utterances, as also to those
theirs terrified or attentive. Even if only to secure of his counterparts and of all the other characters
this advantage for all, and thus to help the story, involved.
the actors should sometimes swap roles with their 63
partners during rehearsal, so that the characters can Let us get down to the problem of gestic content by
get what they need from one another. But it is also running through the opening scenes of a fairly mod-
good for the actors when they see their characters ern play, my own Life of Galileo. Since we wish
copied or portrayed in another form. If the part is at the same time to find out what light the different
played by somebody of the opposite sex the sex of utterances cast on one another we will assume that
the character will be more clearly brought out; if it it is not our first introduction to the play. It begins
is played by a comedian, whether comically or trag- with the man of forty-six having his morning wash,
ically, it will gain fresh aspects. By helping to de- broken by occasional browsing in books and by a
velop the parts that correspond to his own, or at any lesson on the solar system for Andrea Sarti, a small
rate standing in for their players, the actor strength- boy. To play this, surely you have got to know that
ens the all-decisive social standpoint from which he we shall be ending with the man of seventy-eight
has to present his character. The master is only the having his supper, just after he has said good-bye
sort of master his servant lets him be, etc. for ever to the same pupil? He is then more terri-
60 bly altered than this passage of time could possibly
have brought about. He wolfs his food with unre-
A mass of operations to develop the character are
strained greed, no other idea in his head; he has rid
carried out when it is introduced among the other
himself of his educational mission in shameful cir-
characters of the play, and the actor will have to
cumstances, as though it were a burden: he, who
memorize what he himself has anticipated in this
once drank his morning milk without a care, greedy
connection from his reading of the text. But now he
to teach the boy. But does he really drink it without
finds out much more about himself from the treat-
care? Isnt the pleasure of drinking and washing one
ment which he gets at the hands of the characters in
with the pleasure which he takes in the new ideas?
the play.
Dont forget: he thinks out of self-indulgence. . . . Is
61 that good or bad? I would advise you to represent it
The realm of attitudes adopted by the characters to- as good, since on this point you will find nothing in
wards one another is what we call the realm of gest. the whole play to harm society, and more especially
Physical attitude, tone of voice and facial expression because you yourself are, I hope, a gallant child of
are all determined by a social gest: the characters the scientific age. But take careful note: many hor-
are cursing, flattering, instructing one another, and rible things will happen in this connection. The fact

B ERTOLT B RECHT 12 A Short Organum for the Theatre

that the man who here acclaims the new age will be a view to annexing it himself. But if you move on
forced at the end to beg this age to disown him as to the second scene you will find that while he is
contemptible, even to dispossess him; all this will selling the invention to the Venetian Signoria with a
be relevant. As for the lesson, you may like to de- speech that disgraces him by its falsehoods he has
cide whether the mans heart is so full that his mouth already almost forgotten the money, because he has
is overflowing, so that he has to talk to anybody realized that the instrument has not only military but
about it, even a child, or whether the child has first astronomical significance. The article which he has
to draw the knowledge out of him, by knowing him been blackmailed let us call it that into pro-
and showing interest. Again, there may be two of ducing proves to have great qualities for the very re-
them who cannot restrain themselves, the one from search which he had to break off in order to produce
asking, the other from giving the answer: a bond of it. If during the ceremony, as he complacently ac-
this sort would be interesting, for one day it is going cepts the undeserved honours paid him, he outlines
to be rudely snapped. Of course you will want the to his learned friend the marvellous discoveries in
demonstration of the earths rotation round the sun view dont overlook the theatrical way in which
to be conducted quickly, since it is given for noth- he does this you will find in him a far more pro-
ing, and now the wealthy unknown pupil appears, found excitement than the thought of monetary gain
lending the scholars time a monetary value. He called forth. Perhaps, looked at in this way, his char-
shows no interest, but he has to be served; Galileo latanry does not mean much, but it still shows how
lacks resources, and so he will stand between the determined this man is to take the easy course, and
wealthy pupil and the intelligent one, and sigh as he to apply his reason in a base as well as a noble man-
makes his choice. There is little that he can teach his ner. A more significant test awaits him, and does
new student, so he learns from him instead; he hears not every capitulation bring the next one nearer?
of the telescope which has been invented in Holland: 64
in his own way he gets something out of the distur-
Splitting such material into one gest after another,
bance of his mornings work. The Rector of the uni-
the actor masters his character by first mastering the
versity arrives. Galileos application for an increase
story. It is only after walking all round the en-
in salary has been turned down; the university is re-
tire episode that he can, as it were by a single leap,
luctant to pay so much for the theories of physics
seize and fix his character, complete with all its in-
as for those of theology; it wishes him, who after
dividual features. Once he has done his best to let
all is operating on a generally-accepted low level of
himself be amazed by the inconsistencies in its var-
scholarship, to produce something useful here and
ious attitudes, knowing that he will in turn have to
now. You will see from the way in which he offers
make them amaze the audience, then the story as a
his thesis that he is used to being refused and cor-
whole gives him a chance to pull the inconsistencies
rected. The Rector reminds him that the Republic
together; for the story, being a limited episode, has
guarantees freedom of research even if she doesnt
a specific sense, i.e. only gratifies a specific fraction
pay; he replies that he cannot make much of this
of all the interests that could arise.
freedom if he lacks the leisure which good payment
permits. Here you should not find his impatience 65
too peremptory, or his poverty will not be given due Everything hangs on the story; it is the heart of
weight. For shortly after that you find him having the theatrical performance. For it is what happens
ideas which need some explanation: the prophet of between people that provides them with all the ma-
a new age of scientific truth considers how he can terial that they can discuss, criticize, alter. Even if
swindle some money out of the Republic by offer- the particular person represented by the actor has ul-
ing her the telescope as his own invention. All he timately to fit into more than just the one episode, it
sees in the new invention, you will be surprised to is mainly because the episode will be all the more
hear, is a few scudi, and he examines it simply with striking if it reaches fulfilment in a particular per-

B ERTOLT B RECHT 13 A Short Organum for the Theatre

son. The story is the theatres great operation, the disconcerting look, because it appears as something
complete fitting together of all the gestic incidents, general, something that has become a principle. As
embracing the communications and impulses that soon as we ask whether in fact it should have be-
must now go to make up the audiences entertain- come such, or what about it should have done so,
ment. we are alienating the incident. The poetic approach
to history can be studied in the so-called panora-
66
mas at sideshows in fairs. As alienation likewise
Each single incident has its basic gest: Richard means a kind of fame certain incidents can just be
Gloster courts his victims widow. The childs true represented as famous, as though they had for a long
mother is found by means of a chalk circle. God has while been common knowledge and care must be
a bet with the Devil for Dr Faustuss soul. Woyzeck taken not to offer the least obstacle to their further
buys a cheap knife in order to do his wife in, etc. transmission. In short: there are many conceivable
The grouping of the characters on the stage and the ways of telling a story, some of them known and
movements of the groups must be such that the nec- some still to be discovered.
essary beauty is attained above all by the elegance
with which the material conveying that gest is set 68
out and laid bare to the understanding of the audi- What needs to be alienated, and how this is to be
ence. done, depends on the exposition demanded by the
entire episode; and this is where the theatre has to
67
speak up decisively for the interests of its own time.
As we cannot invite the audience to fling itself into Let us take as an example of such exposition the
the story as if it were a river and let itself be carried old play Hamlet. Given the dark and bloody pe-
vaguely hither and thither, the individual episodes riod in which I am writing the criminal ruling
have to be knotted together in such a way that the classes, the widespread doubt in the power of rea-
knots are easily noticed. The episodes must not suc- son, continually being misused I think that I can
ceed one another indistinguishably but must give read the story thus: It is an age of warriors. Ham-
us a chance to interpose our judgment. (If it were lets father, king of Denmark, slew the king of Nor-
above all the obscurity of the original interrelations way in a successful war of spoliation. While the
that interested us, then just this circumstance would latters son Fortinbras is arming for a fresh war the
have to be sufficiently alienated.) The parts of the Danish king is likewise slain: by his own brother.
story have to be carefully set off one against another The slain kings brothers, now themselves kings,
by giving each its own structure as a play within avert war by arranging that the Norwegian troops
the play. To this end it is best to agree to use ti- shall cross Danish soil to launch a predatory war
tles like those in the preceding paragraph. The ti- against Poland. But at this point the young Ham-
tles must include the social point, saying at the same let is summoned by his warrior fathers ghost to
time something about the kind of portrayal wanted, avenge the crime committed against him. After
i.e. should copy the tone of a chronicle or a bal- at first being reluctant to answer one bloody deed
lad or a newspaper or a morality. For instance, a by another, and even preparing to go into exile, he
simple way of alienating something is that normally meets young Fortinbras at the coast as he is march-
applied to customs and moral principles. A visit, ing with his troops to Poland. Overcome by this
the treatment of an enemy, a lovers meeting, agree- warrior-like example, he turns back and in a piece
ments about politics or business, can be portrayed of barbaric butchery slaughters his uncle, his mother
as if they were simply illustrations of general prin- and himself, leaving Denmark to the Norwegian.
ciples valid for the place in question. Shown thus, These events show the young man, already some-
the particular and unrepeatable incident acquires a what stout, making the most ineffective use of the
spoliation: the action of taking goods or poperty from somewhere by illegal or unethical means.

B ERTOLT B RECHT 14 A Short Organum for the Theatre

new approach to Reason which he has picked up at expected of it and turns it into an unthinking slavey.
the university of Wittenberg. In the feudal business Music does not accompany except in the form of
to which he returns it simply hampers him. Faced comment. It cannot simply express itself by dis-
with irrational practices, his reason is utterly un- charging the emotions with which the incidents of
practical. He falls a tragic victim to the discrepancy the play have filled it. Thus Eisler, e.g. helped ad-
between such reasoning and such action. This way mirably in the knotting of the incidents when in the
of reading the play, which can be read in more than carnival scene of Galileo he set the masked proces-
one way, might in my view interest our audience. sion of the guilds to a triumphant and threatening
69 music which showed what a revolutionary twist the
lower orders had given to the scholars astronomical
Whether or no literature presents them as successes,
theories. Similarly in The Caucasian Chalk Circle
each step forward, every emancipation from nature
the singer, by using a chilly and unemotional way of
that is scored in the field of production and leads to
singing to describe the servant-girls rescue of the
a transformation of society, all those explorations in
child as it is mimed on the stage, makes evident the
some new direction which mankind has embarked
terror of a period in which motherly instincts can
on in order to improve its lot, give us a sense of
become a suicidal weakness. Thus music can make
confidence and triumph and lead us to take pleasure
its point in a number of ways and with full indepen-
in the possibilities of change in all things. Galileo
dence, and can react in its own manner to the sub-
expresses this when he says: It is my view that
jects dealt with; at the same time it can also quite
the earth is most noble and wonderful, seeing the
simply help to lend variety to the entertainment.
great number and variety of changes and genera-
tions which incessantly take place on it. 72
70 Just as the composer wins back his freedom by no
The exposition of the story and its communica- longer having to create atmosphere so that the au-
tion by suitable means of alienation constitute the dience may be helped to lose itself unreservedly in
main business of the theatre. Not everything de- the events on the stage, so also the stage designer
pends on the actor, even though nothing may be gets considerable freedom as soon as he no longer
done without taking him into account. The story is has to give the illusion of a room or a locality when
set out, brought forward and shown by the theatre as he is building his sets. It is enough for him to give
a whole, by actors, stage designers, mask-makers, hints, though these must make statements of greater
costumiers, composers and choreographers. They historical or social interest than does the real set-
unite their various arts for the joint operation, with- ting. At the Jewish Theatre in Moscow King Lear
out of course sacrificing their independence in the was alienated by a structure that recalled a medieval
process. tabernacle; Neher set Galileo in front of projec-
tions of maps, documents and Renaissance works
71 of art; for Haitang erwacht at the Piscator-Theater
It emphasizes the general gest of showing, which Heartfield used a back ground of reversible flags
always underlies that which is being shown, when bearing inscriptions, to mark changes in the politi-
the audience is musically addressed by means of cal situation of which the persons on the stage were
songs. Because of this the actors ought not to drop sometimes unaware.
into song, but should clearly mark it off from the
73
rest of the text; and this is best reinforced by a few
theatrical methods such as changing the lighting or For choreography too there are once again tasks
inserting a title. For its part, the music must strongly of a realistic kind. It is a relatively recent error to
resist the smooth incorporation which is generally suppose that it has nothing to do with the repre-
Casper Neher [18971962] Brechts long-time friend and stage designer.

B ERTOLT B RECHT 15 A Short Organum for the Theatre

sentation of people as they really are. If art re- is essential that the actual playing should be in-
flects life it does so with special mirrors. Art does fused with the gest of handing over a finished ar-
not become unrealistic by changing the proportions ticle. What now comes before the spectator is the
but by changing them in such a way that if the au- most frequently repeated of what has not been re-
dience took its representations as a practical guide jected, and so the finished representations have to
to insights and impulses it would go astray in real be delivered with the eyes fully open, so that they
life. It is of course essential that stylization should may be received with the eyes open too.
not remove the natural element but should heighten
77
it. Anyhow, a theatre where everything depends
on the gest cannot do without choreography. Ele- That is to say, our representations must take second
gant movement and graceful grouping, for a start, place to what is represented, mens life together in
can alienate, and inventive miming greatly helps the society; and the pleasure felt in their perfection must
story. be converted into the higher pleasure felt when the
rules emerging from this life in society are treated
74 as imperfect and provisional. In this way the the-
So let us invite all the sister arts of the drama, not in atre leaves its spectators productively disposed even
order to create an integrated work of art in which after the spectacle is over. Let us hope that their the-
they all offer themselves up and are lost, but so that atre may allow them to enjoy as entertainment that
together with the drama they may further the com- terrible and never-ending labour which should en-
mon task in their different ways; and their relations sure their maintenance, together with the terror of
with one another consist in this: that they lead to their unceasing transformation. Let them here pro-
mutual alienation. duce their own lives in the simplest way; for the sim-
plest way of living is in art.
75
And here once again let us recall that their task is
to entertain the children of the scientific age, and Appendices to the Short Organum
to do so with sensuousness and humour. This is
something that we Germans cannot tell ourselves (The numbers refer to the relevant paragraphs of the work)
too often, for with us everything easily slips into 3
the insubstantial and unapproachable, and we be- It is not just a matter of art presenting what needs
gin to talk of Weltanschauung when the world in to be learned in an enjoyable form. The contra-
question has already dissolved. Even materialism diction between learning and enjoyment must be
is little more than an idea with us. Sexual plea- clearly grasped and its significance understood
sure with us turns into marital obligations, the plea- in a period when knowledge is acquired in order to
sures of art subserve general culture, and by learn- be resold for the highest possible price, and even a
ing we mean not an enjoyable process of finding out, high price does not prevent further exploitation by
but the forcible shoving of our nose into something. those who pay it. Only once productivity has been
Our activity has none of the pleasure of exploration, set free can learning be transformed into enjoyment
and if we want to make an impression we do not and vice versa.
say how much fun we have got out of something but
how much effort it has cost us. 4
76 (a) If we now discard the concept of EPIC THE-
ATRE we are not discarding that progress towards
One more thing: the delivery to the audience of conscious experience which it still makes possible.
what has been built up in the rehearsals. Here it It is just that the concept is too slight and too vague
Weltanschauung: [German] World view.

B ERTOLT B RECHT 16 A Short Organum for the Theatre

for the kind of theatre intended; it needs exacter def- 43
inition and must achieve more. Besides, it was too True, profound, active application of alienation ef-
inflexibly opposed to the concept of the dramatic, fects takes it for granted that society considers its
often just taking it naively for granted, roughly in condition to be historic and capable of improve-
the sense that of course it always embraces inci- ment. True A-effects are of a combative character.
dents that take place directly with all or most of the
hall-marks of immediacy. In the same slightly haz- 45
ardous way we always take it for granted that what- The theatre of the scientific age is in a position to
ever its novelty it is still theatre, and does not turn make dialectics into a source of enjoyment. The un-
into a scientific demonstration. (b) Nor is the con- expectedness of logically progressive or zigzag de-
velopment, the instability of every circumstance, the
cept THEATRE OF THE SCIENTIFIC AGE quite
joke of contradiction and so forth: all these are ways
broad enough. The Short Organum may give an ad-
of enjoying the liveliness of men, things and pro-
equate explanation of what is meant by a scientific
cesses, and they heighten both our capacity for life
age, but the bare expression, in the form in which it
and our pleasure in it. Every art contributes to the
is normally used, is too discredited.
greatest art of all, the art of living.
12
46
Our enjoyment of old plays becomes greater, the
The bourgeois theatres performances always aim
more we can give ourselves up to the new kind of
at smoothing over contradictions, at creating false
pleasures better suited to our time. To that end we
harmony, at idealization. Conditions are reported as
need to develop the historical sense (needed also for
if they could not be otherwise; characters as individ-
the appreciation of new plays) into a real sensual de-
uals, incapable by definition of being divided, cast
light. When our theatres perform plays of other pe-
in one block, manifesting themselves in the most
riods they like to annihilate distance, fill in the gap,
various situations, likewise for that matter existing
gloss over the differences. But what comes then of
without any situation at all. If there is any develop-
our delight in comparisons, in distance, in dissimi-
ment it is always steady, never by jerks; the devel-
larity which is at the same time a delight in what
opments always take place within a definite frame-
is close and proper to ourselves?
work which cannot be broken through. None of this
19 is like reality, so a realistic theatre must give it up.
In times of upheaval, fearful and fruitful, the 53
evenings of the doomed classes coincide with the
(a) However dogmatic it may seem to insist
dawns of those that are rising. It is in these twilight
that self-identification with the character should be
periods that Minervas owl sets out on her flights.
avoided in the performance, our generation can lis-
ten to this warning with advantage. However deter-
minedly they obey it they can hardly carry it out to
the letter, so the most likely result is that truly rend-
ing contradiction between experience and portrayal,
Minervas owl: in Roman mythology, Minervas owl is seen as a symbol of wisdom because the owl is capable of seeing even
in the dark.
The nineteenth-century philosopher G.W.F. Hegel famously noted that the owl of Minerva spreads its wings only with the falling
of the dusk meaning that philosophy comes to understand a historical condition just as it passes away. Philosophy cannot be
prescriptive because it understands only in hindsight.
One more word about giving instruction as to what the world ought to be. Philosophy in any case always comes on the scene
too late to give it. . . When philosophy paints its gloomy picture then a form of life has grown old. It cannot be rejuvenated by the
gloomy picture, but only understood. Only when the dusk starts to fall does the owl of Minerva spread its wings and fly. G.W.F.
Hegel, Philosophy of Right (1820), Preface

B ERTOLT B RECHT 17 A Short Organum for the Theatre

empathy and demonstration, justification and criti- rearranged and formed in accordance with ideas.
cism, which is what is aimed at. These rearrangements often in various ways
(b) The contradiction between acting (demon- contradict the knowledge which the actors have
stration) and experience (empathy) often leads the gained from experience and from books: a contra-
uninstructed to suppose that only one or the other diction that the actors must seize and maintain in
can be manifest in the work of the actor (as if the their performance. The source of their creation must
Short Organum concentrated entirely on acting and lie at the same time in reality and in the imagination,
the old tradition entirely on experience). In real- for both in their work and in that of the playwright
ity it is a matter of two mutually hostile processes reality must appear vivid and rich in order to bring
which fuse in the actors work; his performance is out the specific or general features of the play.
not just composed of a bit of the one and a bit of
65
the other. His particular effectiveness comes from
the tussle and tension of the two opposites, and also For a genuine story to emerge it is most impor-
from their depth. The style in which the S.O. is tant that the scenes should to start with be played
written is partly to blame for this. It is mislead- quite simply one after another, using the experi-
ing often thanks to a possibly over-impatient and ence of real life, without taking account of what
over-exclusive concern with the principal side of follows or even of the plays overall sense. The
the contradiction.2 story then unreels in a contradictory manner; the in-
dividual scenes retain their own meaning; they yield
55 (and stimulate) a wealth of ideas; and their sum,
And yet art addresses all alike, and would confront the story, unfolds authentically without any cheap
the tiger with its song. What is more, he has been all-pervading idealization (one word leading to an-
known to join in. New ideas whose fruitfulness is other) or directing of subordinate, purely functional
evident irrespective who may reap the fruits are li- component parts to an ending in which everything
able to rise to the top from classes on their way is resolved.
up, and to get a grip on people who ought by rights
73
to be combating them in an effort to preserve their
own privileges. For members of a given class are A quotation from Lenin: It is impossible to rec-
not immune to ideas from which their class cannnot ognize the various happenings in the world in their
benefit. Just as the oppressed can succumb to the independence of movement, their spontaneity of de-
ideas of their oppressors, so members of the oppres- velopment, their vitality of being, without recogniz-
sor class can fall victim to those of the oppressed. ing them as a unity of opposites.3
In certain periods when the classes are fighting for It is a matter of indifference whether the the-
the leadership of mankind any man who is not hope- atres main object is to provide knowledge of the
lessly corrupt may feel a strong urge to be counted world. The fact remains that the theatre has to rep-
among its pioneers and to press ahead. resent the world and that its representations must not
mislead. If Lenins view is right, then they cannot
64 work out satisfactorily without knowledge of dialec-
The story does not just correspond to an incident tics and without making dialectics known.
from mens life together as it might actually have Objection: What about the kind of art which
taken place, but is composed of episodes rearranged gets its effects from dark, distorted, fragmentary
so as to allow the story-tellers ideas about mens representations? What about the art of primitive
life to find expression. In the same way the charac- peoples, madmen and children?
ters are not simply portraits of living people, but are If one knows a great deal and can retain what

2 Mao Tse-tung: On Contradiction. One of the two sides of a contradiction is bound to be the principal one.
3 Lenin: On the Question of Dialectics

B ERTOLT B RECHT 18 A Short Organum for the Theatre

one knows, it may be possible perhaps to get some- and Faust is hard hit by this. At the same time this
thing out of such representations; but we suspect conflict can only be portrayed correctly by means
that unduly subjective representations of the world of another much wider conflict which dominates the
have antisocial effects. entire work, Parts I and II.
Faust manages to emerge from the painful con-
(A Separate Note) tradiction between his purely spiritual escapades
and his unsatisfied and insatiable purely sensual
appetites, and this thanks to the Devil. In the purely
Studying a part means at the same time studying
sensual sphere (of the love affair) Faust comes up
the story; or rather, it ought at first to consist mainly
against his environment, represented by Gretchen,
in that. (What happens to the character? How does
and has to destroy it in order to escape. The main
he take it? What opinions does he come in contact
contradiction is resolved at the end of the whole
with? etc.) To this end the actor needs to muster his
play; it is this that explains the lesser contradictions
knowledge of men and the world, and he must also
and puts them in their place. Faust can no longer
ask his questions dialectically. (Certain questions
behave like a mere consumer, a parasite. Spiritual
are only asked by dialecticians.)
and sensual activity are united in productive work
For instance; an actor is due to play Faust.
for mankind; the production of life leads to satisfac-
Fausts love for Gretchen runs a fateful course. The
tion in life.
question arises whether just the same thing wouldnt
Turning back to our love affair we see that mar-
happen if they got married. This is a question that
riage, though utterly respectable, out of the ques-
is not usually asked. It seems too low, vulgar, com-
tion for a genius and in contradiction with his whole
monplace. Faust is a genius, a great soul striving
career, would in a relative sense have been better
after the infinite; how can anyone dream of asking
and more productive as being the conjuncture which
a question like Why doesnt he get married? But
would have let the woman he loved develop instead
simple people do ask it. That in itself must lead the
of being destroyed. Faust would of course scarcely
actor to ask it too. And once he has thought about
in that case have been Faust; he would have been
the matter he will realize that this question is not
bogged down in pettinesses (as suddenly becomes
only necessary but extremely fruitful.
clear) and so forth.
We have first of all to decide under what con-
The actor who sympathetically asks the ques-
ditions this love affair takes place, what is its rela-
tion that bothers simple people will be able to make
tion to the story as a whole, what it signifies for the
Fausts non-marriage into a clearly-defined stage of
principal theme. Faust has given up his lofty, ab-
his development, where otherwise, by following the
stract, purely spiritual attempts to find satisfaction
usual approach, he merely helps to show that who-
in life, and now turns to purely sensual earthly ex-
ever wishes to rise higher on earth must inevitably
periences. His relationship with Gretchen thereby
create pain, that the need to pay for development
becomes a fateful one. That is to say he comes into
and satisfaction is the unavoidable tragedy of life
conflict with Gretchen; his sense of union becomes
i.e. the cruellest and most commonplace princi-
a division in two: his satisfaction turns into pain.
ple: that you cant make omelettes without breaking
The conflict leads to Gretchens utter destruction,
eggs.

B ERTOLT B RECHT 19 A Short Organum for the Theatre