Aristotle’s Categories: Brecht

Brecht takes Aristotle’s categories and shatters them on the stage. It is difficult to form a coherent response to his plays they are so complex. The Indian director of Mother Courage, Dipankar Mukherjee, was  brilliant in his push push ensemble direction of Mother Courage and Her Children. 

Brecht: A Call to Action! 

By Dr Patrick A ODougherty

Bert-hold Brecht is the  Leading genius playwright after Shakespeare. He shattered Aristotle’s categories on the stage. 

Brecht was indicted by HUAC during the Cold War. Every members of HUAC was a Southerner including Nixon who is a Southern uplander. 

America’s major military academies are located in the South including the Citadel. 

165 Cities in Germany alone were firebombed to the ground. 

Brecht’s plays are ACTS and a call to ACTION. 

Here are my notes from the play.

Brecht

Lead to Act 

Dance scene climb the wall

Blind mind and the elephant

Lining Against the Wall

Confusion of the human condition

Roy member of HUAC was a minority

Talk about process

In the theater

Music vision

Rehearsals coming

Push us 

Dark energy

Original work while the work was going on 

On

Present but invisible

Unviable water pushing the boat on top

Subtext but constant presence 

Let the actions build higher

Chaotic process

Description of coherent incoherent process

Breathing exercises State epic

Important

Alienation

Sciences of alienation

Swiss cheese carried off in a coffin

Queer cheese

Gays

Katherine organizer and activist

Die for what 

Enough martyrs

Big as possible

Process

Mother Couage was difficult

Didn’t like the person

Mistakes cost her children

Director a path 

Memorization

Process is ensemble for

Voice work 

Symbol work

Sergeant in the beginning machine needs a war to be functioning

State of war

Women on woman—gays black people

Complicity in plastics

No exit

Grids trapped in this place

Pepper the characters 

From love

Parroting behaviors 

Song 

Cart courage 

wheat garden in the song 

Essence of voice 

Sounding pretty 

Feeling in the throat and ear

No lines to learn

Mute

Pushing her

Katherine

Physically speak without line

Background 

Saying doesn’t make it true

Worthless

disregarded mute

Along side

Creative use of voice

Brother taken off to be shot

Arm behind her back

Body was gestures

Internally outward

Salute with the right hand 

Pick this up but it is hurting me

Swiss cheese is dead 

Channeling his death 

Never knew him and  can’t  identify the body

Contusion

Politics does affect our body

Generations born during the war 

Interns used

Find their own response to war

Sign Language

Body knowledge 

Stephanie

Personal places approached this character

Red white dangerous places

Universal experience

Self imposed pressure

Another story that is not theirs

Can’t recognize moment

Aspects bring her truth

Human 

Humor  in tragedy 

Staring to pull

A huge win 

Space to be raw and hurt

Serrated memories

Katrina 

1635 German wars of religion

Reserved character mute

Scene 1

Not a talker 

Body of a woman 

History of bodies is written on their body.

What is  mother courage

30 years of war

Gruesome tale

Internalized impact 

Function to survive

Moment of innocence

Plot Gallup’s along

Silence and doing nothing 

War and psyche

Lightness and joy

anti-category

Ensemble

Hard truth

War 

Resonance

Pepper