Influences on Brecht

Brecht was a product of his environment. He took inspiration from his context and the people around him. The following discussion has broken these influences into two groups, Political and Artistic.

Political

Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia on 28 July 1914. Serbia had a treaty with Russia and they began to mobilise their armies in defense on Serbia. Germany, viewing Russia's mobilisation as an act of war on Austria-Hungary, declared war on Russia on 1 August 1914. When the war began, Brecht had a common nationalistic outlook on war, writing articles for a newspaper that talked of how young soldiers walked off to war with enthusiasm, awaiting the glory that faced them. It did not take long for his view on war to change. Thousands of soldiers did not return and disease and hunger killed up to 700 000 civilians. The socialist and left wing groups fought against the war and this culminated in the German Revolution in 1918-19. The Kaiser was overthrown and the politically fragile Weimar Republic was established.

The Weimar Republic was named after the city of Weimar, where the national assembly met to create a new constitution after the abolishment of the German Empire following their defeat in WWI, but came to a close when Hitler and his leadership (based on extreme nationalism and aggressive authority) came into power in 1933. The Weimar Republic had been an attempt at liberal democracy, but with Hitler as chancellor, all meetings of the left-wing parties were banned, party members were threatened and assaulted and the communist party suppressed.

These events formed the political context that shaped and influenced Brecht's writing.  His plays were a direct response to the environment around him and his unique style of playwriting could only have emerged from such a time in history. Brecht believed that theatre must get down to the fundamentals, it must inform people, it must show its audience how they can change their circumstances. In such a place where everything truly is a matter of life and death, a theatre form that asked its audience to question authority and social structures was not popular with the Nazi regime, and Brecht was exiled from Germany in 1933.

Brecht was also heavily influenced by Marxist theories. Marxism in a nutshell is the theory that the working class can revolutionise society. The theories and ideals of Karl Marx (1818-1883) are based around class struggles. These classes are defined by the relation of its members to the means of production. Under capitalism, the capitalists own the means of production, and the proletariat only own their capacity for work. These capitalists may also form part of the state and the state is the means by which the ruling classes maintain their power and control over the proletariat class. Marx believed that these 'lower' classes could win back power through revolution. He believed that this revolution must be violent and aggressive as the capitalists and bourgeois classes would not give up their power without a fight. Marx maintained that the proletarian revolution would overthrow capitalism and establish socialism, where the public own the means of production, distribution and exchange. Following this would be the peaceful development to communism under a classless society and all institutions of state and capitalism would be eradicated. It was these theories, learnt through his reading of the Communist Manifesto, that heavily influenced Brecht's work, and in particular his Lerhstücke (learning plays).

Artistic

From a young age, Brecht was very interested in the Bible and many of his plays contain references to biblical stories including the final scene in The Caucasian Chalk Circle (reference to the story of Solomon) and the character of judge Azdak (as a representation of the life of Christ). He was confirmed in the Protestant faith on 29 March 1912 and continued to study the Bible in his university years, taking a course on 'Research on the life of Christ'. While Brecht denied the existence of God and did not model his life on what he read in the Bible, the didactic, structural and moral nature of the biblical stories can be seen reflected in his works. 

Brecht had been influenced by expressionism (the tendency to distort reality in order to create a particular emotional impact on the audience) and had collaborated with Erwin Piscator, father of political theatre. Piscator's theatre was utilitarian, it had a direct purpose, and whether this purpose was to influence voters, cause rebellions or encourage revolutions, Piscator maintained a style that utilised the stage as a platform for political progression as he saw it. Just like Brecht, Piscator's theatre was a direct response to the events taking place around him. Piscator and Brecht both developed notions of epic theatre in their work as they believed this to be the most appropriate way to encourage change in their societies.

Artistically, the Weimar era had a large impact on Brecht's writing. As previously mentioned this was a time of attempted liberal democracy. Many believed that if they were unable to uphold their image of a strong and victorious country, then they would make a name for themselves through a period of new decadence, a time full of frenzied immorality, glittering cabaret performances and an up-and-coming sex tourism industry. Productions depicting such decadence and debauchery can be seen in Metropolis by Fritz Lang, images of Marlene Dietrich in The Blue Angel by Josef von Sternberg and stage productions of The Threepenny Opera by Brecht.

Another artistic style that was to have an everlasting effect on Brecht was his discovery of Chinese performance. In his book Brecht on Theatre translated by John Willet, Brecht discusses how Chinese actors utilise the alienation effect. From what he had witnessed, he believed that Chinese actors used a lot of symbols, never acted as if there was a fourth wall in the performance space, were always aware of being watched, did not have any problems dropping out off or back into ‘character' and performed as if they were telling somebody else's story. This concept was completely radical in Brecht's context, as the usual understanding of acting was to be as similar to your character as possible and to make the audience believe you are that character. When Brecht saw Asian performances, he saw a new style of acting that helped distance the actor from the character, and force the audience to understand what was happening in the story, rather than in the lives of an individual.