Brecht Collected Plays: 1: Baal; Drums in the Night; In the Jungle of Cities; Life of Edward II of England; & 5 One Act Plays: "Baal", "Drums in the Night", "In the Jungle of Ci (World Classics) Read Online Free
whole flavour of the play was changed. The same was done still more drastically with
Baal
in 1926, though in this case Brecht later decided to scrap the more ‘objective’, technologically flavoured version and go back (more or less) to the 1922-3 text.
Drums in the Night
he seems to have left alone after 1922, perhaps because it wasnot performed again after the first, largely topical wave of interest had subsided – though the discussion on p. 401 ff. suggests that Piscator was considering it. Then for his Collected Plays in the 1950s he largely rewrote the last two acts.
All this means that each play as we now have it reflects the views and to some extent the spirit of a number of different periods. The performances which have gone into theatrical history were not based on these particular texts. Even Brecht’s own notes are difficult to understand without knowing to which version each of them relates.
It is an impossible problem editorially, and our policy has been to print the final text but to provide all the variant material from other versions published in Brecht’s lifetime, together with extensive notes on the main unpublished scripts. This is so that the reader should not get false ideas of Brecht’s evolution and of his ideas and achievements at any given time. Brecht was a profound believer in change, whom it would be wrong to present statically in a final ‘authoritative’ mould. Indeed opinions might well differ as to whether any such mould is the right one: not only are there fine things in many of the rejected versions, which it would be cruel not to publish, but informed judgement often disagrees with Brecht’s last choices. Thus the chief German expert on
Baal
and the author of much the best book on Brecht’s early years both prefer the 1919 script of
Baal
; an outstanding West German theatre critic wants the 1922
Drums in the Night
; while Ihering wrote of the (final) published version of
In the Jungle of Cities
in 1927:
I love the fullness and colour of the old
Jungle
. There seemed to be no better evidence of Brecht’s richness and gifts than those crackling, exotically pulsating scenes as they shot to and fro…. The new
Jungle
, the
Jungle of Cities
, has lost in colour and atmosphere. It has gained in clarity and concentration.
Not that there is much chance that Brecht himself would have accepted his own choices as final if he had lived longer, or seen them staged, or looked again at some of the earlier texts which for one reason or another he did not have before him when preparing the collected plays. It is characteristic that he already wanted the 1926 version of
Baal
printed as an appendix. For he was always a man in motion, who progressed best by disagreeing with what had already been said. Often it had been said by himself.
As for the translations, they are as good as translators and editors can make them, but they make no claim to be definitive.Better translations may well appear with time – quite apart from the obvious fact that each time must make its own translations. In all the poetry Brecht’s rules of punctuation are followed; that is to say there are no commas at the ends of lines, the line break being considered sufficient pause for anything short of a colon. Our aim is that the poetry should so far as possible fit any settings by the main composers with whom Brecht collaborated. A note will normally indicate where this is not the case, though there may be some tunes, particularly of Brecht’s own, which we have failed to track down.
All translation in the notes is by the responsible editor, as is the selection of material printed. The aim here has been to include anything of relevance to the understanding or production of the play in question, leaving those notes which comprise more general statements of Brecht’s theatrical ideas to be published in the volumes devoted to his theoretical writings. The essay ‘On Looking Through my First Plays’, which he wrote as a
Baal
in 1926, though in this case Brecht later decided to scrap the more ‘objective’, technologically flavoured version and go back (more or less) to the 1922-3 text.
Drums in the Night
he seems to have left alone after 1922, perhaps because it wasnot performed again after the first, largely topical wave of interest had subsided – though the discussion on p. 401 ff. suggests that Piscator was considering it. Then for his Collected Plays in the 1950s he largely rewrote the last two acts.
All this means that each play as we now have it reflects the views and to some extent the spirit of a number of different periods. The performances which have gone into theatrical history were not based on these particular texts. Even Brecht’s own notes are difficult to understand without knowing to which version each of them relates.
It is an impossible problem editorially, and our policy has been to print the final text but to provide all the variant material from other versions published in Brecht’s lifetime, together with extensive notes on the main unpublished scripts. This is so that the reader should not get false ideas of Brecht’s evolution and of his ideas and achievements at any given time. Brecht was a profound believer in change, whom it would be wrong to present statically in a final ‘authoritative’ mould. Indeed opinions might well differ as to whether any such mould is the right one: not only are there fine things in many of the rejected versions, which it would be cruel not to publish, but informed judgement often disagrees with Brecht’s last choices. Thus the chief German expert on
Baal
and the author of much the best book on Brecht’s early years both prefer the 1919 script of
Baal
; an outstanding West German theatre critic wants the 1922
Drums in the Night
; while Ihering wrote of the (final) published version of
In the Jungle of Cities
in 1927:
I love the fullness and colour of the old
Jungle
. There seemed to be no better evidence of Brecht’s richness and gifts than those crackling, exotically pulsating scenes as they shot to and fro…. The new
Jungle
, the
Jungle of Cities
, has lost in colour and atmosphere. It has gained in clarity and concentration.
Not that there is much chance that Brecht himself would have accepted his own choices as final if he had lived longer, or seen them staged, or looked again at some of the earlier texts which for one reason or another he did not have before him when preparing the collected plays. It is characteristic that he already wanted the 1926 version of
Baal
printed as an appendix. For he was always a man in motion, who progressed best by disagreeing with what had already been said. Often it had been said by himself.
As for the translations, they are as good as translators and editors can make them, but they make no claim to be definitive.Better translations may well appear with time – quite apart from the obvious fact that each time must make its own translations. In all the poetry Brecht’s rules of punctuation are followed; that is to say there are no commas at the ends of lines, the line break being considered sufficient pause for anything short of a colon. Our aim is that the poetry should so far as possible fit any settings by the main composers with whom Brecht collaborated. A note will normally indicate where this is not the case, though there may be some tunes, particularly of Brecht’s own, which we have failed to track down.
All translation in the notes is by the responsible editor, as is the selection of material printed. The aim here has been to include anything of relevance to the understanding or production of the play in question, leaving those notes which comprise more general statements of Brecht’s theatrical ideas to be published in the volumes devoted to his theoretical writings. The essay ‘On Looking Through my First Plays’, which he wrote as a
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