Transcript 四川好女人

四川好女人
Bertolt Brecht
• "Brecht" redirects
here. For other
uses see Brecht
(disambiguation).
Bertolt Brecht
• Bertolt Brecht (born Eugen Berthold Friedrich
Brecht February 10, 1898 – August 14, 1956)
was a German poet, playwright, and theatre
director.
• A seminal theatre practitioner of the twentieth
century, Brecht's achievement is equally
significant in dramaturgy and in theatrical
production, the latter particularly through the
seismic impact of the tours undertaken by the
Berliner Ensemble—the post-war theatre
company operated by Brecht and his wife and
long-time collaborator, the actress Helene
Weigel—with its internationally acclaimed
productions.
Bertolt Brecht
• From his late twenties Brecht remained a life-long
committed Marxist who, in developing the combined
theory and practice of his 'epic theatre', synthesized and
extended the experiments of Piscator and Meyerhold to
explore the theatre as a forum for political ideas and the
creation of a critical aesthetics of dialectical materialism.
• Brecht's modernist concern with drama-as-a-medium led
to his refinement of the 'epic form' of the drama (which
constitutes that medium's rendering of 'autonomization'
or the 'non-organic work of art'—related in kind to the
strategy of divergent chapters in Joyce's novel Ulysses,
to Eisenstein's evolution of a constructivist 'montage' in
the cinema, and to Picasso's introduction of cubist
'collage' in the visual arts).
Bertolt Brecht
• In contrast to many other avant-garde
approaches, however, Brecht had no desire to
destroy art as an institution; rather, he hoped to
're-function' the apparatus of theatrical
production to a new social use.
• In this regard he was a vital participant in the
aesthetic debates of his era—particularly over
the 'high art / popular culture' dichotomy—vying
with the likes of Adorno, Lukács, Bloch, and
developing a close friendship with Benjamin.
Bertolt Brecht
• Brechtian theatre articulated popular themes
and forms with avant-garde formal
experimentation to create a modernist realism
that stood in sharp contrast both to its
psychological and socialist varieties.
• "Brecht's work is the most important and original
in European drama since Ibsen and Strindberg,"
Raymond Williams argues, while Peter Bürger
insists that he is "the most important materialist
writer of our time."
Bertolt Brecht
• As Jameson among others has stressed,
"Brecht is also ‘Brecht’"—collective and
collaborative working methods were
inherent to his approach.
• This 'Brecht' was a collective subject that
"certainly seemed to have a distinctive
style (the one we now call 'Brechtian') but
was no longer personal in the bourgeois or
individualistic sense."
Bertolt Brecht
• During the course of his career, Brecht sustained
many long-lasting creative relationships with
other writers, composers, scenographers,
directors, dramaturgs and actors; the list
includes: Elisabeth Hauptmann, Margarete
Steffin, Ruth Berlau, Slatan Dudow, Kurt Weill,
Hanns Eisler, Paul Dessau, Caspar Neher, Teo
Otto, Karl von Appen, Ernst Busch, Lotte Lenya,
Peter Lorre, Therese Giehse, Angelika Hurwicz,
and Helene Weigel herself.
Bertolt Brecht
• This is "theatre as collective experiment as
something radically different from theatre as
expression or as experience."
• There are few areas of modern theatrical culture
that have not felt the impact or influence of
Brecht's ideas and practices; dramatists and
directors in whom one may trace a clear
Brechtian legacy include: Dario Fo, Augusto
Boal, Joan Littlewood, Peter Brook, Peter Weiss,
Heiner Müller, Pina Bausch, Tony Kushner and
Caryl Churchill.
Bertolt Brecht
• In addition to the theatre, Brechtian
theories and techniques have exerted
considerable sway over certain strands of
film theory and cinematic practice; Brecht's
influence may be detected in the films of
Jean-Luc Godard, Lindsay Anderson,
Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Nagisa
Oshima, Ritwik Ghatak, Lars von Trier, Jan
Bucquoy and Hal Hartley.
Bertolt Brecht
• Statue of Brecht
outside the Berliner
Ensemble's theatre
in Berlin
生平
• 尤金‧貝爾扥爾特‧弗里德里希‧布萊希特（ＥＵＧＥＮ
ＢＥＲＴＨＯＬＤ ＦＲＩＥＤＲＩＣＨ ＢＲＥＣＨ
Ｔ），生於１８９８年２月１０日，巴伐利亞屬奧古斯堡。
• 小時後的布萊希特是個體弱的孩子，由於先天的心臟疾病，
他曾被送到療養院修養。
• １０歲成為奧格斯堡皇家巴伐利亞高級中學的學生，接受
拉丁和人文科學的教育，後來還念過尼采的思想。在學校
期間他便開始寫作，成為學生雜誌「收穫」的發行兼編輯。
• １６歲開始為地方報紙寫文章，並創作了第一個劇本「聖
經」。
• １８歲時由於不支持在戰爭時期為祖國犧牲，幾乎被學校
開除。
• １９歲中學畢業，因為心臟問題而沒有服兵役。
生平
• １９１７年，他到慕尼黑的路德維希‧馬克西米立
克大學繼續唸醫學。
• 這期間他參加了阿爾圖‧庫切爾的戲劇研究班。
• 但他因為不喜歡和同班同學的相處模式，而經常
翹課跑回家。
• 這期間開始創作劇本「巴爾」（Ｂａａｌ）。
• 第一次世界大戰期間，布萊希特雖然曾受命到軍
醫院當衛生兵，但很快的就結束了，因為他公開
表態對戰爭不抱信心。
生平
• 在他還未成為幕尼黑的戲劇家之前，他很快的在
一家報社「人民意志報」找到寫劇評的工作。
• １９２０年他二度到柏林參加Ｍａｘ Ｒｅｉｎ
ｈａｒｄｔ的排練課和上其他的導演課。
• １９２２年「夜半鼓聲」（Ｔｒｏｍｍｅｌｎ
ｉｎ ｄｅｒ Ｎａｃｈｔ）在慕尼黑和柏林的
劇院上演，因此獲得有名的克萊斯特最佳年輕劇
作家獎。
• １９２３年「都市叢林」和「巴爾」上演。
生平
• 布萊希特的劇作在很多不同的方面都深深的影響
著當代和後代的人們。
• 他研究過中國、日本、和印度戲劇，特別是莎士
比亞和伊麗莎白女皇時期的戲劇，並吸收了希臘
悲劇的元素。
• 他從德國劇作家得到靈感，也喜愛巴伐利亞的民
間戲劇。
• 布萊希特有傑出的能力，把這些表面上不相通的
戲劇元素結合，轉變成他自己的作品。
• 劇作包括「屠宰場中的聖女貞德」、「四川好
人」，「勇氣媽媽和她的孩子」、「伽利略的一
生」、「潘第拉先生和他的男僕馬狄」、「阿吐
羅魏發跡記」。
生平
• 第二次世界大戰後，美國開始了對共產黨人的
「瘋狂破壞」。
• 好萊塢要肅清所謂受到共產主義思想侵蝕的作家
和藝術家。有一個德國流亡者曾告發過布萊希特，
自那時起他就受到聯邦調查局的監視。
• １９４７年十月，布萊希特收到華盛頓「非美活
動調查委員會」傳訊的通知。雖然不是美國共產
黨的一員，偵訊結果也判定布萊希特無罪，審訊
結束後的第二天他就離開美國到瑞士去。
• １９５０年長期無國籍的布萊希特和海倫娜終於
拿到奧地利護照。
生平
• 布萊希特早期的作品曾實驗過達達主義和表現主
義，但很快的就發展出一套屬於他自己獨特風格
的觀點。
• 他厭惡亞里士多德戲劇方法，那讓觀眾和劇中的
英雄人物產生共鳴進而同情，他認為這種恐怖的
情感和憐憫導致觀眾情緒沉淪而無法思考。
• １９５４年布萊希特獲頒國際絲大林和平獎。
• １９５６年８月１４日，當他在研究山謬‧貝克特
的『等待果陀』時，因心臟病發而過世。
• 他交代需要放一支短劍在他胸前，並且用鐵製棺
材以避免他的屍體佈滿蟲子。
作品中的思想
• 布雷希特研讀衛禮賢（Ｒｉｃｈａｒｄ Ｗｉｌ
ｈｅｌｍ）的中國哲學之著，如老莊哲學及易經，
深受道家思想的影響。
• 在早期著作如「在密集的城市裏」引用老子以柔
克剛的思想，也對道德經作了討論。
• 值得一提的是，他在丹麥流亡期間完成譬喻劇
《四川好人》及《勇氣媽媽和他的孩子們》劇本，
皆引用莊子所謂的人或物若為世所用，難逃惡運，
而若不為世所用，才能生存的道理，亦即；好人
難容於世，而壞人左右逢源。
作品中的思想
• 布雷希特藉著書中角色的不幸遭遇和中國古代的
寓言來影射社會的弊病與社會裏矛盾的象，但他
認為人還是可以當好人，而又同時不會被社會擊
敗，但只有當這個社會／世界可以改變的時候，
這些觀點布雷希特都試著在許多劇本及散文內呈
現。
• 他１９３５年在莫斯科認識了梅蘭芳的京劇，了
解到中國京劇表演藝術之「陌生化效果」（Ｖｅ
ｒｆｒｅｍｄｕｎｇｓｅｆｆｅｋｔ），影響他
在戲劇方面的創新。
作品中的思想
• 在流亡期間，他研讀了艾菲爾．福克（Ａ
ｌｆｒｅｄ Ｆｏｒｋｅ）在１９２２年
德譯本「社會倫理家墨子及其弟子之哲學
論述」，對中國哲學思想更加喜愛。
• 他也重視孔子對禮節的看法，認為孔子是
人類最成功的老師。
• 在他給作家卡爾．克洛斯（Ｋａｒｌ Ｋ
ｒａｕｓ）的一封信中以及他的著作「寫
真理的五種困難」都提到孔子強調「正名」
之重要性。
作品中的思想
• 布雷希特認為面對當時法西斯主義之濫權，對一
些不正義的事，應有適當的名稱指涉，名不正則
言不順。布雷希特在流亡期間假借墨子、易經之
名寫了「成語錄」：「墨翟．變易之書」（Ｍｅ
－ｔｉ．Ｂｕｃｈ ｄｅｒ Ｗｅｎｄｕｎｇｅ
ｎ）。
• 全書是以對話方式、格言、比擬寫成的哲理，辯
證的著作，文中除了墨家的思想（辯、利的觀念、
三表法），也議論儒家（孔子的正名、對家庭制
度的觀念）及道家（如揚朱）之思想。
作品中的思想
• 布雷希特引借中國哲學思想，墨子之部份
觀念，以馬克思辯證法，對當時社會政治
採批判的態度。
• 書名（變易之書）暗指「易經」。他運用
「易經」之陰陽對立原理，八卦及象之占
卜決定人的行為，呈現個人對社會的自覺
性，且以馬克思的唯物辯證史觀對社會主
義之建立有所闡述。
作品中的思想
• 他認為，有變易，社會、世界才能有改變，而個
人的態度應以積極、干涉來取代消極、被動。布
雷希特改編元劇李行道的「灰闌記」寫成「高加
索灰闌記」（Ｄｅｒ Ｋａｕｋａｓｉｓｃｈｅ
Ｋｒｅｉｄｅｋｒｅｉｓ），基於馬克斯經濟決
定論闡述養育重於生育，民生問題先於倫理道德
的觀念。
• 布雷希特對中國的政治並不感興趣，而是以中國
人物、背景、哲理當作戲劇，文學藝術創作的手
段、策略，藉以體現出尖銳的思考邏輯及教誨的
目的。
與疏離效果的關係
• 布氏認為劇場是一種工具，是為政治目的服務的，
對布雷希特而言，舞臺上的幻覺所造成的觀眾情
感投入是最大的阻礙，所以新型態的劇場必須讓
觀眾保持「置身事外」的冷靜，站在較高的心理
位置俯瞰全局，並從而窺見作者所欲傳達的政治
議題，而讓觀眾保持冷靜，靠的就是「疏離效
果」。
• 敘事詩劇場創造疏離效果的方法大致上可以將之
分成兩個象度來討論：
與疏離效果的關係
• 在舞臺設計方面，敘事詩劇場很少採用寫實的舞
臺，這是為了告訴觀眾這是一個「我們（演員）
正在『敘述』的『故事』」，以避免觀眾把他們
對劇中人產生「感同身受」的同情與憐憫，以至
妨礙「正確的」判斷。
• 同時，在當時鏡框式舞臺獨領風騷的年代裡（註：
鏡框式舞臺隔絕掉觀眾的視線，用各種幕擋住燈
具與，用以造成「擬真的幻覺」），敘事詩劇場
強調劇場所有燈、音設備的外露，這也是為了提
醒觀眾：他們正坐在一個「劇場」裡面，看著台
上的「演出」，而故事是假的，唯一的「真理」
是劇作家所欲傳達的政治理念。
與疏離效果的關係
• 然而這些在劇場硬體面的革新如果沒有裝載軟體
（劇本寫作）上的變化，這種革新的效果將值得
懷疑。
• 在劇本裡，敘事詩劇場至少有五大特色：
• 一、 空間的異化：布氏作品絕大多數描寫的對象
不是德國，甚至遠至亞洲。如《高加索灰闌記》
寫的是高加索的故事，《四川好女人》則以中國
四川市（布雷希特誤以四川為市）為背景。
與疏離效果的關係
• 二、 時間的異化：布雷希特的作品中，時間通常
是模糊的，並不指涉某一特定的歷史時間，就好
像童話一般，用「很久很久以前．．．． 」作
為開頭。
• 其《勇氣媽媽和她的子女們》把時間設在三十年
戰爭期間算是比較特殊的例子。
• 三、 人物的異化：故事中的人物通常是某個概念
的化身，並且在許多時候會加以模糊化。
• 布氏似乎很喜歡「戲中戲結構」或其變形。例如
《措施》裡的「角色扮演」、《高加索灰闌記》
裡藉由「說故事」帶出戲中戲。
與疏離效果的關係
• 四、 「敘事者」的運用：這也許是布雷希特劇作
裡的最大特色之一。
• 在劇中，往往會有一個與主要事件並無關連的人
物對觀眾直接說話（例如《高加索灰闌記》裡的
「說書人」，這也許和京劇中的「檢場」有關。
• 另外，劇中某些角色也可以直接和觀眾說話（如
《四川好女人》裡的「老王」，或許這又和京劇
裡的「自報家門」相關。
與疏離效果的關係
• 五、 歌舞的運用：在布雷希特的劇本裡，
絕大多數都有歌舞的部份，這些歌舞的部
份往往用來交代背景的遷移，而更重要的
功能，則是說出作者真正想說的話。
• 以上五點在劇本上的特色在在說明了布氏
對於抽離觀眾的情感所做的努力，加上劇
場性的因素，疏離效果便因而成立了。
The Good Woman of Setzuan
• The Good Woman of Setzuan, is a play
by Bertolt Brecht.
• It was written between 1939 and 1941, but
completed in 1943 while the author was
living in temporary political exile in The
United States, and was first performed (in
1943) at the Schauspielhaus Zürich in
Switzerland with a musical score and
songs by Swiss composer Huldreich
Georg Früh.
The Good Woman of Setzuan
• Today, Paul Dessau's composition of the
songs from 1947-48 is far more wellknown than Früh's. Dessau's music was
also authorized by Brecht.
• This play, along with many of the author's
others in this period, are considered
examples of epic theatre, and were not
written to be staged according to the
traditional practices and assumptions of
the "realistic" theatre.
Title and theme
• In English this play is often referred to as The
Good Woman of Szechzwan, as it appears in
the authoritative translation of the text prepared
by pre-eminent Brecht scholar Eric Bentley, in
which he chooses to suggest an exclusively
feminine title character.
• In the original German, however, the play is titled
"Der gute Mensch von Sezuan", and so the most
linguistically accurate and specific title would be
The Good Person of Sezuan.
• Most subsequent translations (such as that of
John Willet) use the unisex Person in the title.
Title and theme
• Additional confusion has come from the lack of
uniformity in the spelling of the setting: Sezuan,
Setzuan, Szechwan, Szechuan have all been
used.
• Today, the proper spelling for the Chinese
province would be the Pinyin variant Sichuan,
and some translations have been updated to
reflect that.
• However, Brecht was never interested in
anthropological accuracy in his choice of setting,
but rather in the universal application of the epic
setting.
Title and theme
• This confusion of titling points to the central
problem of the play which follows a young
woman, a prostitute named Shen Te, as she
struggles to lead a life that is "good" (according
to the terms of the morality that is taught by the
gods, and to which lip service is paid by her
fellow citizens of Setzuan) without allowing
herself to be abused and trod upon by those
who would accept, and more often than not,
abuse her goodness.
Title and theme
• Her neighbors and even her friends prove so
brutal in the filling of their bellies that in order to
protect herself, she invents an alter ego: a male
cousin named Shui Ta, who is cold and stern, a
protector of Shen Te's interests.
• Thus the difficult theme of qualitative "goodness"
(which seemed so simple and obvious in the title
of the play) is rendered unstable by application
to both genders, as Shen Te realizes she must
operate under the guise of both in order to live a
good life.
Title and theme
• Brecht's strong belief in Marxist doctrine is made
evident through the play as he attempts to
redefine contemporary morality and altruism in
strong economic terms.
• Absolute Altruism, i.e. a moral code of
unconditional giving with no return, is put in
direct conflict with Shen Teh's capitalist society
of exploitation, the implication being that
economic systems dictate morality.
Title and theme
• Brecht further underlines the sexual
undertones of capitalism by having the
former prostitute Shen Teh adopt a male
alter-ego, a phallic personality capable of
exerting influence and taking what he
needs.
Title and theme
• According to Brecht, under such a society,
it is impossible to give without also taking.
The implied solution, for which Brecht
went before the House Committee on UnAmerican Activities is a marxist/communist
society in which, through nationalization of
private property and interdependence, all
altruism goes to serve both the whole and
the individual.
Plot summary
• The play opens with Wang, a water carrier,
explaining to the audience that he is on the city
outskirts awaiting the foretold appearance of
several important gods.
• Soon the gods arrive and ask Wang to find them
shelter for the night.
• They are tired, having traveled far and wide in
search of good people who still live according to
the principles that they, the gods, have handed
down.
Plot summary
• Instead they have found only greed, evil,
dishonesty, and selfishness.
• The same turns out to be true in Szechuan:
no one will take them in, no one has the
time or means to care for others - no one
except the poor young Shen Te, whose
pure inherent charity cannot allow her to
turn away anyone in need.
Plot summary
• Shen Te is rewarded for her hospitality, as the
gods take it as a sure sign of goodness.
• They give her money and she buys a humble
tobacco shop which they intend as both gift and
test: will Shen Te be able to maintain her
goodness with these newfound means, however
slight they may be?
• If she succeeds, the gods' confidence in
humanity would be restored. Though at first,
Shen Te seems to live up the gods' expectations,
her generosity quickly turns her small shop into
a messy, overcrowded poorhouse which attracts
crime and police supervision.
Plot summary
• In a sense, Shen Te quickly fails the test, as she
is forced to introduce the invented cousin Shui
Ta as overseer and protector of her interests.
• Shen Te dons a costume of male clothing, a
mask, and a forceful voice to take on the role of
Shui Ta.
• Shui Ta arrives at the shop, coldly explains that
his cousin has gone out of town on a short trip,
curtly turns out the hangers-on, and quickly
restores order to the shop.
Plot summary
• At first, Shui Ta only appears when Shen Te is in
a particularly desperate situation, but as the
action of the play develops, Shen Te becomes
unable to keep up with the demands made on
her and is overwhelmed by the promises she
makes to others--therefore she is compelled to
call on her cousin's services for longer periods
until at last her true persona seems to be
consumed by the severity of her cousin's.
Plot summary
• Where Shen Te is soft, compassionate
and vulnerable, Shui Ta is unemotional
and pragmatic, even vicious; it seems that
only Shui Ta is made to survive in the
world in which they live. In what seems no
time at all, he has built her humble shop
into a full scale tobacco factory with many
employees.
Plot summary
• Eventually one of the employees hears Shen Te
crying, but when he enters only Shui Ta is
present.
• He demands to know what he has done with
Shen Te, and when he cannot prove where she
is, he is taken to court on the charge of having
hidden or possibly murdered his cousin.
• The townspeople also discover a bundle of Shen
Te's clothing under Shui Ta's desk, which makes
them even more suspicious.
Plot summary
• During the process of her trial, the gods appear
in the robes of the judges, and Shui Ta says that
he will make a confession if the room is cleared
except for the judges.
• When the townspeople have gone, she reveals
herself to the gods, who are confronted by the
dilemma that their seemingly arbitrary divine
behavior has caused: they have created
impossible circumstances for those who wish to
live "good" lives and yet refuse to intervene
directly to protect their followers from the
vulnerability that this "goodness" engenders.
Plot summary
• At the end, following a hasty and ironic
(though quite literal) deus ex machina, the
narrator throws the responsibility of finding
a solution to the play's problem onto the
shoulders of the audience.
• It is for the spectator to figure out how a
good person can possibly come to a good
end in a world that, in essence, is not good.
Plot summary
• The play relies on the dialectic possibilities
of this problem, and on the assumption
that the spectator will be moved to see
that the current structure of society must
be changed in order to resolve the
problem.
• The Cast of The Good Person of Setzuan. The
show runs from March 14 to 17 in the New
Workshop Theater.
• The gods (Ann Bonner, Stacy Dotson and Becky
Bennett) meddle in the affairs of their earthly
kingdom.
• Dashing pilot Yang Sun (Daniel Roach) seduces
former prostitute Shen Te (Kimberly Courts)
• Shu Fu the Barber
(Steven Nasrawy)
apprehends Wong
(Jonathan Todd) one of
the homeless Shen Te
has attracted.
Reference
• Wikipedia
• http://blog.sina.com.tw/1933/article.php?p
bgid=1933&entryid=7018
• http://www.brooklyn.cuny.edu/bc/spotlite/sl
press/031302.htm