Brecht Bertolt
Bertolt Brecht (b. February 10, 1898, Augsburg – d. August 14, 1956, Berlin) was a German playwright, director, writer, theatre practitioner. Brecht contributed to the development of the theory and practice of the 20th century theatrical movement – Epic theatre. According to the number of staged plays, Brecht occupies one of the first places in the world. One of his most popular plays — The Caucasian Chalk Circle (1975, directed by R. Sturua, translated by G. and K. Jorjaneli) was successfully staged at the Shota Rustaveli State Academic Theatre. The play gained universal recognition when the theatre toured of many countries. The Georgian version of this epic play is a Georgian “model” of epic theatre, which follows national traditions.
Brecht published the play in the magazine “Sinn und Form” (1949). In 1954, he made final corrections to the play. As a result of the author’s remarks and the mentioned changes, the play seemed to gain Georgian flavor. But the play is not about historical characters (American scholar Betty Weber tried to connect the characters in the play with famous figures in Georgian history). Brecht was not interested in this at all. For Brecht, the most important part was to transfer the action to a foreign, exotic environment. The Georgian play retained many of the features of Brecht’s epic theatre.
Brecht's following plays were also staged in Georgia — The Threepenny Opera (1964, directed by D. Aleksidze, later also staged by the Metekhi Youth Theatre), The Good Person of Szechwan (1969, directed by R. Sturua) – at the Shota Rustaveli State Academic Theatre, Mother Courage and Her Children – at the Gldani Public Theatre (present-day Akhmeteli State Drama Theatre, directed by I. Kakulia), and The Visions of Simone Machard – at the Theater of Young Spectators. Brecht's plays were translated by N. Dochviri, N. Rukhadze, G. and K. Jorjaneli. L. Bregadze, N. Gurabanidze, A. Gelovani, N. Kakabadze, N. Kakauridze, Z. Charkhalashvili and others wrote letters, reviews, and works on Brecht's work and theatre. In 1971, Brecht's “Berliner Ensemble” was on tour in Tbilisi, presenting The Threepenny Opera and Coriolanus.
Literary work: პიესები, თბ., 1986; მოთხრობები, თბ., 2005; ვიგინდარა, ნოველები, თარგმნა ხ. თოდუამ, „ცისკარი“, 2017, № 11.
Literature: ბ ე რ ი ა შ ვ ი ლ ი დ., ბერტოლდ ბრეხტის დრამის „ეპიკური“ გადამუშავების პრინციპი, დის. ფილ., მეცნ. კანდ., თბ., 1995; ჭ ა რ ხ ა ლ ა შ ვ ი ლ ი ზ., ბერტოლდ ბრეჰტის „ეპიკური“ დრამა და თეატრი, თბ., 1986.
Z. Charkhalashvili
