Erwin Piscator

Augusto Boal and Bertolt Brecht are two performance theorists who have two very different perspectives on theatre. Brecht used his experience of a Marxist to influence his idea of “epic theatre” to stir the will of action in its audience. Boal believed it to be detrimental for a play’s audience to have an emotional understanding of the characters and the effects the play have on said characters. I am curious about how the theories of Boal and Brecht apply to Tokyo Fish Story which was written by Kimber Lee and directed by Kristen Brandt. Through this paper, I will be discussing how I believe Boal and Brecht would both view the production of Tokyo Fish Story and its various performance elements. Boal and Brecht would have strong opinions about the Mr. Koji’s monologues. Koji has multiple instances where he speaks in monologues to the audience (Lee, 2016). He is often not addressing anyone in particular. However, there were moments where it could be interpreted that he is addressing his son as well as the audience. When he is looking at the blue fish tuna at the beginning of the production, he says how they are too young. He looks into the audience and states that they need to consume “many more calendars”. Brecht would applaud the choice of having the monologues address the audience. This phenomenon makes the audience more aware of their surroundings and, therefore, they can better connect the issues brought up in the play to their own lives (Brecht, 1964, pg. 127). it…

The Arnolifini Wedding Portrait (1434, oil on wood, 82.2 cm x 60 cm, National Gallery, London) by Jan Van Eyck is one of the most extraordinary and mysterious paintings in art history. The complexity and rich detail makes it perplexing to art historians who have never been able to establish the true meaning behind the portrait. The most notable opinion is that of Erwin Panofsky, who argues that the Arnolfini was a marriage ceremony and was witnessed by the painter, shown with his reflection in…

military units to go and try to stop them. This wasn’t enough, but Rundstedt hoped it would buy them enough time for reinforcements to come in to help them. However, because of Hitler’s mistrust in his generals, only Hitler himself could control that unit, as they were the OKW (the German army) reserves. Hitler was asleep at that time, so Rundstedt couldn’t do anything. Hitler also had trouble sleeping and, with strict orders given by himself, no one was to wake him that day, so no one woke him.…

1. DEFINE THE SUBJECT/EVALUATE THE SOURSES: a. Battle of the Kasserine Pass The Battle of the Kassserine Pass took place during the Tunisian Campaign of World War II in February of 1943. The Kasserine Pass is a wide gap located on the Atlas Mountains in west central Tunisia. The Allied forces involved in the battle were the U.S Army’s II Corps and the British 6th Armored Division. The Axis forces involved were Afrika Korps Assult Group and two Panzer divisions from the 5th Panzer Army. 2.…

During and after the Second World War many leaders, soldiers, and officials of Germany were tried for war crimes because of their in humane practices and policies. Many viewed these Nazi Germans as ruthless savages that lacked any regard for the treatment of their enemies, prisoners, and even their own soldiers. Erwin Rommel was a field marshal that fought for Nazi Germany, leading many successful campaigns throughout Africa and Europe against the allied forces, but he was unlike the other Nazi…

Patton Patton is a historical drama surrounding United States General George S. Patton and his career in Africa and Europe during World War II. While I initially chose this film because it was easily available on Netflix, I came to enjoy that it focused on the war in Northern Africa and Italy, which are often overlooked in modern cinema and other mediums. The film depicts General George S. Patton, a loud mouth, no nonsense, and pugnacious general stuck in the middle of the fight in North…

Nazi Germany, through Hitler’s blitzkrieg tactics, had swept through most of Central Europe and Libya prior to the battle. Their ever-increasing confidence led to their demise in the Siege of Tobruk through basic, errors and judgements. As part of the foreword to John Joseph Murray’s “I Confess: A Memoir of the Siege of Tobruk”, excerpts of thoughts and opinions from war correspondent Chester Wilmot criticises the tactics of Axis commander Erwin Rommel by commenting that, “individually these…

Inspired by the handlebars of a bicycle and modelled after the traditionally comfy, soft club chair, it was completely foreign and radical. Little of the original chair model is left; only the bare, brittle bones of the chair’s structure remain. The use of tubular steel also heralded in a new age for furniture; it was relatively easy to manufacture and yet was very much a work of art and not just a mass-produced object. At the time, it would have been both exciting and frightening, turning the…