Political Themes In The Metamorphosis By Steven Berkoff

Our play uses variety of styles, mainly Brecht’s epic theatre as our play depicts political message. Our play is structured as montage as it shows different stages of George’s life in a non-chronological order, we effectively did this

it. There was a faint sign of rebellion hidden behind this idea..." (Politzer, 76-77) All of

“The Metamorphosis” is a surreal story by Franz Kafka surrounding the transformation and betrayal of Gregor Samsa, who wakes up one day, reborn into a large insect. Along with the bizarre and nightmarish appearance of his new hard back, brown segmented belly, and many legs, Gregor only desire is to live a normal life, unfortunately, this is impossible because he struggles to even get out of bed. Gregor transformation into an insect is a vivid metaphor for the alienation of humans from around the world. After losing human form, Gregor is automatically deprived of the right to be a part of society. Franz Kafka could relate to Gregor because he too was mistreated/neglected by his father and worked a job that he was unhappy doing. Franz and Gregor both were providers for their families. Alienation, isolation, and loneliness were not hard to recognize during the Modernity and Modernism time period.

When individuals are rejected by family and society, they tend to feel abandoned and unloved. In Franz Kafka’s, The Metamorphosis, Gregor’s transformation into a “monstrous vermin” (Kafka 1) results in him being psychologically and even physically abused by his family. Rejection from his mother, sister, and father leave Gregor feeling unwanted and feeling as if he is a terrible burden on the family and their well being.

How Brecht achieves producing this state of consciousness is more subtle and elegant than the previous technique of having actors walk out with blatant placards to remind the audience that they are watching a play. One of the marks of Brecht’s epic theater is his alienation effect, or “a representation which allows [the audience] to recognize its subject, but at the same time makes it seem unfamiliar” (Brecht 1948, 8).

Brechts work is based on the concept that theatre is a means of political persuasion for the masses. He sees the theatre as a tool to manipulate the audience, and to influence their day-to-day living once that have thought about issues raised during the performance.

Frank Kafka is considered one of the most influential writers of all time. Helmut Richter would agree with this statement. Richter agreed that Kafka was a very prominent figure in world literature and was amazed by his mechanics and word usage. I feel that his essay is supportive of Kafka’s writing, but also leaves out many important details in its brevity. Richter did not include Kafka’s flaws and tendencies in his essay.

The ideas of Bertolt Brecht (1898-1965) changed the theatre in many ways. Brecht along with Erwin Piscator developed the style of Epic theatre style contrasting to previous accepted styles. Presentational in form, Epic theatre is a vehicle for social comment through techniques such as: alienation, historification, eclectic influences (highly Asian), constructivism in scenery, disjointed and illogical scene placement, ordinary clothing and lighting, the use of music to detach the audience from emotion, placards and signs and projected images. Didactic in nature Brecht’s works aim to challenge the

“Go to college”, “go to bed’, “stop being so weird”. Demands from society are a constant that will constantly breath down your neck. Gregor is a gargantuan ball of stress who always has a demand to be fulfilling whether it be work, family, or money. All of these will pile on causing Gregor to morph into a bug. Demands like these represent what the stresses of society can do on most individuals, not every person could be affected like this but it's possible for the majority.

Franz Kafka, in his novel The Metamorphosis, explores two conflicting ideas through his protagonist Gregor: unity and isolation. Gregor’s transformation created a whole life of distress for him, but on the other hand also formed a deeper and better relationship for the rest of the family.

When embarking on a study of the representation of political violence in drama, it is essential first of all to establish some agreed-upon terms and frames of reference, and some reasonably stable understanding of the object of study. Political violence as a subject for dramatic representation can be seen as a special category of what is called "political drama" more generally. Political drama can be understood to include such ingredients as the clash of political philosophies and strategies in concrete situations, the struggle for political power through democratic or extra-democratic means, the maneuverings, triumphs and defeats of parties, groups and classes in pursuit of their political goals, and the ceaseless weighing of ends and means in that pursuit. As a field of human activity and commitment, politics, broadly defined, has furnished material for a huge number of plays, engaging audiences in the recurring variations of personal and political dilemmas. Some of these plays can be seen to have the overt aim of changing or reinforcing the spectators ' understanding and political alignment; others present the spectacle of human behavior in the political realm in an ostensibly neutral way.

The Life and Works of Bertolt Brecht In this essay I will consider the life and works of Bertolt Brecht, the famous theatre practitioner who has had such a dramatic impact on our understanding of the theatre and acting. First of all I will give a biography of Brecht because it is important to know the background of his life in order to understand the motives he had for writing and producing plays in the way he did. We will see a direct correlation between events in his life and the plays and techniques that he propagated. I will then move to explore the methods and techniques that Brecht developed, looking at how they came about and who influenced his work.

Academic and artistic interest in something is usually a sure sign that matters are unclear, conceptual boundaries are blurred and that old certainties are anything but that. There is also little doubt that the major challenges we face: the media revolution, globalization and migration, climate change, the erosion of public finances and services (to name just a few) – have all in some way a bearing on the public sphere, the realm where issues are debated and where citizens are free to enter and engage in discourse. As the public sphere is primarily a discursive arena located outside and between state bureaucracies on the one hand and economics and business on the other, it occupies a crucial role in the functioning of so-called free societies. The question to be explored here is what role theatre and performance in practice play in this realm and how performance and theatre theory can contribute to the debates.” (Balme

Brecht was born in 1898 in Germany, Ausburg. He had gone to Munich then Berlin, in search of a theatrical career, however it soon came to an abrupt halt as Nazis came into power in Germany. Brecht had fled to the USA to seek a better, safer future. Brecht was influenced by a wide range of writers and events, such as Chinese theatre and Karl Marx. The fact that Brecht had been through so much when his homeland got wrecked, gave him a political view to express reality. Epic theatre is where the spectator shouldn’t get emotionally attached with the characters but instead should try and think of what the message being spread on the stage is really about. Brecht made Epic theatre his main focus as he wanted to portray messages through his work; events he had been through are highlighted in his plays written including themes of death, greed, misery etc. To make sure the audience were left critical of the theatre piece; Brecht would alienate the audience which in return made the audience distance themselves from the performers. Alienation could be by reading stage directions out loud, or having a juxtaposing song where the lyrics may be harsh but are accompanied by a sweet medley like we used in our devised piece. Brecht used juxtaposition as it alienated the audience so they didn’t get connected to the performance on an emotional level. In our performance, we also included juxtaposition for our riot scene, using the sweet melody of ‘ring ring roses’ contrasted with aggressive

The political message portrayed in most of Dario Fo’s performances was: beware of institutional power, and this became the comical backbone of several of his plays. In his most well known production, Can’t Pay? Won’t Pay!, Fo addressed the issue of the rising prices for food at the time. This is said to be his most entertaining work, so, while also addressing a fierce political situation, Fo also sustains the comedy in his piece. Like most of his plays, it was written in response to a specific political need. Most theatre today addresses issues that affect a wide range of people. While it is still mainly a form of entertainment, the audience is now left pondering the messages behind the text. This is a continuation of Fo’s ideas.