Working with and against Brecht in a higher education setting: A director’s reflection

Reflecting on the opportunity to direct and to interrogate large-scale dramatic texts in a higher education context, the author here examines two such occasions, separated by over five years. Their principal connection is the way in which Bertolt Brecht played a significant hand either in the writing or in the interpretation of the work. This article will explore some aspects of this experience, seeing that the higher education (HE) pedagogic environment generates both freedoms and challenges. Workshopping John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath and producing a fully staged public production of Brecht’s own The Good Person of Szechwan , the article teases out ways in which Brechtian performance theories brought clarity to the staging of Steinbeck’s anti-capitalistic tome, particularly finding resonance in Steinbeck’s focus on community experience and solidarity. The article also explores the unexpected value of multi-role casting in The Good Person of Szechwan and the way in which this freed us to lean into his Verfremdungseffekt . More challenging, too, in seeking to escape the shadow of Orientalism in the play, were the decisions that questioned the underlying nature and integrity of Brecht’s intentions: indeed, challenging the writer’s choices brought us to a deeper engagement with the core of his practice.