January 14th- Brechtian

Jan 14^th

Splendid Productions did ‘The Trial’ by Berkoff,

The production used a variety of Brechtian Techniques,

http://www.splendidproductions.co.uk/

Splendid Productions began in September 2003 and has been growing speedily since then. Splendid create high quality, professional, political theatre with theory based practical workshops for young people across the UK.

I stayed behind at the end of school to watch this performance by a Theatre in Education Company. I wasn’t sure if I did or didn’t like this performance. It was quite entertaining and interesting to see the styles of theatre used but I wasn’t sure if it was my cup of tea or not.

Our specialty is bringing Brechtian technique to life for students, both in performance and by providing a workshop experience for them to explore it for themselves. Making Brecht relevant to our audience rather than a slice of theatre history, to understand and use the techniques in their own work.
Beginning September 2004 we toured ‘The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui’ by Bertolt Brecht. This was revived in Summer 2006 as part of The National Theatre’s ‘Watch This Space’ Festival, the first written play to be performed on the outside stage. Our one-hour version for 3 actors was incredibly successful within the education market and sold out in 10 days.
In September 2005 we began touring our Brechtian adaptation of George Orwell’s Animal Farm ‘Four Legs Good Two Legs Bad’. In September 2006 our adaptation of Sophocles’ ‘Antigone’ went across the country finishing in March 2007, followed by 'The Good Woman of Szechuan', Autumn 2007 to Spring 2008 and 'Woyzeck', 2008/2009. After a successful run with 'Woyzeck' at the 2009 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, we began our sixth tour, 'Dr Faustus'. In 2010 we released production DVDs of 'Woyzeck'and 'Dr Faustus', and kicked off our national tour of 'The Trial'.
We have provided workshops and performances to over 500 schools in 51 counties across the UK providing over 1000 sessions for schools in the last eight years.

Brecht:

German poet and playwright who developed "epic drama"; a style that relies on the audience's reflective detachment rather than the production's atmosphere and action. His works include The Threepenny Opera (1928) and The Caucasian Chalk Circle (1948).



Bertolt Brecht