This thesis is primarily concerned with Caryl Churchill and Edward Bond&rsquo / s attempts to implement Brechtian methods of Verfremdungseffekt with the same artistic intent of social change in their plays, Mad Forest and Red, Black and Ignorant. In order to provoke critical and objective thinking, and action for positive change, both of the playwrights make use of Brechtian Verfremdungseffekt techniques of characterization, open-endedness, episodic structure, and audio-visual aids. These techniques let the playwrights present familiar situations, actions and attitudes as if they were unfamiliar so that they could be alienated and evaluated with a critical eye by the audience and the reader. In addition to studying the Brechtian elements in these two plays, this thesis argues that there is a point which drifts Bond&rsquo / s Red, Black and Ignorant from Brechtian dramaturgy and Churchill&rsquo / s Mad Forest / the point is that Red, Black and Ignorant includes non-Brechtian character design aspects and lack of Brechtian audio-visual aids.

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“From Brecht to Butler: An Analysis of Dirty Grrrls” is a production centered thesis focusing on the image of the mudflap girl. The study examines the graduate production Dirty Grrrls as a form of praxis intersecting the mudflap girl, the theory of gender performativity, and Brechtian methodology. As a common yet unexplored symbol of hypersexual visual culture in U.S. American society, the mudflap girl acts as a relevant subject matter for both the performance and written portion of the study. Through the production, mudflap girl materializes at the meeting point of the terms performance and performativity. The written portion of this project examines this intersection and discusses the productive cultural work accomplished on the page and on the stage via live embodiment of performativity.

In my thesis, I analyse the current German political drama. However, the term political drama or theatre is difficult to define in general. In my work, I understand the concepts of political drama / theatre in the narrower sense, follow the engaged, appellative, left-wing (anti-capitalist) oriented the- atre of E. Piscator and Brecht, and at the same, in the broader sense, as socio-critical drama / theatre, i.e. relating to the problems of today's "polis" (city, state) and following mainly the tradition of new German and Austrian folk plays. In contemporary German political drama, the two trends outlined in the introduction can be traced. In their works, the first line (left-wing appellative) is followed mainly by playwrights and directors F. Richter and R. Pollesch, the other line (socio-critical) by D. Loher, O. Bukowski, T. Walser, or M. von Mayenburg.

Orientador: Renata Soares Junqueira / Banca: José Pedro Antunes / Banca: Lílian Lopondo / Resumo: Em Portugal, durante o Estado Novo, apesar de a comissão de censura proibir a obra do dramaturgo alemão Bertolt Brecht (1889-1956), os dramaturgos, atores e diretores conseguiram, de alguma forma, adquirir conhecimento sobre os pressupostos do teatro épico brechtiano e praticá-los nas suas criações dramatúrgicas e encenações. Assim, algumas das peças produzidas pela dramaturgia portuguesa na segunda metade do século XX, além de explorarem freqüentemente temas históricos - a fim de tratar do passado com vistas a analisar o momento presente -, anunciavam a estética do teatro épico de Brecht como uma inovação das formas dramáticas praticadas até então. Frutos da perspectiva brechtiana de teatro épico, O render dos heróis (1960), de José Cardoso Pires (1925-1998) e Felizmente há luar! (1961), de Luís de Sttau Monteiro (1926-1993) constituem o corpus desta Dissertação de Mestrado. Essas peças apresentam no seu enredo fatos remanescentes ou antecedentes da Revolução Liberal de 1820, com o objetivo de - por meio da alegoria - levar o leitor / espectador a uma análise crítica da situação político-social de Portugal sob o regime ditatorial de António de Oliveira Salazar. Analisamos as formas de apropriação do efeito de distanciamento - elemento caracterizador do teatro épico brechtiano - nessas peças, bem como a relação delas com o período político marcado pela censura salazarista. Para isso, a nossa base teórica é constituída principalmente pelas teorias acerca do teatro épico de Brecht, considerando-as no contexto do teatro português da década de 1960. / Abstract: In Portugal, during the Estado Novo period, although the censorship committee prohibited the work by German dramatist Bertolt Brecht (1889-1959), dramatists, actors, and directors were able to, somehow, acquire knowledge concerning the assumptions of Brechtian epic theater and put them into practice in their dramaturgical creations and staging. This way, some of the plays produced by Portuguese dramaturgy in the second half of the 20th century, besides frequently approaching historical themes (in order to discuss the past aiming at analyzing the present), articulated the aesthetics of Brecht's epic theater as an innovation of drama performed up to that point. Results of Brechtian perspective on epic theater, O render dos heróis (1960), by José Cardoso Pires (1925-1998) and Felizmente há luar! (1961), by Luís de Sttau Monteiro (1926-1993) are the corpus of this Master Degree's dissertation. These plays have, in their plots, facts which are reminiscent or antecedent of the Liberal Revolution in 1820, with the objective of - through its allegory - leading the reader to a critical analysis of Portugal's social-political situation under António de Oliveira Salazar's dictatorship regime. Analyze appropriation forms and the elaboration of the distancing effect - characteristic elements in Brechtian theater - in these plays, as well as the relation between these plays and the political period marked by the Salazarian dictatorship. For that matter, our theoretical foundation is mainly made up by theories regarding Brecht's epic theater, considering them in the Portuguese theater context in the 1960s. / Mestre

Caryl Churchill, the most widely performed female dramatist in contemporary British theatre, is a playwright preoccupied with the dissection of the traditional relations of power. She challenges social and dramatic conventions through her innovative exploration of the male gaze, the objectification of women, the performativity of gender, and women as objects of exchange within a masculine economy. In so doing, Churchill locates her concerns in the area of `materialism and gender'. Churchill explicates a socialist-feminist position by pointing directly at the failure of liberal feminism. The lack of a sense of community among women, highlighted by Churchill's portrayal of women such as Marlene in `Top Girls', forms a critical aspect of Churchill's work. Her drama re-iterates how meaningful change is impossible while women continue to oppress one another, and while economic structures perpetuate patriarchy. Altered consciousness, aligned to socio-political re-structuring, is necessary for both the oppressors and the oppressed, in a society where too much emphasis has been placed on individualism. The outspoken hope for a transgression of the conventional processes of identification and other omnipresent, oppressive socio-political phenomena, is a strong aspect of Churchill's work. Her plays reveal how signs create reality rather than reflect it, and she uses Brechtian-based distancing methods to induce a critical examination of gendered relations. Time-shifting, overlapping dialogue, doubling and cross-casting are used by Churchill to manipulate the sign-systems of the dominant order. Cross-gender casting, Churchill's most widely reviewed dramatic device, is employed to destabilise fixed sexual identities determined by dominant heterosexual ideology. She calls into question the traditional sign `Woman' - which is constructed by and for the male gaze - and addresses the marginality of the female experience in a non-linear framework. Although dealing with serious issues, Churchill's plays are often executed in a style that is at once amusing and thought-provoking to exclude the possibility of didacticism. With her skilful use of language and innovative techniques as her highly effective instruments, Churchill accomplishes her broader purpose with originality. In its originality and complexity, her drama is in itself a `new possibility' for different forms. / English Studies / M. A. (English)

Caryl Churchill, the most widely performed female dramatist in contemporary British theatre, is a playwright preoccupied with the dissection of the traditional relations of power. She challenges social and dramatic conventions through her innovative exploration of the male gaze, the objectification of women, the performativity of gender, and women as objects of exchange within a masculine economy. In so doing, Churchill locates her concerns in the area of `materialism and gender'. Churchill explicates a socialist-feminist position by pointing directly at the failure of liberal feminism. The lack of a sense of community among women, highlighted by Churchill's portrayal of women such as Marlene in `Top Girls', forms a critical aspect of Churchill's work. Her drama re-iterates how meaningful change is impossible while women continue to oppress one another, and while economic structures perpetuate patriarchy. Altered consciousness, aligned to socio-political re-structuring, is necessary for both the oppressors and the oppressed, in a society where too much emphasis has been placed on individualism. The outspoken hope for a transgression of the conventional processes of identification and other omnipresent, oppressive socio-political phenomena, is a strong aspect of Churchill's work. Her plays reveal how signs create reality rather than reflect it, and she uses Brechtian-based distancing methods to induce a critical examination of gendered relations. Time-shifting, overlapping dialogue, doubling and cross-casting are used by Churchill to manipulate the sign-systems of the dominant order. Cross-gender casting, Churchill's most widely reviewed dramatic device, is employed to destabilise fixed sexual identities determined by dominant heterosexual ideology. She calls into question the traditional sign `Woman' - which is constructed by and for the male gaze - and addresses the marginality of the female experience in a non-linear framework. Although dealing with serious issues, Churchill's plays are often executed in a style that is at once amusing and thought-provoking to exclude the possibility of didacticism. With her skilful use of language and innovative techniques as her highly effective instruments, Churchill accomplishes her broader purpose with originality. In its originality and complexity, her drama is in itself a `new possibility' for different forms. / English Studies / M. A. (English)

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:29:50Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2010-03-02Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T20:20:15Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 rodrigues_mr_me_arafcl.pdf: 518225 bytes, checksum: 8c92966968bbdf528a522e9deadd4293 (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Em Portugal, durante o Estado Novo, apesar de a comissão de censura proibir a obra do dramaturgo alemão Bertolt Brecht (1889-1956), os dramaturgos, atores e diretores conseguiram, de alguma forma, adquirir conhecimento sobre os pressupostos do teatro épico brechtiano e praticá-los nas suas criações dramatúrgicas e encenações. Assim, algumas das peças produzidas pela dramaturgia portuguesa na segunda metade do século XX, além de explorarem freqüentemente temas históricos – a fim de tratar do passado com vistas a analisar o momento presente –, anunciavam a estética do teatro épico de Brecht como uma inovação das formas dramáticas praticadas até então. Frutos da perspectiva brechtiana de teatro épico, O render dos heróis (1960), de José Cardoso Pires (1925-1998) e Felizmente há luar! (1961), de Luís de Sttau Monteiro (1926-1993) constituem o corpus desta Dissertação de Mestrado. Essas peças apresentam no seu enredo fatos remanescentes ou antecedentes da Revolução Liberal de 1820, com o objetivo de – por meio da alegoria – levar o leitor / espectador a uma análise crítica da situação político-social de Portugal sob o regime ditatorial de António de Oliveira Salazar. Analisamos as formas de apropriação do efeito de distanciamento – elemento caracterizador do teatro épico brechtiano – nessas peças, bem como a relação delas com o período político marcado pela censura salazarista. Para isso, a nossa base teórica é constituída principalmente pelas teorias acerca do teatro épico de Brecht, considerando-as no contexto do teatro português da década de 1960. / In Portugal, during the Estado Novo period, although the censorship committee prohibited the work by German dramatist Bertolt Brecht (1889-1959), dramatists, actors, and directors were able to, somehow, acquire knowledge concerning the assumptions of Brechtian epic theater and put them into practice in their dramaturgical creations and staging. This way, some of the plays produced by Portuguese dramaturgy in the second half of the 20th century, besides frequently approaching historical themes (in order to discuss the past aiming at analyzing the present), articulated the aesthetics of Brecht’s epic theater as an innovation of drama performed up to that point. Results of Brechtian perspective on epic theater, O render dos heróis (1960), by José Cardoso Pires (1925-1998) and Felizmente há luar! (1961), by Luís de Sttau Monteiro (1926-1993) are the corpus of this Master Degree’s dissertation. These plays have, in their plots, facts which are reminiscent or antecedent of the Liberal Revolution in 1820, with the objective of – through its allegory – leading the reader to a critical analysis of Portugal’s social-political situation under António de Oliveira Salazar’s dictatorship regime. Analyze appropriation forms and the elaboration of the distancing effect – characteristic elements in Brechtian theater – in these plays, as well as the relation between these plays and the political period marked by the Salazarian dictatorship. For that matter, our theoretical foundation is mainly made up by theories regarding Brecht’s epic theater, considering them in the Portuguese theater context in the 1960s.