Know Your Theatre - Episode 3 - BERTOLT BRECHT

KNOW YOUR THEATRE aka KYT is a theatre literacy series initiated by Masquerade - the Performance Group, Chennai in collaboration with SNS Arts Development Consultancy, Chennai to promote enthusiastic coming together of theatre community once a month to explore and learn the life, times, art and evolution of a local / global theatre practitioner / playwright who have contributed significantly to the evolution and growth of theatre practices among the Chennai Theatre community.

In the 3rd episode of the series - KYT E03 - we attempt to facilitate a closer encounter with the life and works of one of the most significant theatre practitioner of 20th Century: BERTOLT BRECHT, the German agit-prop playwright and theatre practitioner, founder of The Berliner Ensemble.

Bertolt Brecht (1898 - 1956) wanted his work to revolutionise theatre's bourgeois values and bring about social and political change. As a writer, director, dramaturg and theatre theorist, Brecht’s impact on European theatre was unrivalled in the 20th century. His primary artistic objective was to create a theatre appropriate for an age of challenging scientific temper. As an activist, he was a Socialist, believed in the efficacy of Communism, engaged in what is known as agitprop (Agitation+Propaganda) theatre and was of the strong idea that the world CAN and MUST be changed. Living and fighting through the Nazi times, his writing and theatre were highly influential on the world stage. In India, among a huge cross section of practitioners across the country, his theory, aesthetics, tools and practices still continue to wield huge influence.

On the evening of 5th November 2023, between 6 pm and 8:30 pm, Masquerade Chennai in association with SNS Arts Development Consultancy and Theatre Arlequin, Chennai, will be presenting performative readings from his key stage works. The performances would be followed by a facilitated audience interface by Dr. Mangai Arasu, well-known theatre activist and Founder-Artistic Director of Chennai-based theatre group MARAPAACHI. She is a widely read litterateur and a retd. Professor of English Literature. Well attuned to the works of Bertolt Brecht, she would be joined by Pravin Kannanur, one of the Founders of Chennai-based Magic Lantern Theatre Repertory who has brought memorable and widely travelled theatre productions of plays such as Ponniyin Selvan, Pattam (based on Shakespeare's Richard III), Veshakkaran (adapted from Moliere's Tartuffe), Minyana's Jeremy, Dario Fo's Accidental Death of an Anarchist and Albert Camus' Caligula, among others. Honoured with the Order of Chevalier by the French government, Pravin today is a multi-disciplinarian artist who combines visual arts and theatre.

Entry to the event is free, but strictly through Registration and RSVP. Only 30 audience on a FCFS basis.

For further details, call 98840 29865 - Masquerade, Chennai.