Man Equals Man by Bertolt Brecht

The transformation of the porter Galy Gay
in the military cantonment of Kilkoa

I couldn't have spent a more interesting evening.  Pouria invited me to join a group of students going to see Bertolt Brecht's Man Equals Man, presented by The School of Creative and Performing Arts.

While we were standing in the kitchen, he and I did some internet research, trying to find some snippets that would aid our viewing.

I am familiar with the phrase when someone identifies something "as Brechtian".

Knowing that the phrase is important, doesn't mean I know what the phrase means so we read a bit and talked a bit and went to see the play.

The programme notes were good but not enough:

Man Equals Man is about the transformation of a human being. Indeed, it is a play about how we as human animals are constantly disassembling and reassembling ourselves in order to suit a particular agenda: our own, or someone elses ....

... the year is 1925 ...

Whom I want to be is the student I over heard in the washroom speaking to her friend.  "This is the third time I have seen the play.  The essay I write is going to be so awesome." Now there is a woman who knows how to get the maximum value from her viewing and put it to good use.

As for me, I have to do some primary research to understand what I saw tonight.  Wondering why I have never seen Brecht before I went out to skim a list of his works.  I couldn't have been happier:  The Duchess of Malfi, The Three Penny Opera and Mother Courage and Her Children. I have seen at least those three -- and the latter, in Salmon Arm a few years ago, so it is not that the plays are inaccessible.

I seem to be better at remembering the names of plays, than remember the names of playrite.  Or at least being able to link him up with works I have seen.

The final performance is tomorrow night at 7:30 pm.

Arta