philosophical thinking;andhe worked hard and experimented, trying to
bring such a theatre about. This is an intoxicating mixture, the possibi-
lity of which had not been known before, and Brecht’s attempt to realise
it, despite his failings, has not been rivalled since.
Further Reading: Collective Action
For reasons we have discussed, studies of theatre and politics often focus
on particular times and places. On the relationship between Greek theatre
and politics, see various essays in Easterling (1997) and Winkler and
Zeitlin (1990), while Halpern (2011) offers an excellent critical account of
some recent attempts to think about the Greeks, theatre and democracy;
Butler (1987) examines theatre under Charles I on the eve of the Civil
War; McConachie (2006) gives a historical overview of political theatre
from 1920 to 1970, including a case study of Brecht directingMother
Courage; Kershaw (1992) looks at post-war British political theatre. On
theatre and political theory in general, Kottman (2008) is an ambitious
and, in places, quite difficult attempt to establish the notion of the‘dra-
matic scene’as a fundamental political category. A selection of Brecht’s
writings on theatre are collected in Brecht (1964), although this certainly
does not contain everything of interest. Jameson (1980) collects and pre-
sents theoretical writings on art and politics by Brecht and his peers,
including Adorno and Lukács. Benedetti (2005: 183–220) features
accounts of Brechtian practice from those who worked with him –a
useful counterweight to the more theoretical approaches. Sacks and
Thomson (1994) offers a good selection of scholarly essays.
Notes
1 Churchill (2009).
2 ‘Seven Jewish Children’, theGuardian, 11 February, 2009;‘The Stone and Seven Jewish Children:
A Play for Gaza’,Sunday Times,15 February, 2009.
3 Piscator was, amongst other things, Brecht’s teacher and collaborator; his influence on the
development of Brecht’s ideas is unparalleled.
4 Arendt (1958: 188); see also Kottman (2008: 23–5 and 116–7); Halpern (2011). Unrelated to
Arendt’s remark, Bentley expresses a similar thought about the significance of dialogue:‘Talking
involves the whole man, and talk between persons involves the whole society.’(1964: 73)
5 Wiles (1995: 90–1).
6 Curiously, this has done equally little to subdue political philosophers or to damage this conception
of their purpose.
7 See Prentki and Preston (2009).
8 From‘The Depressed Person’,Harpers Magazine,January 1998, p. 60.
9 Lennard and Luckhurst (2002: 104); Balme (2008: 180–1).
10 Quoted in Carlson (1993: 239).
11 Quoted in Bentley (2008: 253).190 From the Stage to the World