Other People's Productions...

I've been looking for other groups that have done this play. Here's a couple with some pictures..

Arcola Theatre - London
5th June - 23rd June 2001

Translated by Ralph Manheim Director Mehmet Ergen Designer Michalis Kokkoliadis
The Plebeians Rehearse the Uprising is set in East Germany in 1953. It shows the dramatist, Bertolt Brecht, rehearsing his adaptation of Shakespeare's Coriolanus, while, outside the theatre, the workers rise in revolt against oppressive measures. When a workers' delegation asks Brecht to support their demand, he is unable to resolve his dilemma and becomes guilty of betraying both workers and his own self.

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A Review from Time Magazine reviewing an early production in London gives the performace a thumbs down, but has this to say, "Nevertheless, even a misfire like The Plebeians can serve as a reminder of what is largely missing from the London stage nowadays. After all, the play touches fundamental issues. Its opening scenes crackle with intellectual energy. Its rehearsal framework and plays-with-in-plays probe fresh possibilities of form. "
Read the Review HERE


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A guy named David wrote a blog about finding the play at a book sale and gives a good review.....
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Used book shopping is one of my favorite things, as evidenced by my bookshelves. Today I picked up a couple pretty interesting seeming books.

The Plebeians Rehearse the Uprisng: a German Tragedy by Gunter Grass
This includes an introductory essay by the author delivered to the Academy of Arts and Letters, Berlin, April 23, 1964, the quartercentenary of Shakespeare's birth. It deals with one of Shakespeare's lesser known and almost never performed works Coriolanus, and Bertolt Brecht's never completed adaptation of it. The play is essentially about Coriolanus, a Roman general and nobleman, and his contempt for revolting plebians. Blah blah, he does some stuff and comes to a tragic end. It is one of the unknown Shakespeare's play because it is profoundly anti-commoner and anti-democratic. Grass claims it is also fairly dull and lacks the art of other plays by Shakespeare. So The Plebeians Rehearse the Uprisng, is about a workers uprising in East Berlin, that takes place while Brecht is rehearsing Coriolan, his version of Coriolanus. This play is based on actual events, although during the uprising Brecht was actually rehearsing Strittmatter's Zatzgraben. In any case striking workers really did come to Brecht for support and also to get him to help them draft a call for a general strike. He really was ambivalent, with his position as director of an important theatre in East Berlin and position of privalege. The book finishes with a short essay about the June 17, 1953 uprising. Short but rich in detail, about a revolt I'd never heard of. I read the two essays on the train today but haven't looked at the play. As someone interested in Brecht and revolutions this was quite the find.


And finally on the question of what Brecht's brand of theatre looked like, here's a picture of his production of Mother Courage ...

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