The Good Woman of Sezuan Essay Example For Students

The Good Woman of Sezuan Essay The newest production of The Good Woman of Sezuan in repertory at the Ensemble, starring Carmen-Maja Antoni, is a powerful mirror of Germanys current sociopolitical predicament. Brechts Sezuan has all too much in common with post-unification Berlin both are unpredictable environments where fear and uncertainty, as well as increasing unemployment and homelessness, are rife. In resident director Alejandro Quintanas production, the divided citizen Shen Te Shui Ta epitomizes the dilemma of todays East Germans, especially East Berliners. Brechts play has often been understood in terms of universal dichotomies   whether moral (good versus evil), philosophical (feeling versus reason), sexual (female versus male), or ideological (the political left versus the right). But after watching the East Berlin production, I found the dualism more pointedly reflective of the doubleness within Germany itself, and specifically the doubleness within East Germans who now must adjust to life in a unified country.In Berlin the split has been most acute. Besides living insularly in a divided country for 40 years, the Wall and the nearby forbidden West provided inhabitants with a constant reminder of their dividedness. Now the Wall may have fallen, but after two years the East Berliner remains separated from his Western counterpart, both culturally and psychologically. And, in spite of the disappearance of the GDR, a particularly East German mentality seems to have remained intact: East Germans are now also alienated from themselves. Because of this national and psychological split, East Berliners play a double role these days, striving to maintain their old identification with a familiar society even as they don a mask to protect themselves in a new, unfamiliar social system. Although many former East Germans fee 1 as if they have been colonized by their capitalist West German relatives (they live in the new states of the Federal Republic), they have had little choice but to capitulate. This resulted in positive gains like freedom to travel or a family business as well as long-term losses like a job or a house; but as one understands from Shen Te, it may also mean learning to be ruthless, self-serving or even unethical in order to survive.Shen Tes tobacco shop represents a chance for her to start a new life. In a symbolic gesture, she stresses the importance of becoming a new person by giving a cigarette to her first customer, the Unemployed Man. During the prologue we realize how he lost his job: Cursing the gods, he enters several times to throw piles of bound notebooks on stage, ostensibly citizen files kept by East Germanys secret police, the Stasi. In the real new Germany, many former Party functionaries and unofficial Stasi-informers the old gods have lost their jobs, but just as many still prosper.Brechts play has always provoked audiences with its dichotomy ethics and economics, but the Berliner Ensemble production goes further to generate striking parallels to current issues in Germany. Although Sezuans gods worry that their involvement in economics might be morally misunderstood, economics regulates the ethical code. Just as the Sezuan gods give Shen Te a monetary incentive to remain good, the ex-gods from the GDR distributed attractive awards, bonuses and privileges to loyal and good citizens of the state. And the new gods from Bonn used economics to lure the East Germans into the unification process.In production, the gods-as-bureaucrats are dressed in the stereotypical garb of spies: black trenchcoats, hats and briefcases. The Stasi? West German secret servicemen? The spectators obviously enjoy seeing the hypocritical higher ups caricatured. But as new Stasi-traitors are unmasked daily, the people of Berlin still may be emotionally too close to injuries inflicted by the secret police. Hefty applause follows the gods, comments about the contradiction between business and an honorable life. As Berliners seek to redefine their beliefs, the need for values like compassion conflicts with the cold materialism of the West.Heavy metal music punctuates the crucial first scenes Song of Smoke. Michael John LaChiusa: looking for love Essay Parodying the ancient convention of the deus ex machina, Brecht sends his gods back to the heavens without having restored order in Sezuan. In present-day Germany a bitter irony exists: a deus ex machina in the form of West Germany descended to play the role of mock savior. But this illusory liberation and Western welcome have caused enormous disappointment and problems. Not only is the breakneck pace of economic change and competition overwhelming, but the government that once assumed the role of guardian no longer exists. More new Germans see that they must take on individual responsibility for their freedom, even if it means coming to terms with accrued debts, a closed factory or deception. Those people who suffer unfair treatment by society may feel now that they have no choice but to behave basely in order to survive.This production of Good Woman cut Brechts epilogue, depriving the audience of a collective search for a solution. Instead, the bleak ending suggests that only a minority still believes in the so-called third way, an alternative form of socialism, which might have revived the decaying GDR. Dramaturg Jorg Mihan told me that the decision was both thematic and practical. The references to a I solution to Sezuan a new person new gods and new world ring hollow in 1992. It is clear that attempts to create a better world in the GDR failed. Recent polls in Berlin show that half of the Eastern respondents are bitter about the present economic situation. Such concern is shared by the Berliner Ensemble, whose financial fears are reflected in the endings allusions to potential bankruptcy.In Germanys new states the unification is likened to an annexation. The often insensitive attempts by West German politicians to remove all traces of the GDR intensify the alienation East Germans already feel. Whether they be changed street names, a decapitated Lenin statue or the disappearance of child-care centers, these steps invalidate a society that lasted 40 years. Yet each move made to negate aspects of the old regime only distinguishes more clearly what it meant to be an East German as opposed to a West German.I was surprised that many reviewers declared Good Woman irrelevant when it opened last spring. The production, they wrote, was neither daring nor political enough in its epilogue-less ending. Were the critics seeking a solution to Sezuan? Were they expecting historification to defamiliarize the setting enough so they could recognize its significance? Or could it be that even trained spectators did not have enough emotional distance from the unification to sense the productions resonance with the times?Rebecca Rovit is a theatre historian presently doing research in Germany about theatre under reunification. This article is the first in a series entitled After the Fall, reports from the countries where recent political change has affected the theatre. Future issues will feature essays about Russia, South Africa and Yugoslavia.