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Bertolt Brecht

Mr Puntila and His Man Matti

(Herr Puntila und sein Knecht Matti)

Director Nebojša Bradić

People’s play

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One of the most important European playwrights and theatre theorists of the 20th century, a theatre reformer Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956) began to write while still a medical and biology student in Munich. In spite of his immense and diverse oeuvre – he wrote socio-critical, erotic and intimate poetry, historical and philosophical novels, short fiction, essays, philosophical pieces, journals – his strongest impact on European literary history remains that of a playwright. In 1924, he moved to Berlin and soon became Max Reinhardt’s assistant at the Deutsches Theater. During this period, he wrote several plays, which were harbingers of the epic theatre of the Verfremdungseffekt (»distancing effect«). Brecht thought the audience required an emotional distance to reflect on what is being presented in critical and objective ways, rather than being taken out of themselves as conventional entertainment attempts to do. In 1928, he won great critical and popular acclaim for The Threepenny Opera. In 1933, when the Nazis took over, he left Germany and travelled in Europe until 1941, when he left for the United States. His best plays are from this period and include The Horatians and the Curiatians, Fear and Misery of the Third Reich, Life of Galileo, Mother Courage and Her Children, The Trial of Lucullus, The Good Person of Szechwan, Mr Puntila and his Man Matti, The Caucasian Chalk Circle. In 1948 he returned to East Berlin, where he founded the Berliner Ensemble with his wife Helene Weigel. Most of his plays were staged there. Brecht’s theoretic views of epic theatre had a strong impact on modern drama, which accepted most of his »distancing effects« and adapted them according to the new esthetics of 1950’s and 1960’s.

Mr Puntila and his Man Matti (1940), a people’s play, was written during Brecht’s exile years. The character of Puntila, a double-faced big landowner who leads a double life, is based on a short story by the Finnish-Estonian playwright Hella Wuolijoki, at whose house Brecht lived with his family during his exile in Finland. Mr Puntila and his Man Matti is one of his most often staged plays.

A big hard-drinking landowner, Puntila suffers from a split personality: when drunk, he is a friendly, generous, convivial, agreeable and kind-hearted person who pays no regard to class and social differences; when he sobers up, he is bossy, intolerable, ruthless, surly, and self-centered. It is only during one of his drinking bouts that he first notices his chauffeur Matti, who has been working for him for the past five weeks. He tells him, in all confidence, about his once-a-month fit of sobriety, during which he turns into a beastly animal. The only remedy for such a state is cumin brandy. At first, Matti adheres to his master’s whims and unexpected mood changes, but he grows increasingly critical and defiant.

Translator of the play Mojca Kranjc
Translator of the songs Milan Jesih
Director and Set Designer Nebojša Bradić
Dramaturg Urška Brodar
Costume Designer Maja Nedeljković Davidovac
Musical Arrangements and Vocal Coaching Simon Dvoršak
Choreographers Cvetka Špiljar, Boštjan Špiljar
Language Consultant Jože Volk
Assistant Set and Costume Designer Maja Ballund    

Cast
Puntila Renato Jenček
Eva Nina Rakovec
Matti Andrej Murenc
The Waiter Mario Šelih
The Judge Branko Završan
The Attaché Rastko Krošl
The Vet Damjan M. Trbovc
Sly-Grog Emma Lučka Počkaj
The Chemist's Assistant Manca Ogorevc
The Milkmaid Barbara Medvešček
The Telephonist Minca Lorenci
The Fat Man Igor Žužek
The Labourer Igor Sancin / David Čeh (alternate)
The Red-haired Man Vid Klemenc
The Weedy Man Zvone Agrež
Red Surkkala Tarek Rashid
Laina Pia Zemljič
Fina Ana Ruter
The Lawyer Blaž Setnikar
The Parson Bojan Umek
The Parson's Wife Jagoda
Children Kaja Sluga, Matevž Sluga (guest performances)
Musicians
Accordionist Mihael Strniša
Guitarist Aljaž Cvirn

Opening 10 May 2013
Performance duration: 1 hour and 50 minutes. No interval.

Performing rights SUHRKAMP VERLAG GMBH & CO. KG,Pappelallee 78–79, 10437 Berlin, Nemčija, VAT-No. DEI14110089

 

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