Apocalypse Baal. Issue 175 (1st November 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Irmer, Thomas
• Is Part Of: Maska. Volume 30:Issue 175/176(2015)
• Page Start: 104
• Page End: 113
• Publication Date: 2015-11-01
• Subjects: Performing arts -- Slovenia -- Periodicals; Performing arts -- Periodicals; 792.094973
• DOI: 10.1386/maska.30.175-176.104_1
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1318-0509

Abstract

Due to it being a subject of a judicial copyright dispute, Frank Castorf's staging of Brecht's Baal raises the question about what needs to be protected: copyright or theatre practice. Castorf's stagings are known for their text montages and various shifts in space and time, which is what he did again in his latest performance, where he combined Brecht's Baal with Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now, concentrating a number of female figures into one and moving the action to theVietnam War. After the premiere, Brecht's heiress, Barbara Brecht-Schall, procured an injunctionprohibiting the piece. This was her last public act: she died a few months later.