A-Infos (en) France, Alternative Libertaire #224 - Classic subversion: Bertolt Brecht: Saint Joan of the Stockyards (fr) [machine translation]

1929. Chicago. The stock market panic. Joan Dark is a member of the "Black Hats" ersatz 
salvation Army. Magnate meat Mauller Pierpont, has many friends on Wall Street. The 
backstory of this play is the struggle between Jeanne, our heroine, and Pierpont Mauler in 
Chicago slaughterhouses and canneries. This is the history of class struggle at the heart 
of the meat industry. ---- Full of good feelings, Jeanne wants to convince Pierpont act in 
the collective interest. And do not worry, Piepont interests are "collective interests". 
---- He will push its competitors out of business, and while the workers and the workers 
are unemployed partial general strike brewing in the depths of Chicago ... Manipulated by 
religion as by capitalist Jeanne eventually she came to realize its naivety?

Through this story is the alliance between the bourgeoisie and the religious issue it is, 
agree both to crush the proletariat.

The operetta written in 1930 has not aged, especially in these times of crisis, where the 
dominant discourse - like that of Black Hats - do bear the brunt of the crisis on the 
working classes, stigmatizing those who do not respect lazy the value of work.

Brecht is a pioneer in the construction of epic theater. This mode is particularly 
corrosive propaganda comes out with mink classic drama. For him, the epic theater should 
be a narrative: the spectator is not invited "  into the room  . " Instead, it must be 
aware that it tells a story. It should also cause a spectator activity, lead him to form 
opinions, and to confront the spectacle presented. Brecht understood his pieces as " 
instruments of instruction within the meaning of revolutionary social practice [...] and 
to instruct, you must start the process of reflection  . "

This mode of narration, combined with a fast-paced, interspersed with songs, makes this 
piece particularly interesting to read and even more to see! Far from a boring and austere 
theater, it can also have a good time.

In these times of crisis, it is worth remembering that:

"  That's why if someone says down

There is a God, though invisible,

However, can help you,

One, he must be banging his head on the pavement

Until it bursts  "

Leo (AL Montpellier)
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