Man Equals Man
Encyclopedia
Man Equals Man or A Man's a Man, is a play by the German
modernist
playwright
Bertolt Brecht
. One of Brecht's earlier works, it explores themes of war
, human fungibility
, and identity.
Not only was the play the first to emerge after Brecht's move from Munich
to Berlin
, but it was also the first to be produced by what came to be known as 'the Brecht collective':
As with his earlier In the Jungle
(1923), which was set in Chicago
, Brecht locates the drama in what was for his German audience an exotic setting, British colonial India
. Man Equals Man presents the forcible transformation of a civilian, Galy Gay, into the perfect soldier. Using Kiplingesque
imagery (as with In the Jungle, though, thanks to Elisabeth Hauptmann
's command of English, in a more authentic tone now), Brecht explores personality as something that can be dismantled and reassembled like a machine, in a parable that critic Walter Kerr credited with a “curious foreshadowing of the art of brainwashing.” The same characters exist in the short interlude
The Elephant Calf
.
The play was first staged by two provincial theatres in Düsseldorf
and Darmstadt
, opening first in the latter on the 25th September, 1926. This production was directed by Jacob Geis
, with set-design
by Caspar Neher
. Ernst Legal (who was the director of the Landestheater where the play was produced) played Galy Gay.
The play offers an "intermission piece" called "The Elephant Calf
". It is a one-act surrealistic farce that has Galy Gay making his return as a baby elephant
accused of murdering its mother.
In March 1927 an adaptation of the play was broadcast by Radio Berlin's new drama department, with an introductory note in Der deutsche Rundfunk describing it as "the most powerful and original stage play of our time."
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
modernist
Modernism
Modernism, in its broadest definition, is modern thought, character, or practice. More specifically, the term describes the modernist movement, its set of cultural tendencies and array of associated cultural movements, originally arising from wide-scale and far-reaching changes to Western society...
playwright
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
Bertolt Brecht
Bertolt Brecht
Bertolt Brecht was a German poet, playwright, and theatre director.An influential theatre practitioner of the 20th century, Brecht made equally significant contributions to dramaturgy and theatrical production, the latter particularly through the seismic impact of the tours undertaken by the...
. One of Brecht's earlier works, it explores themes of war
War
War is a state of organized, armed, and often prolonged conflict carried on between states, nations, or other parties typified by extreme aggression, social disruption, and usually high mortality. War should be understood as an actual, intentional and widespread armed conflict between political...
, human fungibility
Fungibility
Fungibility is the property of a good or a commodity whose individual units are capable of mutual substitution, such as crude oil, wheat, precious metals or currencies...
, and identity.
Not only was the play the first to emerge after Brecht's move from Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
to Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, but it was also the first to be produced by what came to be known as 'the Brecht collective':
- [T]hat shifting group of friends and collaborators on whom he henceforth depended. As such it mirrored the artistic climate of the middle 1920s, with their attitude of 'Neue SachlichkeitNew ObjectivityThe New Objectivity is a term used to characterize the attitude of public life in Weimar Germany as well as the art, literature, music, and architecture created to adapt to it...
' (or New Matter-of-Factness), their stressing of the collectivity and downplaying of the individual, and their new cult of Anglo-Saxon imagery and sport. Together the 'collective' would go to fights, not only absorbing their terminology and ethos (which permeates Man Equals Man) but also drawing those conclusions for the theatre as a whole which Brecht set down in his theoretical essay 'Emphasis on Sport' and tried to realise by means of the harsh lighting, the boxing-ring stage and other anti-illusionistic devices that henceforward appeared in his own productions."
As with his earlier In the Jungle
In The Jungle of Cities
In The Jungle of Cities is a play by the German modernist playwright Bertolt Brecht. Written between 1921 and 1924, it received its first theatrical production under the title In the Jungle at the Residenztheater in Munich, opening on 9 May 1923. This production was directed by Erich Engel, with...
(1923), which was set in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Brecht locates the drama in what was for his German audience an exotic setting, British colonial India
British Raj
British Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...
. Man Equals Man presents the forcible transformation of a civilian, Galy Gay, into the perfect soldier. Using Kiplingesque
Rudyard Kipling
Joseph Rudyard Kipling was an English poet, short-story writer, and novelist chiefly remembered for his celebration of British imperialism, tales and poems of British soldiers in India, and his tales for children. Kipling received the 1907 Nobel Prize for Literature...
imagery (as with In the Jungle, though, thanks to Elisabeth Hauptmann
Elisabeth Hauptmann
Elisabeth Hauptmann was a German writer who worked with Bertolt Brecht....
's command of English, in a more authentic tone now), Brecht explores personality as something that can be dismantled and reassembled like a machine, in a parable that critic Walter Kerr credited with a “curious foreshadowing of the art of brainwashing.” The same characters exist in the short interlude
Entr'acte
' is French for "between the acts" . It can mean a pause between two parts of a stage production, synonymous to an intermission, but it more often indicates a piece of music performed between acts of a theatrical production...
The Elephant Calf
The Elephant Calf
The Elephant Calf , also known as The Baby Elephant, is an early one-act surrealistic prose farce written by the German modernist playwright Bertolt Brecht. It originally formed the penultimate scene of Brecht's full-length play Man Equals Man, but by 1926 Brecht had separated it to an appendix to...
.
The play was first staged by two provincial theatres in Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and centre of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region.Düsseldorf is an important international business and financial centre and renowned for its fashion and trade fairs. Located centrally within the European Megalopolis, the...
and Darmstadt
Darmstadt
Darmstadt is a city in the Bundesland of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Rhine Main Area.The sandy soils in the Darmstadt area, ill-suited for agriculture in times before industrial fertilisation, prevented any larger settlement from developing, until the city became the seat...
, opening first in the latter on the 25th September, 1926. This production was directed by Jacob Geis
Jacob Geis
Jacob Geis was a German theatre director, screenwriter and film producer. He wrote for 35 films between 1935 and 1959.-Selected filmography:* Drei Unteroffiziere * The Falling Star...
, with set-design
Scenic design
Scenic design is the creation of theatrical, as well as film or television scenery. Scenic designers have traditionally come from a variety of artistic backgrounds, but nowadays, generally speaking, they are trained professionals, often with M.F.A...
by Caspar Neher
Caspar Neher
Caspar Neher was an Austrian-German scenographer and librettist, known principally for his career-long working relationship with Bertolt Brecht.Neher was born in Augsburg...
. Ernst Legal (who was the director of the Landestheater where the play was produced) played Galy Gay.
The play offers an "intermission piece" called "The Elephant Calf
The Elephant Calf
The Elephant Calf , also known as The Baby Elephant, is an early one-act surrealistic prose farce written by the German modernist playwright Bertolt Brecht. It originally formed the penultimate scene of Brecht's full-length play Man Equals Man, but by 1926 Brecht had separated it to an appendix to...
". It is a one-act surrealistic farce that has Galy Gay making his return as a baby elephant
Elephant
Elephants are large land mammals in two extant genera of the family Elephantidae: Elephas and Loxodonta, with the third genus Mammuthus extinct...
accused of murdering its mother.
In March 1927 an adaptation of the play was broadcast by Radio Berlin's new drama department, with an introductory note in Der deutsche Rundfunk describing it as "the most powerful and original stage play of our time."
Texts
In current publication, the Arcade edition was translated from Brecht's final revision in 1954 by Gerhard Nellhaus (and by Brecht himself, who made his own English version of the first scene) . The Bentley translation is based on public domain material of 1926, many years before Brecht finished revising the play.Works cited
- Willett, John and Ralph Manheim. 1979. Introduction and Editorial Notes. Collected Plays: Two by Bertolt Brecht. Bertolt Brecht: Plays, Poetry, Prose Ser. London: Methuen, 1994. ISBN 0413685608.