A Comparative Study of Estrangement and defamiliarization in German and Two Persian Performances of Mother Courage and her Children

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Assistant professor of German Language and Literature, Allameh Tabataba’i University, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Based on his theory of epic theater, Bertolt Brecht wrote several plays, one of the most important and successful of which is the play Mother Courage and Her Children. This play is a perfect example of performing the technique of alienation or estrangement effect and defamiliarization. This technique can be performed with multiple elements and in various ways in a play. In this research of comparative literature and interdisciplinary field, the introduction of these elements and the play Mother Courage will be introduced. Referring to this, three different performances of the play are examined and the desired elements and their performance methods in a number of scenes are discussed. The desired performances are the German performance by Brecht's wife Helene Weigel and under his own supervision and two Persian performances by Mehdi Shojaei and Amir Dejakam. An attempt is made to compare differences and similarities of these performances which are a result of difference of performance time periods, cultural differences and differing working style of the performers and other theatrical factors. Iranian performances are somewhat more modern and alienation in them is more exaggerated in some cases. The scenes are simple and the language used is modern vernacular.

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History

  • Receive Date: 03 June 2024
  • Revise Date: 15 July 2024
  • Accept Date: 20 July 2024

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