What Brechtian playwright cast children in his plays?

December 12, 2005 10:35 AM

I'm having trouble remembering a playwright I read about long ago. IIRC, this playwright is considered an heir to the Brechtian tradition, and he accordingly hated using professional actors with practiced mannerisms. In order to achieve verfremdungseffekt when directing, he would sometimes cast high schoolers with no previous acting expreience. I think it might be Edward Bond, but I'm not sure. Any ideas? I'm pretty sure that he's British.
posted by painquale to media & arts (3 answers total)

Heiner Muller (German)? Athol Fugard (British South Africa)? Or it could really be Edward Bond-- he did work with children.

Do you remember anything else about the playwright? A play synopsis? Title? Memorable character? Theme?
posted by hercatalyst at 11:11 AM on December 12, 2005

Richard Foreman fits most of these criteria, but I don't recall any productions where he used high school students.
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 11:20 AM on December 12, 2005

hercatalyst: I can't give any more information because I'm not thinking of any specific play that I saw. I went through a Brecht phase a while ago and read a bunch of his plays, and during that time I read somewhere that a "heir to Brecht" cast children in order to really alienate his audiences. I read Edward Bond's Lear last night and now I'm wondering if he was the one. (Even if he wasn't, I want to know who was.) I really do suspect it's Bond, but I'm hoping for confirmation that he did this sort of thing.
posted by painquale at 12:09 PM on December 12, 2005