Bertolt Brecht is woke AF
Channel: Andrew Venus
Date: 2021-09-06

Oh no the right wingers are annoyed again because a young person did a Shakespeare and now we have to talk about Brechtian technique and theatre-about-theatre and why what we think about Shakespeare is probably-almost-definitely wrong because the Victorians ruined him like they ruined everything else.

00:00 Part One: Verfremdungseffekt, 03:51 Part Two: Trigger Warnings, 08:32 Intermission: How the Woke Victorians Ruined Shakespeare (like they ruined everything else), 13:20 Part Three: Psychobabble, 16:34 Part Four: Shakespeare via Brecht, 19:33 Conclusion: The Kids are not Alright

If you’ve been affected by any of the themes in this video, please consider getting in touch with The Samaritans (https://www.samaritans.org/) or The Listening Place (https://listeningplace.org.uk/).

More information about Ola Ince’s production of Romeo & Juliet can be found here: https://www.shakespearesglobe.com/whats-on/romeo-and-juliet-2021/.

Josephy Losey’s 1975 film version of Life of Galileo (simply called ‘Galileo’) is available here on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_mI1CEDlBk.

Celia Walden’s article “This woke ‘Romeo and Juliet’ proves even Shakespeare is not safe from revisionists” can be found at https://www.telegraph.co.uk/columnists/2021/07/05/woke-romeo-juliet-proves-even-shakespeare-not-safe-revisionists/ (behind a paywall, which I had to take out a subscription to get access to and just forgot to cancel for like three months. You’re welcome).