Brecht at Addis Ababa University
When studying theatrical art in Ethiopia and attending the course ‘Theater in Society’, Bertolt Brecht is at the forefront. How is he perceived? Here are a few opinions.
* * *
I first encountered Brecht during my studies at university. I found the theory of separating the audience from the actors through the alienation effect very interesting and liked it because it is well-founded. In practical application, I found that it can help to improve audience participation and interaction with the actors. This theory is very important for our society.
Rahel Teshome, actress, director, director of the Theater department at the National Theater of Ethiopia
* * *
When I was a theatrical art student at Addis Ababa University in 1984, I first learned about Brecht. A South African who opposed apartheid and had left his country with his black wife, Dr. Maklaren, taught a course on "Theater in Society" during my third year. He had a more Eastern political orientation. Because he had a communist mindset, his lectures were replete with indications of these influences.
Because I am not interested in politics, I viewed the communist perspective from a distance. At the time, I was more interested in Russian classical literature. When Maklaren told us about Brecht, some African playwrights and his own position, I was not interested.
As I recall now, I was enthusiastic for a while about Brecht's Theater theory, which states that audiences must be distanced or separated from the play so that they can observe everything and think critically instead of getting carried away. I also spent some time studying the theory. I asked how it is possible to separate a play from emotions and focus solely on reality. I thought it could work for a certain amount of time, but not permanently.
Tesfaye Gebremariam is a director at the National Theater of Ethiopia. He has directed more than 40 plays.
* * *
While studying the history of dramatic literature at Addis Ababa University in 2012, I discovered Brecht's Epic Theatre, which has a significant impact in a developing nation. The concept is that what is being portrayed on stage should not be believed by the audience. Immersion of the audience in a fake reality and illusionary stage should not be the goal. Instead, the goal should be to make society better by highlighting its actual issues..
© Henok Berihun, actor
* * *
In my opinion, Bertolt Brecht offers Ethiopian Theater and performance students a rich blend of theatrical techniques and ideological insights. His overarching goal is to transform Theater from a purely passive form of entertainment into a catalyst for social and political change that is closely linked to Ethiopian realities. Through our teaching, learning, community engagement and academic research, students are encouraged to develop productions that stimulate critical thinking rather than merely eliciting emotional responses.
Brecht's methods are invaluable to my teaching. As lecturers, we use his theories to teach classes on development and epic Theater. I lead workshops on acting skills in which students engage with excerpts from Brecht's works such as “Mother Courage and Her Children” and “Galileo Galilei”.
These texts serve as the basis for teaching literary criticism and encourage students to think critically. For example, the experimental production of “Galileo Galilei” in 2018 was conceived at the Addis Ababa University Cultural Centre to promote critical thinking among students as part of their acting practice. At the same time, “Mother Courage and Her Children” was performed at the Amest Kilo Performance Hall in 2024, with a focus on stage production, direction and design to deepen students' understanding of performance studies.
We encourage students to engage in critical thinking and literary analysis in our Theater classes, using Brecht's theories. His narrative writing reflects a process-oriented philosophical perspective that aims to expose social inequalities and empower the working class to imagine a more just society. He used Theater as a means of deconstructing social systems, exposing the influence of economic and political forces on individuals' lives and other challenges. We relate these themes to the history, culture and political realities of Ethiopia, developing students' critical perspectives as they write, direct, act and perform their dreams for an audience. In my courses on plays, critical reading and play analysis, I challenge students to critically examine the social structures of Ethiopian culture, social philosophy and history through Theater. They are encouraged to use Theater as a platform to explore pressing issues such as the challenges of life. For example, creating scenes that depict the effects of societal challenges promotes meaningful engagement with pressing social issues in Ethiopia.
In acting workshops, I apply Brecht's theories to encourage a critical audience. Brecht saw Theater as a ‘hammer’ with which to shape reality and wanted to stimulate intellectual engagement rather than provoke superficial emotional reactions. In these workshops, students practice engaging the audience with provocative questions such as ‘Is that fair?’ or ‘Would you have acted differently?’ This approach deepens the audience's critical awareness. Brecht's view of history as a dynamic process underscores the potential for social change. He emphasized the importance of showing alternative outcomes of historical events. Students can develop scenes in which they explore ‘what might have been’ if different decisions had been made, highlighting the transformative potential of collective action.
I believe that Theater is an important platform for examining social structures. This educational approach encourages students to use theatrical techniques to question pressing issues such as wealth inequality and environmental degradation. Creating scenes that illustrate the concrete effects of corporate environmental damage on different communities fosters a deeper engagement with these pressing social issues and encourages reflection. Furthermore, fostering a critical audience is central to this educational framework. Brecht's vision of Theater as a ‘hammer’ emphasizes the need for intellectual engagement over superficial emotional reactions. Students are encouraged to actively engage with the audience and ask questions such as ‘Is this fair?’ or ‘How would you respond?’ to sharpen critical awareness and encourage active participation in social discourse. Finally, Brecht's view of history as a malleable process allows for the exploration of alternative paths and outcomes. He argued that society is capable of change and that Theater can illustrate various ‘what-if’ scenarios by presenting alternative decisions and their consequences. For students, this means developing scenes that explore ‘what could have been,’ thereby highlighting the transformative potential of collective action and inspiring hope for social evolution. Based on these theories, students attempt to interpret their multimedia productions in various performance courses.
My impression of Brecht is that he conveys new perspectives on the portrayal and representation of Theater and art in various forms. He uncovers existing realities and questions them without creating illusions by theorizing and confronting various philosophical ideas from his unique perspective. This gives me the freedom to explore self-text and subtext interpretations in performance and to create my own version of performance identity in the realm of stage and screen. Furthermore, based on his theories, I would like to develop new versions of performance therapy skills for acting in plays to help participants address their psychological challenges through Theater as a tool to support mental health institutions.
Dr. Paulos Aemero is Interim Dean of the Faculty of Theater Arts, Film at Addis Ababa University; Researcher at African Studies for Arts, Media and Culture; Author, Performer and Consultant for creative works of art.
Deutsche Biographie - Brecht, Bertolt
Literatur: Bertolt Brecht
Bertolt Brecht Biography
Why is Bertolt Brecht still important?
Mother Courage and her children
Tsegaye's Mother Courage
Tsegaye Gebremedhin
Manyazewal's Mother Courage
Manyazewal Endeshaw
The Caucasian chalk circle
Dr. Laura Olivi
Brecht at Addis Ababa University
Brecht's works in the Onleihe
Brecht's works in our library
* * *
I first encountered Brecht during my studies at university. I found the theory of separating the audience from the actors through the alienation effect very interesting and liked it because it is well-founded. In practical application, I found that it can help to improve audience participation and interaction with the actors. This theory is very important for our society.
Rahel Teshome, actress, director, director of the Theater department at the National Theater of Ethiopia
* * *
When I was a theatrical art student at Addis Ababa University in 1984, I first learned about Brecht. A South African who opposed apartheid and had left his country with his black wife, Dr. Maklaren, taught a course on "Theater in Society" during my third year. He had a more Eastern political orientation. Because he had a communist mindset, his lectures were replete with indications of these influences.
Because I am not interested in politics, I viewed the communist perspective from a distance. At the time, I was more interested in Russian classical literature. When Maklaren told us about Brecht, some African playwrights and his own position, I was not interested.
As I recall now, I was enthusiastic for a while about Brecht's Theater theory, which states that audiences must be distanced or separated from the play so that they can observe everything and think critically instead of getting carried away. I also spent some time studying the theory. I asked how it is possible to separate a play from emotions and focus solely on reality. I thought it could work for a certain amount of time, but not permanently.
Tesfaye Gebremariam is a director at the National Theater of Ethiopia. He has directed more than 40 plays.
* * *
While studying the history of dramatic literature at Addis Ababa University in 2012, I discovered Brecht's Epic Theatre, which has a significant impact in a developing nation. The concept is that what is being portrayed on stage should not be believed by the audience. Immersion of the audience in a fake reality and illusionary stage should not be the goal. Instead, the goal should be to make society better by highlighting its actual issues..
© Henok Berihun, actor
* * *
In my opinion, Bertolt Brecht offers Ethiopian Theater and performance students a rich blend of theatrical techniques and ideological insights. His overarching goal is to transform Theater from a purely passive form of entertainment into a catalyst for social and political change that is closely linked to Ethiopian realities. Through our teaching, learning, community engagement and academic research, students are encouraged to develop productions that stimulate critical thinking rather than merely eliciting emotional responses.
Brecht's methods are invaluable to my teaching. As lecturers, we use his theories to teach classes on development and epic Theater. I lead workshops on acting skills in which students engage with excerpts from Brecht's works such as “Mother Courage and Her Children” and “Galileo Galilei”.
These texts serve as the basis for teaching literary criticism and encourage students to think critically. For example, the experimental production of “Galileo Galilei” in 2018 was conceived at the Addis Ababa University Cultural Centre to promote critical thinking among students as part of their acting practice. At the same time, “Mother Courage and Her Children” was performed at the Amest Kilo Performance Hall in 2024, with a focus on stage production, direction and design to deepen students' understanding of performance studies.
We encourage students to engage in critical thinking and literary analysis in our Theater classes, using Brecht's theories. His narrative writing reflects a process-oriented philosophical perspective that aims to expose social inequalities and empower the working class to imagine a more just society. He used Theater as a means of deconstructing social systems, exposing the influence of economic and political forces on individuals' lives and other challenges. We relate these themes to the history, culture and political realities of Ethiopia, developing students' critical perspectives as they write, direct, act and perform their dreams for an audience. In my courses on plays, critical reading and play analysis, I challenge students to critically examine the social structures of Ethiopian culture, social philosophy and history through Theater. They are encouraged to use Theater as a platform to explore pressing issues such as the challenges of life. For example, creating scenes that depict the effects of societal challenges promotes meaningful engagement with pressing social issues in Ethiopia.
In acting workshops, I apply Brecht's theories to encourage a critical audience. Brecht saw Theater as a ‘hammer’ with which to shape reality and wanted to stimulate intellectual engagement rather than provoke superficial emotional reactions. In these workshops, students practice engaging the audience with provocative questions such as ‘Is that fair?’ or ‘Would you have acted differently?’ This approach deepens the audience's critical awareness. Brecht's view of history as a dynamic process underscores the potential for social change. He emphasized the importance of showing alternative outcomes of historical events. Students can develop scenes in which they explore ‘what might have been’ if different decisions had been made, highlighting the transformative potential of collective action.
I believe that Theater is an important platform for examining social structures. This educational approach encourages students to use theatrical techniques to question pressing issues such as wealth inequality and environmental degradation. Creating scenes that illustrate the concrete effects of corporate environmental damage on different communities fosters a deeper engagement with these pressing social issues and encourages reflection. Furthermore, fostering a critical audience is central to this educational framework. Brecht's vision of Theater as a ‘hammer’ emphasizes the need for intellectual engagement over superficial emotional reactions. Students are encouraged to actively engage with the audience and ask questions such as ‘Is this fair?’ or ‘How would you respond?’ to sharpen critical awareness and encourage active participation in social discourse. Finally, Brecht's view of history as a malleable process allows for the exploration of alternative paths and outcomes. He argued that society is capable of change and that Theater can illustrate various ‘what-if’ scenarios by presenting alternative decisions and their consequences. For students, this means developing scenes that explore ‘what could have been,’ thereby highlighting the transformative potential of collective action and inspiring hope for social evolution. Based on these theories, students attempt to interpret their multimedia productions in various performance courses.
My impression of Brecht is that he conveys new perspectives on the portrayal and representation of Theater and art in various forms. He uncovers existing realities and questions them without creating illusions by theorizing and confronting various philosophical ideas from his unique perspective. This gives me the freedom to explore self-text and subtext interpretations in performance and to create my own version of performance identity in the realm of stage and screen. Furthermore, based on his theories, I would like to develop new versions of performance therapy skills for acting in plays to help participants address their psychological challenges through Theater as a tool to support mental health institutions.
Dr. Paulos Aemero is Interim Dean of the Faculty of Theater Arts, Film at Addis Ababa University; Researcher at African Studies for Arts, Media and Culture; Author, Performer and Consultant for creative works of art.
Deutsche Biographie - Brecht, Bertolt
Literatur: Bertolt Brecht
Bertolt Brecht Biography
Why is Bertolt Brecht still important?
Mother Courage and her children
Tsegaye's Mother Courage
Tsegaye Gebremedhin
Manyazewal's Mother Courage
Manyazewal Endeshaw
The Caucasian chalk circle
Dr. Laura Olivi
Brecht at Addis Ababa University
Brecht's works in the Onleihe
Brecht's works in our library
