Brecht's Pastiche History Play: Renaissance Drama and Modernist Theatre in Leben Eduards Des Zweiten Von England

This article examines Brecht's Leben Eduards des Zweiten von England from the historical perspective of its first performances in 1924, paying particular attention to the status of Renaissance drama in Germany and the emerging Modernist movement. This approach runs counter to previous critical discussions which have been implicitly or explicitly comparative. The emphasis on Marlowe has led to a neglect of the many parallels in Eduard II . with works by Shakespeare, works that Brecht, like most educated Germans, would have known. An examination of attitudes to English Renaissance drama during the period leads to the conclusion that Eduard II . is not a criticism of its model, since minimal knowledge of Edward II meant that most of the audience were not in a position to compare the two plays. Rather, the play is a pastiche, a spurious Renaissance history play that emphasised the aspects of Renaissance drama that corresponded to the Modernist aesthetic paradigm, and that also reflected Brecht's own interests and preoccupations. In Eduard II . a Modernist reinterpretation of Renaissance theatre was put up in opposition to the orthodox view of Shakespeare, and thus embodied a challenge to the dominant theatrical tradition which had claimed Shakespeare as its own.