A respectable wedding

Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956), the prolific German playwright, was a towering figure in 20th century theatre – an influential theorist, poet, storyteller, director, and theatre manager. For nearly 40 years, Brecht revolutionized theatre amid a century marked by upheaval. His concept of the “distancing effect” opened the door to a new kind of theatre, one that rejected the illusionistic pretences of petty-bourgeois drama. In his works, Brecht expressed a fierce critique of bourgeois society and its mentality, notably in A Respectable Wedding.

In A Respectable Wedding (1919), Brecht unflinchingly mocks the veneer of perfection, false morality, sentimentality, and the self-importance of the petty bourgeois class. The supposedly happy world of the bourgeoisie, epitomized by the wedding day, crumbles before the audience – just as swiftly as the groom’s hand-made furniture, which doesn’t even survive the wedding dinner.

What should have been the happiest day for the newlyweds quickly spirals into a nightmare: “By tomorrow, everyone will know what our wedding was like, and they’ll all laugh. In church, they’ll turn their heads and whisper about the furniture, the lamp that didn’t work, and worst of all, that the bride is pregnant. I had planned to say the baby would be born prematurely.” As one might expect, A Respectable Wedding is laced with clever, relaxed dialogue, playful word games, illogical twists, and a touch of absurdist humour.

In one of his many writings, Brecht paints a sharp picture of the petty bourgeoisie: “They realized they were nothing more than a flock of sheep without a leader. ‘If you don’t push us hard, scold us, and slap us on the snout, we’ll stay miserable. We can’t go on like this,’ they said. Luckily, a leader was found, and they gladly handed over their power…”

In his article The Birth of Nazism from the Spirit of the Petty Bourgeoisie, Jure Gantar examines the role of the petty bourgeoisie in the rise of Hitler and the Nazi dictatorship. He argues, “Given the circumstan-ces, it is only logical that A Respectable Wedding, written by Brecht amid the revolutionary turmoil of 1919, can also be interpreted as a historical document chronicling the rise of the German brand of fascism. Furthermore, in the views expressed by the wedding guests, one can discern the core intellectual traits that, just a few years later, would crystallize into the ideology of Nazism.”

Furthermore, in her article The Petite Bourgeoisie of My Homeland, dramaturg Tanja Lužar provides a keen observation that at the wedding reception, “the guests, in reality, are reluctant, burdened by their own problems, filled with hidden frustrations and unresolved conflicts. The wine they drink, rather than lightening the mood, releases a torrent of

bitterness.” She further notes that “one by one, the guests lose their dignity, their confidence crumbling along with the homemade furniture. The breaking point comes when the Bride throws herself into a frenzied dance with the Friend, who then sings the so-called Ballad of Virginity.”

 A Respectable Wedding was first staged fifteen years ago in the Old Hall of the Slovene National Theatre Maribor by internationally acclaimed director Mateja Koležnik. In an interview with Tanja Lužar, Koležnik shared that this production opened the doors for her international career and holds immense personal significance. “I left and returned with this show. /…/ After the managers of Schauspielhaus Chemnitz saw A Respectable Wedding at the Maribor Theatre Festival in 2010, they immediately offered me the opportunity to direct Yvonne. Later, when they took over a larger, more prestigious theatre in Leipzig, they remembered our production of Brecht and invited us as guests for their inaugural season. For Germans, particularly East Germans, Brecht is embedded in their cultural heritage – far more so than Cankar or Prešeren are for us. They’ve seen countless interpretations of his work. I knew German audiences would be captivated by our actors, and it filled me with pride.”

Mateja Koležnik remains the only Slovenian theatre director to achieve such longstanding success across major German-speaking theatres, earning numerous prestigious awards. The production team has remained nearly the same, with the only change being Vlado Novak replacing Peter Boštjančič as the Bride’s father.