Callum Robertson, a graduating student of Acting at the Central School of Speech and Drama, played the role of the Philosopher in the Messingkauf/ Buying Brass staging. Here, he shares his impressions and notes how the experience has changed his relationship to the theatre.
Going into this project, my only experience of Brecht had been a brief introduction to his works at school and watching a production of ‘The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui’ by The Young Rep in Birmingham several years ago. Because I was playing the Philosopher, generally agreed to be the character that most closely portrays Brecht’s ideals, I had to do a lot of research just to be able to understand what on earth I was saying. Once I had educated myself, however, I found a great deal of joy in playing the part. As actors we play many parts, but it’s rare to be in a role where you get to dissect theatre in the way the characters in Buying Brass do.
Our final show at the school finished the week before the Brecht event, so we had only a week to rehearse, and eventually the decision was made by the director and cast to keep scripts in hand during the performance to avoid the whole thing falling apart (that would not have been the sort of alienating effect we were searching for!). We decided to make a virtue of this, and the audience really seemed to be charmed by that detail, much to our relief.
The thing I’ve found most interesting about this project has actually been the effect it’s had on me in the weeks since. I’ve seen a lot of theatre in the last fortnight, but there were two shows that really stood out for me, for very different reasons. On Wednesday I went to see a well-known family musical in the West-End. The set was spectacular, the lighting and music were incredibly slick, the cast were clearly working their socks off and having a lot of fun, and I found the experience rather enjoyable. However, once the show had ended, I felt strangely empty. The show had been a spectacle, two hours of entertainment, but nothing more. I suppose that’s all fine and has its place, but it’s not something that will stick with me. On the Saturday, however, I saw a production of Brecht’s ‘The Good Person of Setzuan’. Like the musical I had seen days earlier, the show was entertaining. The graduating students of RCSSD’s Acting CDT course did a fine job and made me laugh a lot. But what made this show different were the other feelings, and thoughts, that it caused me to have. I watched moral quandaries unfolding during the play, and I found myself feeling incredibly uncomfortable, the kind of discomfort you feel when you are being scrutinized or challenged. I became angry about the injustices that occurred and tried to work out in my head how Shen Te could ever prevail. I felt sick as the play approached its climax and even after the actors had bowed and the house lights had come up, I sat there, drenched in sweat, my head full of questions. The issues of morality versus happiness, of altruism versus personal success were burning in my head. The play hadn’t been carthartic or ‘purged’ me of these feelings, it had lit a fire under me. I hadn’t just been entertained, I had been changed. It may sound extreme, but I’ve never had an experience quite like that in theatre. I felt like I had witnessed something important, a play that truly mattered.
At the end of Buying Brass, the Actor says:
‘I’ll hold up what goes on in the world for their judgement. And what a noble, useful and celebrated place my theatre will be, once it’s become a laboratory for all these working people. I too will act according to the classic principle: Change the world, it needs it!’
I see what he’s getting at now.
By Callum Robertson