Brecht wanted his productions to appeal to the logic of the audience rather than its emotion. He wrote: “Stage designers feel they have achieved their aim if you can look at the stage and believe you are in a real place in real life. What they ought to be doing instead is to make you believe you are in a good theatre.”
Brecht was dubbed the greatest stage designer of his day.
The pieces in the exhibition were once owned by baritone Ernest Frank, and are offered at the London gallery from March 23-April 15. They are typical of the scenographer’s dark, otherworldly creations.
These works come from three later performances: Un Ballo in Maschera at Glyndebourne in 1949, Wozzeck at the Royal Opera House in 1952 and a 1959 production of Verdi’s Macbeth at the Metropolitan Opera.
It is the 1959 production that includes Near the Border between England and Scotland, made for Act IV Scene 1 of the play. The 1955 pen, ink, watercolour and gouache work measures 11 x 16½in (27 x 41cm) and is available for £1750.
