Baal Of Desire :: essays research papers

Baal Of DesireOn Thursday, November 7, I saw a performance of Baal, written by BertoltBrecht and tell by Evan Parry. The play was not an emotional play, but anintellectual play. It caused the viewer to think about the existentialist natureof Brechts writing and the underlying meaning of the play. Although I havestudied existentialism and followed the play intently, I still could not fullyunderstand what Brecht was trying to say through Baal. My interpretation is thatBaal represents man and his desires and what those desires stinker lead to.At the beginning of the play, Baal is in good spirits and loved by on the whole.He has doors open to him he is asked to publish his poetry and sing his songsat a bar. Through the play, his life gradually becomes worse because he drinkstoo much and has many girlfriends. People start to dislike him and he loses hisapartment. Then more(prenominal) and more people start to dislike him and he moves from jobto job and location to location with secr et code but Ekart to see him through. Butthen he realizes that he is finally in love - with Ekart, but she doesnt lovehim and makes it obvious by having other men and women in her life. So, Baalkills her since he cant have her for his own. By the end, Baal has nothing buthimself to blame for his condition. His drinking problem and his problem ofseducing every woman he meets drives him to his death, and causes everyone torepudiate him.The acting ranged from not-so- extensive to very good. The only problem wasthat since not all the actors names were used, it was difficult to figure outwho was who in most cases.Baal, played by Robert Seay, was in the very good part of the spectrum.The amount of lined he had to memorize was great and he didnt stumble on themonce. His emotion was clear throughout the play and his focus was obvious. Theway he played drunk was great his hair and shirt were disheveled, but he wasntstumbling all over the place and slurring his words. He acted just like a dru nkperson trying his hardest to fix to be sober. When he spoke you stillwhat he was feeling and saying because he spoke clearly, slowly and loudly whichhelps, but he also understood what he was saying, which helped the audienceunderstand what he was feeling. At the end, when he was dying, the audienceunderstood that he was dying alone, with nobody to help him through and that his