Du Messingkauf au Schnittchenkauf: d’un retour problématique à Brecht

At the avant-garde of a theater against representation, René Pollesch, a former student of the Institute for Applied Theater Studies of Gießen, opens his essay Der Schnittchenkauf with this observation : « In Brecht’s Messingkauf, the character of the philosopher expresses some demands towards the theater, that are now in Der Schnittchenkauf demanded from the theater once again ». Starting from a contrasted analysis of some key points in the texts of Brecht and Pollesch, this article seeks to observe the stakes and the motives of this recent return to Brecht, within the general framework of contemporary german theater, and within Pollesch’s theatrical praxis. What are these demands addressed to the theater ? What does the corresponding theatrical praxis look like ? As always with Pollesch, answers arrive under the guise of new questions, that are raised by the work of contradiction and of provocation. Political revolution can by Pollesch never be thought outside of a revolution of the theater, and vice versa.