Photo by Citrus Photography

Man Equals Man

The transformation of the porter Galy Gay in the military cantonment of Kilkoa
during the year nineteen hundred and twenty five

by Bertolt Brecht

Set in British Colonial India, Man Equals Man presents the forcible transformation of a civilian, Galy Gay, into the perfect soldier. Using Kiplingesque imagery, Brecht explores identity as something that can be dismantled and reassembled like a machine in a parable that the critic Walter Kerr credited with a “curious foreshadowing of the art of brainwashing.”

Interlude

Herr Bertolt Brecht maintains man equals man
– A view that has been around since time began.
But then Herr Brecht points out how far one can
Manoeuvre and manipulate that man.
Tonight you are going to see a man reassembled like a car
Leaving all his individual components just as they are.
He has some kind friends by whom he is pressed
Entirely in his own interest
To conform with this world and its twists and turns
And give up pursuing his fishy concerns.
So whatever the purpose of his various transformations
He always lives up to his friends expectations.
Indeed if we people were to let him out of our sight
They could easily make a butcher of him overnight.
Herr Bertolt Brecht hopes you’ll feel the ground on which you stand
Slither between your toes like shifting sand
So that the case of Galy Gay the porter makes you aware
Life on this earth is a hazardous affair.

Feb 17 – 21 at 7:30 p.m.
Feb. 22 at 2 p.m.
Feb. 25 – 28 at 7:30 p.m.
University Theatre
Tickets: $20 Adults – $15 Students/Seniors