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POETIC RITUALITY AND TRANSCULTURALITY
of rituals leads to an aesthetic distancing of his theater and plays from a non¬
reflective use of ritual forms and genres. Moreover, it is precisely through this
reference to rituals that Brecht gains an anti-illusionist, sequential aesthetic
interspersed with choral songs, commentaries, and lyrical elements, which he
used successfully for his idea of epic theater with its “Verfremdungseffekt” [al¬
ienation effect]. But how exactly does a theater that is bound to self-reflexivity
fit in with a concept of theater based on rituals? Isn’t Brecht’s use of rituals
rather only serving the idea of deconstructing and criticizing rituals? And, how
do ritual criticism and the productivity of rituals for his art intertwine? I will
begin to answer these questions by briefly theoretically defining the relation¬
ship of ritual, theater, and drama.
Four THEORETICAL REMARKS TO DEFINE
THE RELATIONSHIP OF RITUAL, THEATER, AND DRAMA
First: What Exactly is a Ritual?
There is not just one kind of ritual. Furthermore, my understanding of rituals
is not limited to a religious context. Instead, rituals can occur in many and
diverse types and forms. Rituals can have a rigid structure, or they can also be
open and self-reflexive and may even become ecstatic, excessive, or can sym¬
bolically break taboos. Rituals can range from practices of healing, helping,
and giving, to rituals of power, punishment, hunting, sacrifice, and aggression,
or they can even be performed as practices of protest and rebellion.
Rituals are cultural actions that are repeated regularly, for example at a
certain occasion or time, and are characterized by a more or less strong stand¬
ardization and formality. But a ritual does not necessarily have to be rigid and
stereotypical. A certain standardization and formality, however, is necessary
for an action to be repeatable at all. Rituals are usually performed collectively
and are related to the community, society, or social group by and for which
they are performed. Thus, rituals are practiced with the knowledge of being
perceived and interpreted. Therefore, they are always communicative practices
of self-representation, self-interpretation, and self-understanding of a commu¬
nity, society, or social group. Rituals articulate and embody the values and the
social order of a community. Even if they are practiced by a single individual
alone and without being seen (like praying the rosary), they refer to an exter¬
nal context that is aesthetically and symbolically represented in and by them.
Rituals are explicit and self-referential, as they always emphasize their very
own aesthetic form and theatricality. In the Christian liturgy, for instance, all
and deal with fundamental existential and cultural questions and issues, and hence, can be
described as a new interpretation of the idea of “world-theater.” See further Giinther Heeg:
Das transkulturelle Theater, Berlin, Theater der Zeit, 2017, 14-22.
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