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POETIC RITUALITY AND TRANSCULTURALITY of rituals leads to an aesthetic distancing of his theater and plays from a nonreflective 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” [alienation 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 relationship 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 symbolically 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 standardization 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 community, 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 external 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. + 33 +
