Brennan Angel
Listen to a podcast with Alle Bezdikian and Spotlight editor Amy Asman about “Roundheads and Pointedheads.”
This year’s most recent addition to the eclectic repertoire of Cal Poly’s theatre and dance program, Bertolt Brecht’s luminously incisive play, “Round Heads and Pointed Heads,” is politically edgy, socially reflective and painfully raw.
With a plot based on the nefarious ideologies of 20th century Nazi Germany, this drama reeks of obscure perversity and begs social criticism to the “nth” degree. Never before has the status quo been canonized in quite a ferocious and grotesque display, as it is in this dramatic work about Hitler’s “master race” policy during World War II.
In true Brechtian fashion, this play cascades through the fantasy-like world of expressionism, taking the audience on an emotional journey through the psychological reality of a disturbed and misguided people. Unfortunately, we the audience are oftentimes left wondering, “Where is our guidebook, because I’m completely lost myself.”
In this fictitious land, where a fictitious people strangely resemble the social stratification of our modern 21st century society, civil unrest breeds rampant amongst the disenfranchised. No surprise there. We know this story because we’ve seen it play out before; a la fascist Europe in the early 20th century.
Wherever sex is used as a means, religion means nothing, and the rich prance around like puppets on strings, corruption beckons. And that’s exactly what plagues the land of Yahoo.
This is the chaotic world of Zaks and Ziks, two races of people with one startling difference: Zaks have round heads, Ziks have pointed heads. Hence the play’s title. The Ziks belong to the upper-class of powerful, peasant-owning bourgeoisie; the Zaks are the peasants the Ziks own. Obviously, these two groups of people are ripe for revolution, as a power struggle is sure to be had between classes.
The play opens exactly thus, with the Zaks unifying under the labor banner of the Sickle and in the midst of leading a rebellion against their rich lords. The government, fearing the power of the emerging labor class, enlists the aid of a racist figurehead to quell the growing cries of revolution and squash mounting sentiments of civil unrest. A shocking move on the government’s part, to be sure!
As far as production value goes, this play weighs heavy. With good writing, carefully constructed dialogue, and entertaining musical interludes, “Round Heads and Pointed Heads” is not short on hardheaded material. As far as set, costume, and prop design goes however, this production projects a very dark, urban-like, skeletal image that in some ways translates as being very cold and isolating to the audience.
But then again, this is a Brecht drama after all.
Overall, this adaptation of Brecht’s socially reflective play is a very intellectual attempt at tackling some of the most intense issues of our relatively recent past. Staying true to the Brechtian model of cerebral theater, this play does exactly what it set out to do: get the audience to think. I would urge anyone who enjoys live theater to go see this play and ask yourself, “What would I sacrifice to maintain the status quo?”