ABSTRACT
The two Bs whence cometh so many infl uences on the last sixty years of theatre-Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956) and Samuel Beckett (1906-1989). I puzzle why I always have been drawn to both of them. Now, I see that as different as they are in the philosophy and style of their plays, they have in common the representation of worlds in which nature is an absent agent, and no longer at stake because of how far gone, how extremely externalized from humanity. Yes, Mother Courage and Grusha struggle with climate and landscape, and yes, Winnie is buried in a mound and Gogo and Didi’s lone tree sprouts a few leaves, but overall Brecht’s and Beckett’s characters are as alienated from nature as they are economically, socially, and psychologically. Viewing photo collections of their productions, I am struck not only by how few natural images there are, but also a physical sense of Plumwood’s hyper-separation in which the characters exist-highly sculpted in light and shadow, true of their faces too through make-up, and set off from whatever setting they are in.
