Word: ironshirt
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...plans to acquit. But he turns in a virtuoso performance, and the most important thing shines through it: Brecht's call to action, for another Azdakian era of disorder at the end of which Azdak won't have to apologize for not being a hero or address his Ironshirted attackers as "Fellow dogs," for a dialectical revolution like the one the Ironshirts announce when they first dress Azdak in judicial robes. "The judge was always a rascal," the first Ironshirt says. "Now the rascal shall be a judge...
...Bert Brecht keeps you happy. For Brecht's world is one where the good guys are really good, and the bad guys are really bad. St. Joan is heroic and noble (and shows those Chicago stockyard bosses); Grusha of The Caucasian Chalk Circle triumphs gloriously over those mean Ironshirt heavies. And those who are neither good nor bad but are in morality's mushy middle are at least nice; Baal of Baal is no angel (or devil), but it's tough not to like him. And we can at least understand why Mother Courage keeps at it. Morality is codif...
David Baker is dazzling as the Ironshirt sergeant, He comes on like Mick Jagger (with a little more sadism and a little less swish), bare-chested, sinewy, undulating for nookie (preferably Grusha's, but any will do). The cruelty of the character, the very unfunny blood-lust of a hired killer, can easily be seen through the thin veil of caricature . Baker's talent, too, comes across in the contrast between his major role and one of his bit parts. As Grusha's hen-pecked brother Lavrenti, he offers a spiritual (at the least) eunuch as pathetic...
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