Man Equals Man and The Elephant Calf Book

Man Equals Man is one of Brecht's early plays. It's a wild farce set in a Kiplingesque India in which the innocent porter Galy Gay is kidnapped by three British soldiers and brainwashed into believing he is their missing comrade. Except that Galy Gay isn't quite so innocent and the brainwashing is only possible because of Galy Gay's own nature. Quite simply he is unable to say "no" to anyone.

The action moves quickly. There is a terrible sergeant major by the name of Bloody Five who is feared by all until he proves that he is even more manly than anyone else by shooting off his manhood. There is the Widow Begbick, who runs the mobile canteen that provides alcohol to the soldiers. She also happens to be a part time prostitute.

This colourful cast perform a series of actions that verge on the hysterically bizarre. But the ultimate point of the play is to suggest that our identities aren't quite as fixed as we assume and that a man can be dismantled and reassembled into something new.

This book also contains a secondary related work, The Elephant Calf, which was once a part of the main play, but which Brecht later separated out as a sketch to be performed in the foyer of the theatre. In this even more bizarre farce, Galy Gay has been reborn as the calf of the unreal elephant that he was tricked into attempting to sell in Man Equals Man. The so-called fourth wall is completed demolished in this play.

There are songs and poems galore in Man Equals Man and although it's an early work it is pure Brecht and a disturbing delight.