BERHOLT BRECHT

1898-1956

His Birthplace• His birthplace at Augsburg, Bavaria, Germany

is now a museum. But he is a controversal figure and there was much opposition to the museum.

His Early Life• His mother was Protestant and his father was Catholic. His

mother made sure he studied the Bible and this shows in his work.

• His relationship with his mother is also reflected in many of his female characters… dangerous martyrs.

• At school he met Casper Neher who was the designer responsible for the style of Brechtian Theatre.

• When he was 16 the WWI began and he avoided the draft for a while by enrolling in Medicine at University.

• When he was drafted towards the end of the war he became a medical officer in a VD clinic.

Middle Years and Influences

• He was a great fan of the physical comedy of Karl Valentin who was called Germany’s Charlie Chaplin.

Middle Years and Influences

• He was part of Erwin Piscator’s first company and this worked on a collective principle.

• It is generally agreed that the two of them invented ‘Epic Theatre’.

Middle Years and Influences

• He also worked with a composer, Kurt Weill and their work ,’The Threepenny Opera’ is credited with having a huge international influence on the stage musical.

WW2

• He had to leave Germany when Hitler came to power and moved around Europe until granted a visa to the USA.

• There were many German artists in Hollywood and he worked on films and theatre work.

• He wrote Exilliteratur which was a particular kind of literature written by Anti-Nazi Germans who fled Germany during the war.

House of Un-American Activities Committee

• This was a witchhunt for Communists in Hollywood.

• Although he had always been Socialist he told the Committee that he had never been a Communist. This was seen as huge betrayal of all he stood for.

The Hollywood Ten

• This was a group of Hollywood creatives who refused to appear before the HUAC and were blacklisted and few ever worked again. Brecht volunteered to attend and was seen as a traitor.

Berliner Ensemble• Brecht returned to Germany and created the

Berliner Ensemble which is one of the most famous theatre companies in the world.

• All of the productions were documented with a Modellbuch which contained up to 800 pictures of the creation and performance.

• Although in a different building and with much government support, the Berliner Ensemble still exits today.

Modellbuch Photos

Death

• Brecht died in 1956 at 58 years old of a heart attack.

• In his will he provided instructions that a stiletto be placed in his heart and that he be buried in a steel coffin so that his corpse could not be eaten by worms

His Plays

• Baal (The first full length play he wrote)• Drums In the Night (His first produced play)• The Threepenny Opera• Life of Galileo• Mother Courage and Her Children• The Good Person of Szechwan• The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui• The Caucasian Chalk Circle

Some Brechtian Vocab• Collaboration• Epic Theatre• Verfremdungseffekt /Alienation• Fabel• Gestus• Dramaturg• Attitude• Historification• Episodic Structure