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Bertolt Brecht was a German playwright who created and promoted epic theater, using plays as tools for political and social activism. He collaborated with composer Kurt Weill on The Threepenny Opera. Brecht fled Nazi persecution and later faced persecution for his communist beliefs in America. His theater company, The Berliner Ensemble, continues to produce politically oriented works in the Brechtian style.
Bertolt Brecht was a famous German playwright, theater critic and director. He created and promoted the epic theater form, believing that plays should be tools for political and social activism rather than just entertainment. His company, the Berliner Ensemble, became one of the most famous touring companies in the world and to this day continues to produce politically oriented works in the Brechtian style.
Born in 1898 to middle-class parents in Bavaria, Bertolt Brecht grew up in a comfortable lifestyle. In elementary school, he met Caspar Nehar, who would become a lifelong friend of his and would go on to design the sets for many of Brecht’s plays. As a student at the University of Munich during World War I, the playwright studied theater and became fascinated by German cabaret performances, especially the work of comedian Karl Valentin.
Bertolt Brecht began writing plays during this period, which met with some commercial success and critical acclaim. He also spent time studying the work of political theorist Karl Marx and socialism. He began to form his own theory of “epic theatre”. This theatre, departing from the traditional purposes of drama as described by Aristotle, was not meant to be an imitation of reality or an entertainment device.
Epic theater is meant to present a topic and invite the audience to make judgments about it. Traditional conventions, such as not looking directly at the audience, are ignored. The audience would have to be constantly aware that they are watching a show, resulting in an emotional disconnect often called the alienation effect. Brecht tried to keep the audience from sympathizing with his characters, but rather wanted them to deal with the issues under discussion.
In 1927, Bertolt Brecht began collaborating with a composer named Kurt Weill. Together they would write several plays, the most famous of which is The Threepenny Opera. The play premiered in 1928 at the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm and starred Weill’s wife Lotte Lenya. Although this musical adaptation of an 18th-century work was initially panned by critics, it grew in popularity and was performed more than 18 times over the next two years. It is now the most reproduced of all of Brecht’s work.
The Threepenny Opera tells the story of Macheath, also called Mac the Knife, and his near-murder by his father-in-law. The play is set in Victorian London and intentionally ignores the upper class, focusing instead on the lives of poor and hopeless beggars and criminals. Though Macheath is saved, he is a criminal rather than a hero. The game revolves around themes of the inherent injustice of capitalism and questions whether it is a greater crime to found a bank than to rob one.
As an avowed Marxist, Bertolt Brecht faced Nazi persecution and fled Germany in 1933. He moved to Europe throughout the duration of the Nazi regime and ensuing war. Unable to escape the spreading discord, Brecht fled to America in 1941. During this time, he wrote several plays protesting fascism and Adolf Hitler’s rule, including Mother Courage and Her Children, Sezuan’s Good Person, Circle of Caucasian plaster and The misery of the Third Reich.
After the war ended, Brecht again faced persecution for his communist beliefs. He was blacklisted from Hollywood, where he had written several screenplays, and called the U.S. House Un-American Activities Committee. He initially refused to testify, but eventually came before the committee stating that he had never been an active member of the Communist Party. Charged with treason by other accused entertainers, Bertolt Brecht left America the following day, moving to communist East Germany.
After his death of a heart attack in 1956, Brecht’s theater company The Berliner Ensemble was directed by his wife Helene Weigel. The company has held many world tours composed mostly of Brecht’s work. In the 21st Bertolt Brecht remains a controversial figure in his native Germany, but is remembered around the world for his groundbreaking theories on theater and outstanding written work.
