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
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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