Bertolt Brecht

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May 23, 2024

Guest

Laura Bradley, a Professor of German and Theatre, David Barnett, a Professor of Theatre, and Tom Kuhn, a Professor of Twentieth Century German Literature, dive into the revolutionary world of Bertolt Brecht. They discuss Brecht's aim to provoke critical thinking through theatre, his innovative works like The Threepenny Opera, and the evolution of his style during exile. The trio highlights Brecht's unique techniques that engaged audiences politically and socially, along with his lasting influence on modern theatre and the complexities of his legacy.

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ANECDOTE

Early Encouragement

Brecht's parents encouraged his literary interests, giving him books like Wedekind, considered scandalous at the time.
His mother believed he could be a poet, showcasing early support for his artistic ambitions.

ANECDOTE

Early Theatre Experiences

Brecht frequented Augsburg theatre, claiming to see 40 shows in a short period with a friend.
He even ran a puppet theatre, adapting existing plays, demonstrating early directorial tendencies.

ANECDOTE

Debut and Wedekind's Influence

Brecht admired Wedekind's boldness and theatricality, aiming to be even 'wilder'.
His debut play, Drums in the Night, impressed critic Herbert Ihering, who claimed Brecht changed German poetry overnight.

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Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss one of the greatest European playwrights of the twentieth century. The aim of Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956) was to make the familiar ‘strange’: with plays such as Mother Courage and The Caucasian Chalk Circle he wanted his audience not to sit back but to engage, observe and discover the contradictions in life, and act on what they learnt. He developed this approach in turbulent times, from Weimar Germany to the rise of the Nazis, to exile in Scandinavia and America and then post-war life in East Berlin, and he has since inspired dramatists around the world.

With

Laura Bradley Professor of German and Theatre at the University of Edinburgh

David Barnett Professor of Theatre at the University of York

And

Tom Kuhn Professor of Twentieth Century German Literature, Emeritus Fellow of St Hugh's College, University of Oxford

Producer: Simon Tillotson In Our Time is a BBC Studios Audio production

Reading list:

David Barnett, Brecht in Practice: Theatre, Theory and Performance (Bloomsbury, 2014)

David Barnett, A History of the Berliner Ensemble (Cambridge University Press, 2015)

Laura Bradley and Karen Leeder (eds.), Brecht and the GDR: Politics, Culture, Posterity (Camden House, 2015)

Laura Bradley, ‘Training the Audience: Brecht and the Art of Spectatorship’ (The Modern Language Review, 111, 2016)

Bertolt Brecht (ed. Marc Silberman, Tom Kuhn and Steve Giles), Brecht on Theatre (Bloomsbury, 2014)

Bertolt Brecht (ed. Tom Kuhn, Steve Giles and Marc Silberman), Brecht on Performance (Bloomsbury, 2014)

Bertolt Brecht (trans. Tom Kuhn and David Constantine), The Collected Poems of Bertolt Brecht (Norton Liveright, 2018) which includes the poem ‘Spring 1938’ read by Tom Kuhn in this programme

Stephen Brockmann (ed.), Bertolt Brecht in Context (Cambridge University Press, 2021)

Meg Mumford, Bertolt Brecht (Routledge, 2009)

Stephen Parker, Bertolt Brecht: A Literary Life (Bloomsbury, 2014)

Ronald Speirs, Brecht’s Poetry of Political Exile (Cambridge University Press, 2000)

David Zoob, Brecht: A Practical Handbook (Nick Hern Books, 2018)