Bertolt Brecht Journals 1934 55

Download or read book Bertolt Brecht Journals, 1934-55 written by Bertolt Brecht and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2016-07-14 with total page 838 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Those who dismiss Brecht as a yea-sayer to Stalinism are advised to read these journals and moderate their opinion." (Paul Bailey, Weekend Telegraph) Brecht's "Work Journals" cover the period from 1938 to 1955, the years of exile in Denmark, Sweden, Finland and America, and his return via Switzerland to East Berlin. His criticisms of the work of other writers and intellectuals are perceptive and polemic, and the accounts of his own writing practice provide insight into the creation of his dramatic works of the period, the development of his political thinking and his theories about epic theatre. Also integrated into the journals are Brecht's immediate reactions to and commentary upon the events of the period: his political exile's view of the course of World War II and his account of the House Un-American Activities committee. "A marvellous, motley collage of political ideas, domestic detail, artistic debate, poems, photographs and cuttings from newspapers and magazines, assembled, undoubtedly for posterity by one of the great writers of the century" (New Statesman and Society)

Download or read book Mother Courage and Her Children written by Bertolt Brecht and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2015-02-13 with total page 118 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This version of Brecht's great anti-war play by playwright David Hare was premiered by the National Theatre, London, in November 1995. It adopts a freer approach to the text than many editions, adapting the original rather than offering a close translation. In this chronicle of the Thirty Years War, Mother Courage follows the armies back and forth across Europe, selling provisions and liquor from her canteen wagon. One by one she loses her children to the war but will not part with her livelihood - the wagon. The Berlin production of 1949, with Helene Weigel as Mother Courage, marked the foundation of the Berliner Ensemble. Considered by many to be one of the greatest anti-war plays ever written and Brecht's masterpiece, it remains a powerful example of Brecht's Epic Theatre and pioneering theatrical style.

Download or read book The Caucasian Chalk Circle written by Bertolt Brecht and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2021-03-25 with total page 153 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Brecht projects an ancient Chinese story onto a realistic setting in Soviet Georgia. In a theme that echoes the Judgment of Solomon, two women argue over the possession of a child. Thanks to the unruly judge, Azdak (one of Brecht's most vivid creations) natural justice is done and the peasant Grusha keeps the child she loves, even though she is not its mother. Written while Brecht was in exile in the United States during the Second World War, The Caucasian Chalk Circle is a politically charged, much-revived and complex example of Brecht's epic theatre. This new Student Edition contains introductory commentary and notes by Kristopher Imbrigotta from the University of Puget Sound, US, offering a much-needed contemporary perspective on the play. The introduction covers: - narrative structure: play about a play within a play ("circle") - songs and music - justice and social systems - context: Brecht, exile, WWII, socialism - notions of collective and class - fable and story adaptation, folk fairy tale

Download or read book Life Of Galileo written by Bertolt Brecht and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2015-04-23 with total page 335 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Along with Mother Courage, the character of Galileo is one of Brecht's greatest creations, immensely live, human and complex. Unable to resist his appetite for scientific investigation, Galileo's heretical discoveries about the solar system bring him to the attention of the Inquisition. He is scared into publicly abjuring his theories but, despite his self-contempt, goes on working in private, eventually helping to smuggle his writings out of the country. As an examination of the problems that face not only the scientist but also the whole spirit of free inquiry when brought into conflict with the requirements of government or official ideology, Life of Galileo has few equals. Written in exile in 1937-9 and first performed in Zurich in 1943, Galileo was first staged in English in 1947 by Joseph Losey in a version jointly prepared by Brecht and Charles Laughton, who played the title role. Printed here is the complete translation by Brecht scholar John Willett. The much shorter Laughton version is also included in full as an appendix, along with Brecht's own copious notes on the play making this the most trusted scholarly edition of the text.

Download or read book The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui written by Bertolt Brecht and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2017-06-30 with total page 180 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Here's some advice: Don't ever underestimate Arturo. You'll be found out and stopped, eventually, Just like I stopped this fuckin' treachery And better late than never. Now ya see What happens when ya fuck with me, ya lousy Rat-fuck bastards? Chicago. A city of jazz and gangsters, prohibition and poverty. Amongst the murk of the Great Depression, there's room for a small time crook like Arturo Ui to make a name for himself. Ui and his henchmen just want to look after you, to offer protection for workers, for jobs, for businesses. Nothing to fear. But a little bribery here, some harmless corruption there, and soon something much more dangerous takes hold. Brecht's satirical masterpiece about the rise of a demagogue has been adapted by Pulitzer, Olivier and Tony award-winning American playwright Bruce Norris. It was published for the world premiere at the Donmar Warehouse, London, which opened on 21 April 2017 starring Lenny Henry.

Download or read book Measures Taken and Other Lehrstucke written by Bertolt Brecht and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2015-04-10 with total page 93 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Lehrstücke (or 'learning-plays') lie at the heart of Brechtian theatre. Written during 1929 and 1930, years of far-reaching political and economic upheaveal in Germany and the period of Brecht's most sharply Communist works, these short plays show an abrupt rejection of most of the trappings of conventional theatre. The Lehrstücke are spare and highly formalized pieces intended for performance by amateurs, on the principle that the moral and political lessons contained in them can best be taught by participation in an actual production. There is nothing in the drama of the twentieth century to match the precision of their language and the economy of their theatrical technique.

Download or read book Brecht On Art And Politics written by Bertolt Brecht and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2015-04-06 with total page 421 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume contains new translations to extend our image of one of the twentieth century's most entertaining and thought provoking writers on culture, aesthetics and politics. Here are a cross-section of Brecht's wide-ranging thoughts which offer us an extraordinary window onto the concerns of a modern world in four decades of economic and political disorder. The book is designed to give wider access to the experience of a dynamic intellect, radically engaged with social, political and cultural processes. Each section begins with a short essay by the editors introducing and summarising Brecht's thought in the relevant year.