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Bertolt Brecht

I have a biography of him, I want to read. Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956) was born in Augsburg Germany and died in East Berlin.


4/14/23: The Decision by Brecht is playing on YouTube. This is a Birmingham Opera Company production, available until 14 October 2023.

Brecht wrote the play in 1930. It consists of eight sections in prose and unrhymed, free verse, with six major songs. Some critics have seen the play as an apologia for totalitarianism and mass murder while others have pointed out that it is a play about the tactics and techniques of clandestine agitation.

"Four agitators are dispatched from Soviet Russia to foster revolution in pre-communist China. En route they meet a young sympathiser who offers to be their guide, but when they return to Moscow, they confess to his killing. When is it right to kill?"

"Living through a period of intolerance and censorship in the 1920s and 30s, Brecht and Eisler were both banned by the Nazis. Later, in their new adopted home on the other side of the Atlantic, the pair were investigated by the House Committee of Un-American Activities."

Honestly I had a hard time focusing on the production, but I'm glad it's allowed to exist considering the fervent anti-communism confusion in America. 


Links: 

Bertolt Brecht (and Me):

Galileo Galilei by Brecht (YouTube).

7/5/24: What Does ‘Brechtian’ Actually Mean? Art Review


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