Brecht Fact File

Bertolt Brecht was born in Augsberg, Germany in 1898; part of a middle class family in a small farming town at the turn of the century. Brecht was not a typical bourgeois German citizen, however, and his political attitudes were revolutionary even at a young age.

When Brecht was my age, World War One began. Brecht did not believe in war, holding many pacifistic views, but was eventually conscripted into the army in 1916, where he served as a medical orderly - this was what he had been training toward in his education at home, studying medicine at university. While serving, he witnessed awful injuries while having to attend to the horrors of military injuries. This led to him reevaluating what was most important to him politically and ethically, as he continued to let pacifism lead much of his creative and political work.

In 1924, Brecht moved to Berlin, where he wrote a number of plays. He was influenced by a major theatre maker of the time, Erwin Piscastor, and the two collaborated on many projects

Brecht lived through the rise of Fascism and the Nazi regime in Germany from 1933 to 1945. He fled Germany to Austria in February 1933 and was officially exiled soon after due to his left wing views. He then travelled the world to create new theatre, including a visit to the USA.

He returned to Berlin in 1948, putting on his play ‘Mother Courage’ and creating a new theatre company, ‘The Berliner Ensemble’, which toured Europe.

Brecht died in 1956, having shaped the world of theatre through his combination of a seldom expressed communist political view with a dynamic and innovative approach to devising and directing new works.

Fact File
In addition to our own research, we pooled our knowledge in lesson 2, assembling a quick-read fact file

Bertolt Brecht
* German practitioner
* Born 1898 died 1956
* Lived through both World Wars and Nazi Germany
* Worked as a medical orderly in the First World War
* Saw horrifying war injuries at a young age
* Exiled from Nazi Germany in 1933
* Travelled the world and observed the Second World War, visiting America and Scandinavia
* Studied drama at Munich university
* Acknowledged the artificiality of theatre
* Inspired by Charlie Chaplin the silent film star
* Was a poet, playwright and director
* Called in front of the Un-American Activity Committee to investigate his "communist like" activity

Exercises
* Verfremdungeffekt -Strangemaking/distancing/defamiliarisation/alienation
* Simple character creation