1. Bertolt Brecht 1898 - 1956 “I am a playwright. I would actually like to have been a cabinetmaker, but of course you don’t earn enough doing that.”

2. Social Context 1914-1918 First World War Brecht posted as a medical orderly in his home town. Not attached to the emotion of the frontline but witness the effects of war.

3. 1919-1933 Munich and Berlin 1922 - Directs first production. 1925 – Sees Battleship Potemkin by Sergei Eisenstein – introduced to the idea of montage. 1926 - Produces Baal – riot in the auditorium. Begins to study Karl Marx. 1927 – First collaboration with musician Kurt Weill (also collaborates with Piscator) 1928 -The Threepenny Opera is a box-office success. 1930 -Performances of The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahogany picketed by Nazis. Brecht sees Meyerhold’s theatre on tour. 1932 - Agit-prop sequence in Brecht’s film KuhleWampeis censored. 1932 - Nazis come to power, Brecht flees the country.

4. 1933-1948 The Years of Exile Most of Brecht’s major plays were completed before he reached the safety of America in 1941. 1935 - Begins to use Verfremdungseffekt. Nazis formally remove German citizenship. Friends and colleagues in Russia start to disappear. 1935-41 - Moves around Europe away from Nazis. 1941 - Leaves Europe to go to California. 1947 - Appears before the House of Un-American Activities.

5. 1949 – 1956 The Berliner Ensemble 1949 - Goes on recruiting tour for the Berliner Ensemble. 1951 - Post-war Berlin premiere of The Mother, Brecht uses background projection. 1954 - Berliner Ensemble takes residence at A, Schiffbauerdamm Theatre. The original Berlin production of Mother Courage is taken on tour – establishes Brecht as the leading director in post-war Europe. 1955-6 - The Caucasian Chalk Circle tours Paris and London. Brecht is at the height of his power.

6. Brecht’s Plays 1918 – Begins to write Baal and Drums in the Night 1928 – The Threepenny Opera is a box-office success. 1929 – First two didactic plays The Lindbergh Flight and The Baden Didactic Play 1930 -The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny 1932 -The Mother (a key text for understanding the Epic in practice.) 1938 – Premiere of Fear and Misery in the Third Reich 1939 – Mother Courage and Her Children 1941 – The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui 1941-7 – Works on The Caucasian Chalk Circle

7. The Good Woman of Setzuan, 2001 Mahagonny(Berlin Komische Oper, 1984) Caucasian Chalk Circle, 1971

8. The Street SceneA Basic Model for Epic Theatre Activity: An eyewitness demonstrating to a collection of people how a traffic accident took place.

10. Characters are derived entirely from their action. (Brecht works from the outside-in)

13. Making the familiar seem strange.

14. Literal English translation ‘alienation effect’ isn’t really what Brecht intended. ‘Distancing’ is a more positive expression.

16. Playing a dramatic moment in slow motion.

17. Using narration.

19. Introduced to the concept in 1925 watching Sergei Eisenstein’s Battleship Potemkin.

20. Montage connected unrelated scenes to give new meanings.

22. The narration is mostly expressed through the use of titles.

24. "For it is what happens between people," Brecht insists, "that provides them with all the material that they can discuss, criticize, alter.”

26. No curtain

27. Breaking down the fourth wall

28. Musicians and crew present on the stage. Set is suggestive, not realistic – authentic props may be used (Mother Courage’s cart) but they are not put into a naturalistic setting.

29. Brecht’s Influence ‘...all theatre work today at some point starts of returns to his statements and achievement.’ Brook, P. (1986) The Empty Space