کریتیک

Bertolt Brecht was born in Augsburg, Germany, on 19th February, 1898. He studied philosophy and medicine at the University of Munich before becoming a medical orderly in a German military hospital during the First World War. This experience reinforced his hatred of war and influenced his support for the failed Socialist revolution in 1919.

After the war Brecht returned to university but eventually became more interested in literature than medicine. His first play to be produced was Bael (1922). This was followed by Drums in the Night, a play about a soldier returning from war, Jungle of the Cities (1923) and A Man's a Man (1926).

In 1927 Brecht collaborated with the composer Kurt Weill to produce the musical play, Mahagonny. They then produced The Threepenny Opera. Although based on The Beggar's Opera that was originally produced in 1728, Brecht added his own lyrics that illustrated his growing belief in Marxism. He also worked with the composer Hanns Eisner in The Measure Taken (1930).

Brecht attempted to develop a new approach to the the theatre. He tried to persuade his audiences to see the stage as a stage, actors as actors and not the traditional make-believe of the theatre. Brecht required detachment, not passion, from the observing audience. The purpose of the play was to awaken the spectators' minds so that he could communicate his version of the truth.

Brecht's plays reflected a Marxist interpretation of society and when Adolf Hitler gained power in 1933 he was forced to flee from Germany. While living in exile he wrote anti-Nazi plays such as The Roundheads and the Peakheads and Fear and Misery of the Third Reich. This was followed by Galileo (1939), Mother Courage (1939), The Good Man of Szechuan (1941), The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui (1941) and the Caucausian Chalk Circle (1943).

After leaving Germany in 1933, Brecht lived in Denmark, Sweden and the Soviet Union. He arrived in the United States in 1941 and after settling in Hollywood, helped with the writing of the film, Hangman Also Die (1943).

In 1947 the House of Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), chaired by J. Parnell Thomas, began an investigation into the entertainment industry. The HUAC interviewed 41 people who were working in Hollywood. These people attended voluntarily and became known as "friendly witnesses". During their interviews they named nineteen people who they accused of holding left-wing views.

Brecht was one of those named and after giving evidence to the House of Un-American Activities Committee, where he denied being a member of the American Communist Party, he left for East Germany.

In 1949 Brecht founded the Berliner Ensemble and over the next few years it became the country's most famous theatre company. However, Brecht wrote only one new play, The Days of the Commune (1949), while living in East Germany. Bertolt Brecht died on 14th August, 1956.