Rendering №8

The headline of the article is Who was Bertolt Brecht? The article was created on January 09, 2013 and last updated on January 10, 2013. The author of the article is Amrita Nandagopal. The purpose of the article is to give the readers some information about a famous German poet, playwright and theatre director Bertolt Brecht’s life.

The writer reports that Bertolt Brecht born in Ausburg, Bavaria in 1898. He is most famously remembered for mentoring the epic theatre concept, which was markedly different from the conventional Aristotelian drama. ‘The Threepenny Opera’, ‘Mother Courage’ and ‘The Caucasian Chalk Circle’ are some of his renowned productions.

Further writer clarifies that the house where he was born is still preserved as a museum to this day. While his father was a Catholic, his mother was a devout Protestant whose beliefs exerted considerable influence on his writings.

The author explains that Bertolt Brecht met his life-long friend Casper Neher who went on to design many of the sets for Brecht’s plays and was instrumental in creating the distinctive visual appeal of their epic theatre.

Further the writer tells us that Early in his life, Brecht used to publish newspaper articles as a budding theatre critic. He wrote his first full play ‘Baal’ in 1918, about a drunken, womanizing poet. His next major work ‘Drums in the night’ was written the next year and was about a soldier returning from war. In his work ‘Messingkauf Dialogues’, he credited Karl Valentin with having a considerable influence on him.

The author points out that Brecht wanted to bring the theatre to the common people and many of his ideas were often considered radical at that time. He employed many tactics such as harsh lighting or allowing the audience to see the set being arranged by the actors or other stage hands to prevent the audience from being totally immersed into the play.

Moreover, the famous German poet also collaborated with Kurt Weill on many plays which were very successful. Many of Bercht’s works were as a response to other works, either by him or by others. The famous ‘Threepenny Opera’ was actually the German version of John Gay’s ‘The Beggar’s Opera’, with new songs and adaptations.

The writer clarifies that Throughout his life, Brecht was linked with many women romantically, from Paula Banholzer with whom he had a son in 1919 to Marianne Zoff whom he married in 1922. They had a daughter Hanne Hiob, who went on to become a successful German actress.

However, Brecht later married the actress Helene Weigel in 1930, with whom he operated the theatre company ‘Berliner Ensemble’. Their daughter, Barbara Brecht is also an actress. He also had a son with her, Stefan Brecht who became a poet and a theatre critic.

In conclusion the writer say that Brecht’s leanings towards Marxism forced him to flee Germany in 1933 when Hitler came to power.  He lived in Denmark, Sweden and the Soviet Union after that before he finally settled in United States in 1941. He worked in Hollywood on a few screenplays during this time, though he was not very successful. Brecht passed away in Berlin in 1956 of a heart attack.

  

To my mind, this article is really worth reading. Having read about Bertolt Brecht’s biography I was really amazed. I have learned about his stages of life, especially I was struck by the fact that he worked in Hollywood on a few screenplays during the Second World War and it’s a pity that he died in 1956 of a heart attack.