Brecht, Bertolt (1898 - 1956)

Born in Bavaria, Germany, was the beginning of the life of one of the greatist dramatists, poets and directors in German history. Educated in such universitys as Munich and Berlin, studying medicine, he went on to his first job as a dramaturge at the Berlin Deutsches Theatre, his boss being the famous German, Max Reinhardt. His early plays show that he was influenced by expressionism.

In the 1920s Brecht started to train actors in his own style. The style was a loose story in which the actors would wear masks so that the audience could not see the characters faces. The characters names would be like, 'The Evil Women' or 'The Lazy Man' and the style was given the title 'Epic Theatre'. It was meant to make the audience think and to react themselves.

From 1928 until Hitler came into power, Brecht teamed with composers such as Weill Kurt, to write many operas.

In1933, however, things changed. Hitler and the Nazis came into power and Brecht was forced to leave. He first settled in Scandinavia but soon moved and settled in California. Here he wrote some of his best works such as 'Galileo' and 'Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder' (Mother Courage and her Children).

In 1948 Brecht returned to Germany and settled in what was then East Berlin. Brecht funded his own theatrical company - 'The Berlin Ensemble'. He died eight years later in 1956.

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