Bertolt Brecht

About Bertolt Brecht

Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht was an influential German poet, playwright, and theatre director who lived from 1898 to 1956. Internationally known for his contributions to modern drama, Brecht developed the concept of epic theatre. This revolutionary approach sought to engage audiences intellectually rather than emotionally, notably through the estrangement effect, which discouraged passive dramatic illusion. During the Weimar Republic, he achieved major commercial success with The Threepenny Opera in 1928, created in collaboration with composer Kurt Weill. Following the rise of the Nazi regime in 1933, Brecht fled Germany and spent over a decade in exile across Scandinavia and the United States. During this period, he wrote major plays including Mother Courage and Her Children, Life of Galileo, and The Good Person of Szechwan. Returning to East Berlin after World War II, he co-founded the Berliner Ensemble theatre company in 1949, where he staged his works until his death in 1956.

Based on publicly available information.