{"title":"Books by Bertolt Brecht","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"9780141189161","title":"The Caucasian Chalk Circle","description":"The play is a parable inspired by the Chinese play \u003ci\u003eChalk Circle\u003c\/i\u003e. Written at the close of World War II, the story is set in the Caucasus mountains of Georgia, and retells the tale of King Solomon and a child claimed by two mothers. A chalk circle is metaphorically drawn around a society misdirected in its priorities. Brecht's statements about class are cloaked in the innocence of a fable that whispers insistently to the audience.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43201424916658,"sku":"9780141189161","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780141189161_74508e15-4566-43e9-8407-092c81b8a34e.jpg?v=1786011568"},{"product_id":"9780413763808","title":"Life Of Galileo","description":"Along with Mother Courage, the character of Galileo is one of Brecht's greatest creations, immensely live, human and complex. Unable to resist his appetite for scientific investigation, Galileo's heretical discoveries about the solar system bring him to the attention of the Inquisition. He is scared into publicly abjuring his theories but, despite his self-contempt, goes on working in private, eventually helping to smuggle his writings out of the country.As an examination of the problems that face not only the scientist but also the whole spirit of free inquiry when brought into conflict with the requirements of government or official ideology, Life of Galileo has few equals.Written in exile in 1937-9 and first performed in Zurich in 1943, Galileo was first staged in English in 1947 by Joseph Losey in a version jointly prepared by Brecht and Charles Laughton, who played the title role. Printed here is the complete translation by Brecht scholar John Willett. The much shorter Laughton version is also included in full as an appendix, along with Brecht's own copious notes on the play making this the most trusted scholarly edition of the text.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56288299614581,"sku":"9780413763808","price":11.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780413763808_342e0080-9e33-4541-899d-b8e17465d657.jpg?v=1786032991"},{"product_id":"9780413478108","title":"The Resistable Rise of Arturo Ui","description":"Described by Brecht as 'a gangster play that would recall certain events familiar to us all', Arturo Ui is a witty and savage satire of the rise of Hitler - recast by Brecht into a small-time Chicago gangster's takeover of the city's greengrocery trade. Using a wide range of parody and pastiche - from Al Capone to Shakespeare's Richard III and Goethe's Faust - Brecht's compelling parable continues to have relevance wherever totalitarianism appears today.  Written during the Second World War in 1941, the play was one of the Berliner Ensemble's most outstanding box-office successes in 1959, and has continued to attract a succession of major actors, including Leonard Rossiter, Christopher Plummer, Antony Sher and Al Pacino. Presented in Methuen Drama's Modern Classics series, this is the standard critical edition of the play featuring extensive editorial notes and an introduction.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56288691519861,"sku":"9780413478108","price":11.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780413478108_e01166c2-3a87-4ad7-99ee-5b18557fe3ab.jpg?v=1786014208"},{"product_id":"9780415045483","title":"Der Gute Mensch von Sezuan","description":"Includes the full German text, accompanied by German-English vocabulary. Notes and a detailed introduction in English put the work in its social and historical context.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56289375814005,"sku":"9780415045483","price":31.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780415045483_bab0bcdd-99ce-4722-a597-bc943dddf77c.jpg?v=1786013472"},{"product_id":"9780413412904","title":"Mother Courage and Her Children","description":"In this chronicle of the European Thirty Years War and taking place between the years 1624 and 1636, Mother Courage follows the armies back and forth across Europe, selling provisions and liquor from her canteen wagon to whomever she can. One by one she loses her children to the war but will not part with her livelihood - the wagon. The Berlin production of 1949, with Helene Weigel as Mother Courage, marked the foundation of the Berliner Ensemble.  Considered by many to be one of the greatest anti-war plays ever written and Brecht's masterpiece, the play is a powerful example of Epic Theatre and Brecht's use of alienation effect to focus attention not on individual characters but on the issues of the play. This edition published in Methuen Drama's Modern Classics series offers a full introduction as well as Brecht's own notes and textual variants, setting it apart from all other editions available in the English language. The play is presented in John Willett's trusted translation. 'One of the greatest poets and dramatists of our century' (Observer).","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56289699168629,"sku":"9780413412904","price":11.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780413412904_9ac8d97d-ec1d-4661-b7dd-564c0505709a.jpg?v=1786014205"},{"product_id":"9780413772664","title":"Fear and Misery of the Third Reich","description":"Also known as The Private Life of the Master Race, this is a sequence of twenty-four realistic sketches showing how \"ordinary\" life under the Nazis was subtly permeated by suspicion and anxiety. Written in exile in Denmark and first staged in 1938 it was inspired in part by his recent trip to Moscow where he had been researching tasks for the anti-Nazi effort.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56289743503733,"sku":"9780413772664","price":11.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780413772664_c5426691-6482-4adc-950b-4a5f4667b5bf.jpg?v=1786014255"},{"product_id":"9780871408563","title":"Love Poems","description":"Even in Germany, the scope and force of Bertolt Brecht’s poetry did not become apparent until long after his death and today, many of his more than 2,000 poems have never appeared in English. Love Poems, the first volume in a monumental undertaking by David Constantine and Tom Kuhn to translate his poetic legacy into English, positions Brecht not only as one of the most famous playwrights of the twentieth century but also as a fiercely creative twentieth-century poet, one of the best in German literature. With a foreword by his daughter; Love Poems features 78 astonishing and deeply personal love poems that reveal Brecht as lover and love poet whose struggle to keep faith, hope and love alive during desperate times represents the essence of human relationships.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":57697038434677,"sku":"9781631491115","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Hardback","offer_id":56295504511349,"sku":"9780871408563","price":18.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781631491115.jpg?v=1793083534"},{"product_id":"9780713685114","title":"The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui","description":"This Student Edition of Brecht's classic satire on the rise of Hitler features an extensive introduction and commentary that includes a plot summary, discussion of the context, themes, characters, style and language as well as questions for further study and notes on words and phrases in the text. It is the perfect edition for students of theatre and literature.Described by Brecht as 'a gangster play that would recall certain events familiar to us all', Arturo Ui is a witty and savage satire of the rise of Hitler -- recast by Brecht into a small-time Chicago gangster's takeover of the city's greengrocery trade. Using a wide range of parody and pastiche - from Al Capone to Shakespeare's Richard III and Goethe's Faust - Brecht's compelling parable continues to have relevance wherever totalitarianism appears today. Written during the Second World War in 1941, the play was one of the Berliner Ensemble's most outstanding box-office successes in 1959, and has continued to attract a succession of major actors, including Leonard Rossiter, Christopher Plummer, Antony Sher and Al Pacino.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56296166949237,"sku":"9780713685114","price":11.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780713685114_0123a95c-1404-44dc-82bc-875274fdbd51.jpg?v=1786015172"},{"product_id":"9781350178533","title":"Mother Courage and Her Children","description":"\u003cp\u003eThis new Student Edition, featuring the classic John Willett translation of the play, includes an introduction by Katherine Hollander, which explores the following:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e* Contexts (Thirty Years War, 1618-1648; World War II and exile; sources; influential figures such as Brecht, Margarete Steffin, Helene Weigel and Karin Michaelis)\u003cbr\u003e* Themes (war; nature; capitalism)\u003cbr\u003e* Dramatic devices (epic theatre)\u003cbr\u003e* Production history and critical reception\u003cbr\u003e* Academic debate (Marxist, feminist and postmodernist)\u003cbr\u003e* Further study\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWidely regarded as Brecht's best work, \u003ci\u003eMother Courage and her Children\u003c\/i\u003e was written in 1938-9 and received its premiere in Zurich in 1941. Mother Courage - a canteen woman serving with the Swedish Army during the Thirty Years War (1618-48) - follows the armies, selling provisions and liquor to the troops. Both her sons die in the war and her dumb daughter, Kattrin, is mortally wounded as she beats a drum to warn the town of Halle of an impending attack. Yet, all the while, Mother Courage continues her travels with her wagon, indomitably businesslike, calculating how she can make material profit from the war and turn conflict into capital.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56297608446325,"sku":"9781350178533","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781350178533_485fb7f9-7c39-4c3a-82a9-8fd8115f82f1.jpg?v=1786018607"},{"product_id":"9781350068902","title":"Brecht On Theatre","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eBrecht on Theatre\u003c\/i\u003e is a seminal work that has remained the classic text for readers and students wanting a rich appreciation of the development of Brecht's thinking on theatre and aesthetics. First published in 1964 and on reading lists ever since, Brecht's writings are presented in this definitive edition featuring the wholly revised, re-edited and expanded text produced for the 50th anniversary of the first English publication. With additional texts, illustrations and editorial material, and with almost half the material newly translated, this edition provides a far fuller and more accurate account of the development of Brecht's work and writings.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis edition features:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e* Clearer layout and organisation of the text\u003cbr\u003e* New translations of many of the Brechtian texts featured \u003cbr\u003e* Over 40 new, previously untranslated essays\u003cbr\u003e* Essay titles now correspond to the German originals \u003cbr\u003e* A revised selection of illustrations\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56297777332597,"sku":"9781350068902","price":25.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781350068902_9d54f38b-7e03-4de7-bf9f-a7efb6f9fc47.jpg?v=1786018123"},{"product_id":"9781350113367","title":"The Caucasian Chalk Circle","description":"\u003cp\u003eBrecht projects an ancient Chinese story onto a realistic setting in Soviet Georgia. In a theme that echoes the Judgment of Solomon, two women argue over the possession of a child. Thanks to the unruly judge, Azdak (one of Brecht's most vivid creations) natural justice is done and the peasant Grusha keeps the child she loves, even though she is not its mother.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWritten while Brecht was in exile in the United States during the Second World War, \u003ci\u003eThe Caucasian Chalk Circle\u003c\/i\u003e is a politically charged, much-revived and complex example of Brecht's epic theatre.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis new Student Edition contains introductory commentary and notes by Kristopher Imbrigotta from the University of Puget Sound, US, offering a much-needed contemporary perspective on the play. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe introduction covers:\u003cbr\u003e- narrative structure: play about a play within a play (\"circle\")\u003cbr\u003e- songs and music\u003cbr\u003e- justice and social systems\u003cbr\u003e- context: Brecht, exile, WWII, socialism\u003cbr\u003e- notions of collective and class\u003cbr\u003e- fable and story adaptation, folk fairy tale\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56297993699701,"sku":"9781350113367","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781350113367_87a08a37-642e-4fd1-9025-c718ca241640.jpg?v=1786018288"},{"product_id":"9781408100080","title":"Fear and Misery of the Third Reich","description":"\u003cp\u003eBrecht's series of twenty-four interconnected playlets describe events which took place in ordinary German households in the 1930s. They dramatise with clinical precision the suspicion and anxiety experienced by ordinary people, particularly Jewish citizens, as the power of Hitler grew.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWritten in exile in Denmark and first staged in 1938 it was inspired in part by his recent trip to Moscow where he had been researching tasks for the anti-Nazi effort.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis Student Edition features an extensive introduction and commentary and includes: a chronology of the Brecht's life and work; a synopsis of each playlet; an introduction to the context of the play; commentary on themes, characters, style and language; a review of the play in performance; notes on individual words and phrases in the text, and questions for further study.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56299096801653,"sku":"9781408100080","price":11.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781408100080_d5dcd0d4-311b-477c-b134-9062c43930f5.jpg?v=1786019205"},{"product_id":"9781408109656","title":"The Good Soul of Szechuan","description":"A programme text edition of Brecht's famous parable, this new translation by David Harrower was published to accompany the production at the Young Vic, London, in May 2008 and is based on a previously unpublished version of Brecht's play.Three Gods are on a journey to find out if there are any good people left on earth. Only Shen Te, a good-hearted prostitute, offers them shelter. With the money they give her she opens a tobacco shop. At once everyone needs her help. Her livelihood is in danger. Worse, she is falling in love with Sun, a pilot, who is robbing her blind. Her hard hearted cousin Shui Ta arrives to protect her. Who is he and how can good people stay good in a world of poverty and cruelty?'Brecht is the key figure of our time and all theatre today starts from or returns to his achievement.' Peter Brook","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56299114266997,"sku":"9781408109656","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781408109656_f8e1dc8d-bd8a-4e92-9770-1f8eb3ee75d1.jpg?v=1786019218"},{"product_id":"9781408111512","title":"Mother Courage and Her Children","description":"Mother Courage and Her Children is widely regarded as Brecht's best work, a theatrical landmark and one of the most powerful anti-war plays in history. This unique bilingual edition allows students to compare the original German text with a translation by one of the world's leading playwrights, Tony Kushner. In this play, a chronicle of the Thirty Years War, Mother Courage follows the armies back and forth across Europe, selling provisions and liquor from her canteen wagon. One by one she loses her children to the war but will not part with her livelihood - the wagon. The Berlin production of 1949, with Helene Weigel as Mother Courage, marked the foundation of the Berliner Ensemble. The English translation by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tony Kushner is inventive and vigorous, making Brecht's epic drama accessible to the 21st century reader. Contemporary language and humour make it the perfect English version to elucidate and compare with the original text. This edition also includes a critical introduction and commentary notes on particular words and phrases.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56299140284789,"sku":"9781408111512","price":11.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781408111512_4688d19d-dfa3-40cf-8670-bc93d83b4323.jpg?v=1786019219"},{"product_id":"9781474273282","title":"Brecht and the Writer's Workshop","description":"\u003cp\u003eBrecht was never inclined to see any of his plays as completely finished, and this volume collects some of the most important theatrical projects and fragments that were always to remain ‘works in progress’. Offering an invaluable insight into the writer’s working methods and practices, the collection features the famous \u003ci\u003eFatzer\u003c\/i\u003e as well as \u003ci\u003eThe Bread Store\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eJudith of Shimoda\u003c\/i\u003e, along with other texts that have never before been available in English.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAlongside the familiar, ‘completed’ plays, Brecht worked on many ideas and plans which he never managed to work up even once for print or stage. In pieces like \u003ci\u003eFleischhacker\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eGarbe\u003c\/i\u003e\/\u003ci\u003eBüsching \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eJacob Trotalong \u003c\/i\u003ewe see how such projects were abandoned or interrupted or became proving grounds for ideas and techniques. The works collated here span over thirty years and allow the reader to follow Brecht’s creative process as he constantly revised his work to engage with new contexts.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis treasure-trove of new discoveries is also annotated with dramaturgical notes to present readable and useable texts for the theatre.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe volume is edited by Tom Kuhn and Charlotte Ryland, with the translation and dramaturgical edition of each play provided by a team of experienced writers, scholars and translators.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56301390463349,"sku":"9781474273282","price":31.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781474273282_47075096-20f7-4239-a6c9-a6d62723b8ac.jpg?v=1786020718"},{"product_id":"9781788738583","title":"Aesthetics and Politics","description":"\u003cb\u003eAn intense and lively debate on literature and art between thinkers who became some of the great figures of twentieth-century philosophy and literature.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWith an afterword by Fredric Jameson\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNo other country and no other period has produced a tradition of major aesthetic debate to compare with that which unfolded in German culture from the 1930s to the 1950s. In \u003ci\u003eAesthetics and Politics\u003c\/i\u003e the key texts of the great Marxist controversies over literature and art during these years are assembled in a single volume. They do not form a disparate collection but a continuous, interlinked debate between thinkers who have become giants of twentieth-century intellectual history.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56305836818805,"sku":"9781788738583","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781788738583_37b2d29e-f91c-4561-9fee-7102d7298058.jpg?v=1786027054"},{"product_id":"9780413702906","title":"Mother Courage and Her Children","description":"This version of Brecht's great anti-war play by playwright David Hare was premiered by the National Theatre, London, in November 1995. It adopts a freer approach to the text than many editions, adapting the original rather than offering a close translation. In this chronicle of the Thirty Years War, Mother Courage follows the armies back and forth across Europe, selling provisions and liquor from her canteen wagon. One by one she loses her children to the war but will not part with her livelihood - the wagon. The Berlin production of 1949, with Helene Weigel as Mother Courage, marked the foundation of the Berliner Ensemble. Considered by many to be one of the greatest anti-war plays ever written and Brecht's masterpiece, it remains a powerful example of Brecht's Epic Theatre and pioneering theatrical style.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56311747772789,"sku":"9780413702906","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780413702906_a6abd44b-3ace-4b9a-a9ce-4dc7774ba811.jpg?v=1786014221"},{"product_id":"the-good-woman-of-setzuan","title":"The Good Woman of Setzuan","description":"This play, written during Brecht's exile to the United States and set in pre-Communist China, is a parable of a young woman torn between obligation and reality, between love and practicality, and between her own needs and those of her friends and neighbours.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57466626769269,"sku":"9780141189178","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780141189178.jpg?v=1785654685"},{"product_id":"the-good-person-of-szechwan","title":"The Good Person Of Szechwan","description":"'Brecht's dark, dazzling world-view...makes an absolutely devastating impact. The play is fuelled by the brilliant perception that everyone requires such a dual or split personality to survive.' Evening Standard Three gods come to earth hoping to discover one really good person. No one can be found until they meet Shen Te, a prostitute with a heart of gold. Rewarded by the gods, she gives up her profession and buys a tabacco shop but finds it is impossible to survive as a good person in a corrupt world without the support of her ruthless alter ego Shui Ta. Brecht's parable of good and evil was first performed in 1943 and remains one of his most popular and frequently produced plays worldwide. This Student Edition features an extensive introduction and commentary that includes a plot summary, discussion of the context, themes, characters, style and language as well as questions for further study and notes on words and phrases in the text. It is the perfect edition for students of theatre and literature.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57483383701877,"sku":"9781408100073","price":11.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781408100073.jpg?v=1786178529"},{"product_id":"mother-courage-and-her-children","title":"Mother Courage and Her Children","description":"Mother Courage was first performed in Zurich in 1941 and is usually seen as Brecht's greatest work. Remaining a powerful indictment of war and social injustice, it is an epic drama set in the seventeenth century during the Thirty Years' War. The plot follows the resilient Mother Courage who survives by running a commissary business that profits from all sides. As the war claims all of her children in turn, the play poignantly demonstrates that no one can profit from the war without being subject to its terrible cost also. This translation by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tony Kushner is contemporary and lively, with accessible and humour language, an easy conversational flow, sympathetic, understandable characters and humour. Kushner makes a classic play which is notoriously difficult to perform both stage and reader friendly. It was staged at the National Theatre directed by Deborah Warner and starring Fiona Shaw in September 2009.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57483397857653,"sku":"9781408125755","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781408125755.jpg?v=1786178546"},{"product_id":"the-resistible-rise-of-arturo-ui","title":"The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui","description":"\u003cp\u003eDescribed by Brecht as 'a gangster play that would recall certain events familiar to us all', \u003ci\u003eThe Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui\u003c\/i\u003e is a witty and savage satire of the rise of Hitler – recast by Brecht into a small-time Chicago gangster's takeover of the city's greengrocery trade. Using a wide range of parody and pastiche – from Al Capone to Shakespeare's Richard III and Goethe's Faust – Brecht's compelling parable continues to have relevance wherever totalitarianism appears today.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWritten during the Second World War in 1941, the play was one of the Berliner Ensemble's most outstanding box-office successes in 1959, and has continued to attract a succession of major actors, including Leonard Rossiter, Christopher Plummer, Antony Sher and Al Pacino.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis version, originally translated by George Tabori, has been revised by leading Scottish playwright Alistair Beaton.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57484265030005,"sku":"9781472566577","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781472566577.jpg?v=1786266317"},{"product_id":"the-threepenny-opera","title":"The Threepenny Opera","description":"\u003cp\u003eOne of Bertolt Brecht's best-loved and most performed plays, \u003ci\u003eThe Threepenny Opera \u003c\/i\u003ewas  first staged in 1928 at the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm, Berlin (now the  home of the Berliner Ensemble). \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBased on the eighteenth-century \u003ci\u003eThe Beggar's Opera\u003c\/i\u003e  by John Gay, the play is a satire on the bourgeois society of the Weimar Republic, but set in a mock-Victorian Soho. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWith Kurt Weill's  music, which was one of the earliest and most successful attempts to introduce the jazz idiom into the theatre, it became a popular hit throughout the western world.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis new edition is published here in John Willett and Ralph Manhein's classic translation with commentary and notes by Anja Hartl.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57503654805877,"sku":"9781350205284","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781350205284.jpg?v=1786867363"}],"url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/collections\/author-bertolt-brecht.oembed","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}