Brecht Collected Plays: 4: Round Heads & Pointed Heads; Fear & Misery of the Third Reich; Senora Carrar's Rifles; Trial of Lucul

Description

Volume four of "Brecht's Collected Plays" contains works from the 1930s, straddling fateful years in German political and cultural history - as well as Brecht's own life. "Round Heads and Pointed Heads" is a powerful political allegory on Nazi race policy and conditions in the Germany Brecht was forced to leave, while "Fear and Misery of the Third Reich" is a montage of short scenes describing life under Hitler between 1933 and 1938. "Senora Carrar's Rifles" is based on J.M. Synge's "Riders to the Sea", relocated by Brecht in the Spanish Civil War. "The Trial of Lucullus", a radio play, is a starkly poetic pacifist text, in which the Roman general is tried by the Underworld for his military triumphs. Also included are two one-act plays - "Dansen" and "How Much is Your Iron?" - written for performance by amateurs in Scandinavia, where Brecht stayed until 1941.

Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956) is acknowledged as one of the great dramatists whose plays, work with the Berliner Ensemble and critical writings have had a considerable influence on the theatre. His landmark plays include The Threepenny Opera, Fear and Misery of the Third Reich, The Life of Galileo, Mother Courage and Her Children and The Caucasian Chalk Circle. Tom Kuhn is Professor of 20th century German Literature at St Hugh's College, University of Oxford, UK, and General Editor of Bloomsbury Methuen Drama's Brecht publications. John Willett (1917-2002) was the greatest English language authority on Brecht the writer and man of the theatre. The foremost translator and editor of Brecht's drama, poetry, letters, diaries, theatrical essays and fiction, Willett produced a dozen volumes for Methuen Drama on the greatest modern German writer. Tom Kuhn is Professor of 20th century German Literature at St Hugh's College, University of Oxford, UK, and General Editor of Bloomsbury Methuen Drama's Brecht publications. John Willett (1917-2002) was the greatest English language authority on Brecht the writer and man of the theatre. The foremost translator and editor of Brecht's drama, poetry, letters, diaries, theatrical essays and fiction, Willett produced a dozen volumes for Methuen Drama on the greatest modern German writer.