Bertolt Brecht

The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui

Hitler and the Nazis - with jokes

19 Aug 2010

Bertolt Brecht wrote his comedy satire over three weeks in 1941 having fled to Finland and waiting for entry documents to the US. An in-your-face parody of Hitler's power-grab, petty Chicago mobsters stand in for the dictator and his Nazi friends as we…

Mother Courage and Her Children

Birds of Paradise production of resonant Brecht classic

18 Mar 2011

The depressing thing about Brecht is that his plays never go out of date. At a time when Western governments stand accused of propping up corrupt dictatorships with a lucrative arms trade, his black comedic musical on the commodification of war and the…

Production of Mother Courage and her Children set for tour

Alison Peebles tackles Bertolt Brecht’s study of economic survival

24 Feb 2011

‘She’s like a lioness with her cubs – she keeps them close,’ says Alison Peebles preparing to take on the formidable title role of Mother Courage, the powerhouse at the heart of Bertolt Brecht’s study of economic survival in the 30 Years’ War. She is a…

The Caucasian Chalk Circle

Entertaining production of this Brechtian classic

14 Aug 2010

3BUGS Fringe Theatre’s entertaining production of this Brechtian classic is a witty and raggedly stylish take on the epic theatre idiom. What could in less assured hands be taken as signs of a poorly thought out production – the odd mish-mash of…

Four Men and a Poker Game

13 Nov 2008

ADAPTATION Today, news on the financial crisis is ever-present: it’s on our TV screens, our radios, and now it’s even on our stages. Later this month, the Tron will host a new adaptation of Bertolt Brecht’s little-known short story, ‘Four Men and a…

Caucasion Chalk Circle

Dundee Rep, until Sat 3 Feb

29 Jan 2007

CLASSIC We’ve got so wrapped up with having our own National Theatre in Scotland that we’ve been apt to forget of recent times that there’s also a pretty formidable one south of the border, still obliged by its remit to visit us once in a while. The…