Performing Brecht

Performing Brecht is an unprecedented history of the productions of Brecht's plays in Britain over forty years. Margaret Eddershaw surveys all aspects of Brecht in performance, from his methodologies to his place in postmodernist theatre and beyond. She focuses on key productions by directors including George Devine, Sam Wanamaker, John Dexter, William Gaskill, Howard Davies and Richard Eyre. Performing Brecht also features three in-depth case studies of the following 1990s productions, throughout which Eddershaw incorporates her own exclusive access to rehearsals and in-depth interviews with directors and performers. They are: The Good Person of Sechuan, directed by Deborah Warner and starring Fiona Shaw; Mother Courage, directed by Philip Prowse and starring Glenda Jackson; and The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, directed by Di Trevis and starring Antony Sher.

1. Brecht and the Performer: Measuring the Distance. Practitioners who influenced the young Brecht. The performer's distance in epic theatre. The epic theatre audience. Brecht and Stanislavski. The actor and the role. The actor and the audience. Decreasing the distance between Brecht and Stanislavski. Choosing his actors. Acting at the Berliner Ensemble -- 2. Performing Early British Brecht: Following the Berliner. Preparing for Brecht. Brecht slips into Britain. Theatre Workshop and Mother Courage. English Stage Company and The Threepenny Opera. The Royal Court and The Good Woman of Setzuan. Brecht and British playwrights. William Gaskill and British Brecht of the 1960s. The Berliner Ensemble returns -- 3. Performing Brecht Post-1968: The Radical Responses. The 'booming' 1960s. The development of alternative theatre. Brecht by the radical touring companies. Brecht at the radical repertory theatres -- 4. Performing 'Classical' Brecht: Making the Strange Familiar.

Brecht at the Royal Shakespeare Company. Brecht at the National Theatre. The National Theatre on Tour -- 5. Performing Brecht in the 1990s: Three Approaches to Post-Wall Brecht. The legacy of the late 1980s. The Good Per…