| A History of the Berliner Ensemble Contributor(s): Barnett, David (Author) |
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ISBN: 1107663768 ISBN-13: 9781107663763 Publisher: Cambridge University Press OUR PRICE: $49.39 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: February 2018 |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Drama | European - General - Performing Arts | Theater - History & Criticism |
| Dewey: 792.09 |
| LCCN: 2014034059 |
| Series: Cambridge Studies in Modern Theatre |
| Physical Information: 1.05" H x 6" W x 9" (1.53 lbs) 507 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: The Berliner Ensemble was founded by Bertolt Brecht and his wife Helene Weigel in 1949. The company soon gained international prominence, and its productions and philosophy influenced the work of theatre-makers around the world. David Barnett's book is the first study of the company in any language. Based on extensive archival research, it uncovers Brecht's working methods and those of the company's most important directors after his death. The book considers the boon and burden of Brecht's legacy, and provides new insights into battles waged behind the scenes for the preservation of the Brechtian tradition. The Berliner Ensemble was also the German Democratic Republic's most prestigious cultural export, attracting attention from the highest circles of government, and from the Stasi, before it privatised itself after German reunification in 1990. Barnett pieces together a complex history that sheds light on both the company's groundbreaking productions and their turbulent times. |
Contributor Bio(s): Barnett, David: - David Barnett is Reader in Drama, Theatre and Performance at the University of Sussex. He is the author of Brecht in Practice: Theatre, Theory and Performance (2014), Rainer Werner Fassbinder and the German Theatre (Cambridge, 2005) and Literature versus Theatre: Textual Problems and Theatrical Realization in the Later Plays of Heiner Mller (1998). He has also edited the ninth volume of Brecht's collected plays in English, the Berliner Ensemble Adaptations (2014). He writes extensively on political and post-dramatic theatre in Europe and has published articles in Modern Drama and Contemporary Theatre Review on Brechtian and post-Brechtian theatre. |