Brecht and political theatre : the Mother on stage /

Part social and reception history, part literary interpretation, and part dramatic theory, production history is a hybrid form of literary scholarship. Few stage works lend themselves to this approach better than Brecht's The Mother, which--depending on who is creating the performance--can be historical drama, Lehrstuck ("lesson play"), epic theater, emotional tragedy, protest play, agitprop, or postmodern pastiche. Abundant material on this play is archived in various locations, and Bradley made excellent use of those archives in producing this suberb book. She shows how directors, stage designers, and translators have in the last 70 years used Brecht's classical piece of propaganda to confront the politics of the day. Brecht himself reworked his revolutionary learning play of the Weimar Republic into a reaffirming drama of socialism in the early days of the GDR; since Brecht's death, many others (in West Germany, the US, the UK, France, Ireland) have reshaped the play to address social-political change. Bradley points out how--through reordering scenes, altering a few words, redesigning the set, or changing the acting style--the play's emphasis can be made to challenge audiences in various cultures. The bibliography is excellent. ^BSumming Up: Essential. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty and professionals. R. C. Conard University of Dayton