Documents 

This book is the result of interviews with Brecht's, unpublished typescripts recording several years of Brecht rehearsals at the Berlin Ensemble, and consultation of archival materials in Moscow, Berlin and Harvard University. Although Brecht is acknowledged worldwide as having changed our whole conception of playwriting, acting and directing. John Fuegi examines the way Brecht applied his manic but brilliant character, in both personal and professional life, in order to create the tension and confusion, contradiction and chaos, from which his best productions emerged. The book charts the evolution of Brecht's own dramatic theory from his early rejection of Stanislavskian realism and his demands for emotional coolness from the spectator to his later acceptance of the power of theatre to involve, even to move, the audience. [editor summary]