Brecht, Bertolt

orig. Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht

(born Feb. 10, 1898, Augsburg, Ger.—died Aug. 14, 1956, East Berlin, E.Ger.) German playwright and poet. He studied medicine at Munich (1917–21) before writing his first plays, including (1922). Other plays followed, including (1926), as well as a considerable body of poetry. With the composer Kurt Weill he wrote the satirical musicals (1928; film, 1931), which gained him a wide audience, and (1930). In these years he became a Marxist and developed his theory of epic theatre. With the rise of the Nazis he went into exile, first in Scandinavia (1933–41), then in the U.S., where he wrote his major essays and the plays (1941), (1943), (1943), and (1948). Harassed for his politics, in 1949 he returned to East Germany, where he established the Berliner Ensemble theatre troupe and staged his own plays, including (1957). He outlined his theory of drama in (1949).

Find more information on Brecht, Bertolt. Upgrade to Britannica Online for more on Brecht, Bertolt.