Stephen Unwin's A Guide to the Plays of Bertolt Brecht is an indispensable, comprehensive and highly readable companion to the dramatic work of this challenging and rewarding writer. Besides providing detailed accounts of nineteen key plays, it explores their context and Brecht's dramatic theory to equip readers with a rich understanding of how Brecht's work was shaped by his times and by his evolving thinking about the function of theatre. Bertolt Brecht's work as a director, his critical and theoretical writing, and above all the remarkable plays that emerged from one of the most turbulent periods in history have had a profound and lasting influence on theatre. Central to theatre studies courses and whose plays are frequently revived on stage, Brecht is nevertheless perceived as a difficult writer. This companion is divided into two sections: the first seven chapters outline the tumultuous historical, cultural and theatrical context of Brecht's work. They explore his theatrical theory and provide an account of his approach to staging his plays which informs an understanding of how they work in practice. The second section provides an analysis of nineteen plays in six chronological groupings, each prefaced by a brief sketch of Brecht's life and theatrical development in that period. For each play, Stephen Unwin offers a synopsis, a critical commentary and an account of the work in performance. The book concludes with an examination of Brecht's legacy and a chronicle of his life and times. Written by experienced theatre director Stephen Unwin, this is the perfect companion to Brecht's plays and life for student and theatre practitioner alike.

A Guide To The Plays Of Bertolt Brecht (Plays and Playwrights)

Literature & Fiction

Unwin, Stephen

Dramas & Plays

Methuen Drama

A concise guide to fifty of the most significant plays of the past century. 
If great drama flourishes in a changing world, the twentieth century may prove itself the most dramatically fruitful ever. The briefest historical outline shows a time of extraordinary upheaval, and twentieth-century drama's greatest achievement was that it managed to reflect those changes with courage, vision, and artistry. 
In A Pocket Guide to 20th Century Drama, Stephen Unwin and Carole Woddis examine fifty seminal works from the past one hundred years, and in the process chart some of the most profound events of that era -- from Anton Chekhov's illustration of the fin-de-siècle clash in cultural value systems in The Cherry Orchard to World War II's legacy of moral despair as voiced in Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot to Tony Kushner's stark and moving exploration of the ravages of AIDS in Angels in America. 
For each play, a précis is provided, along with a brief essay on its historical and literary context and a rundown of pertinent productions. In addition, the authors provide both an overview of the past century in history and drama, and a chronicle of one thousand of the century's notable plays, providing an understanding of what other works were being written at the time.

A Pocket Guide to 20th Century Drama

Woddis, Carole

Faber&Faber

Disputing the notion that William Shakespeare scorned the rabble, an illuminating look at the complex working people of his plays.\nWas Shakespeare a snob? Poor Naked Wretches challenges the idea that one of the greatest writers of the English language despised working people, showing that he portrayed them with as much insight, compassion, and purpose as the rich and powerful. Moreover, working people play an important role in his dramatic method. Stephen Unwin reads Shakespeare anew, exploring the astonishing variety of working people in his plays, as well as the vast range of cultural sources from which they were drawn. Unwin argues that the robust realism of these characters, their independence of mind, and their engagement in the great issues of the day, make them much more than mere comic relief. Compassionate, cogent, and wry, Poor Naked Wretches grants these often-overlooked figures the dignity and respect they deserve.

Poor Naked Wretches: Shakespeare’s Working People

Reaktion Books

Laughing Boy

Nick Hern Books

reACTING provides an overview of three key practitioners of acting methodology: Stanislavski, Laban, and Brecht. The authors are experts in their fields and offer useful advice for the performer, bibliographies for further reading, and points for additional discussion. reACTING is an essential tool for teachers and students of speech and drama.

reACTING: A Fresh Approach to Key Practitioners (LAMDA)

Oberon Books

Using examples from plays and playwrights the reader has most likely encountered, The Well Read Play is structured to teach the reader how to identify context, structure, significance, and character. Its principle aim is to help the reader develop abilities to understand and enjoy reading plays.

The Well Read Play

Arts & Photography

Performing Arts

“I used to be scared of them. They seemed so different. They don't scare me anymore. They're just children, aren't they? Just children.”  January 1941. A terrible crime is taking place in a clinic for disabled children. The perpetrators argue that it will help struggling parents and lift the financial burden on the mighty German state. One brave voice is raised in objection. But will the doctor listen?

All Our Children

A practical, hands-on guide - for actors, directors, teachers and students - to Brecht's theory and practice of theatre, with a full set of exercises to help put theory into practice. The Complete Brecht Toolkit examines, one by one, Brecht's many, sometimes contradictory ideas about theatre - and how he put them into practice. Here are explanations of all the famous key terms, such as Alienation Effect, Epic Theatre and Gestus, as well as many others which go to make up what we think of as 'Brechtian theatre'. The book also explores the practical application of these theories in Acting, Language, Music, Design and Direction. Also included are fifty exercises contributed by Julian Jones, to help student actors investigate Brecht's ideas for themselves, becoming thoroughly familiar with the tools in the Brecht toolkit. "A thorough yet crystal clear explanation of Brecht's more complicated techniques and ideas." - Teaching Drama Magazine "One of the best introductory books on Brecht currently in circulation... Unwin [presents] the theoretical and practical ideas of Bertolt Brecht in a clear, concise and connected way so that students and practitioners may consider the importance of his work in the twenty-first century." - A Younger Theatre "A useful, refreshing, no-nonsense introduction to a practitioner who can be contradictory and is often misunderstood." - The Stage Stephen Unwin is one of Britain’s leading theatre and opera directors. He worked at the Traverse Theatre in the 1980s, founded English Touring Theatre in 1993, and in 2008 was appointed Artistic Director of the Rose Theatre, Kingston. He has written guides to Shakespeare’s plays; Ibsen, Chekhov and Strindberg; twentieth-century Drama; the plays of Bertolt Brecht; and So You Want To Be A Theatre Director? Julian Jones, who contributed the exercises included in The Complete Brecht Toolkit, is Senior Lecturer in Acting at Rose Bruford College of Theatre and Performance.

The Complete Brecht Toolkit

As artistic director of English Touring Theatre (“the company of the moment”—Daily Mail), Stephen Unwin has worked with hundreds of different actors in a multiplicity of venues. In this book, he takes readers step-by-step through choosing the play, casting, design, rehearsal, running the play, putting it on stage and on to opening night.

So You Want to Be a Theatre Director?

Brand new seires of highly accessible guides to the world's best-known plays

Page to Stage: Ibsen's "A Doll's House"

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