Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956), the most influential German dramatist and theoretician of the theater in the 20th century. Also a poet of formidable gifts and considerable output, Brecht first attracted attention in the Berlin of the 1920s as the author of provocative plays that challenged the tenets of traditional theater. In the 1950s he became an internationally acclaimed playwright and director through productions of his plays by the Berliner Ensemble, a company based in East Berlin and headed by his wife, actor Helene Weigel.

Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht was born in Augsburg, Bavaria. Raised in a comfortable middle-class home, he attended secondary school in Augsburg and studied briefly at the University of Munich. In 1924 he gained a foothold in the cultural metropolis of Berlin as an assistant dramaturge (drama specialist) at the Deutsches Theater. He achieved enormous popular success following the 1928 premiere of his collaborative effort with German composer Kurt Weill, Die Dreigroschenoper (published 1928; translated as The Threepenny Opera, 1964). Forced to flee Germany in 1933 because of his leftist political beliefs (he had become a convert to the socioeconomic theories of Karl Marx) and opposition to the Nazi regime of Adolf Hitler, Brecht and his family spent 14 years in exile in Scandinavia and the United States. Although he tried hard to become established in the United States, Brecht failed to make a breakthrough either as a scriptwriter in Hollywood, California, or as a playwright on Broadway. He returned to Europe in 1947. Two years later he moved to East Berlin and remained there until his death.

Brecht's first major play, Baal (1922; translated 1964), features a materialistic and promiscuous poet, the opposite of the view then in vogue of the artist as a visionary. Baal and his next play, Trommeln in der Nacht (1922; Drums in the Night, 1966), reject idealism in favor of crass individualism. Brecht’s turn to Marxism resulted in plays that indicted capitalism. In Die heilige Johanna der Schlachthöfe (1932; St. Joan of the Stockyards, 1956), a modern-day Joan of Arc advocates the use of force in the fight against exploitation of workers. The austere and controversial Lehrstück (learning play) titled Die Maßnahme (1930-1931; The Measures Taken, 1960) appeals to the spectators' reasoning faculties rather than to their emotions. The play takes the form of a stylized trial to demonstrate the errors in political thought and behavior for which a young Communist Party member has been liquidated.

Brecht's narrative style, which he called epic theater, was directed against the illusion created by traditional theater of witnessing a slice of life. Instead, Brecht encouraged spectators to watch events on stage dispassionately and to reach their own conclusions. To prevent spectators from becoming emotionally involved with a play and identifying with its characters, Brecht used a variety of techniques. Notable among them was the Verfremdungseffekt (alienation or estrangement effect), which was achieved through such devices as choosing (for German audiences) unfamiliar settings, interrupting the action with songs, and announcing the contents of each scene through posters. Brecht temporarily returned to a more traditional dramatic mode in Furcht und Elend des Dritten Reiches (1941; The Private Life of the Master Race, 1944), an attack on the fascist government of Germany under Hitler.

Around 1940 Brecht began writing the dramas for which he is primarily known today; some of these were produced or published first in English, then in German. Leben des Galilei (1955; Galileo, 1947) deals with the responsibility of the intellectual to defend his or her beliefs in the face of opposition from established authorities, in Galileo’s case the Roman Catholic Church. The antiwar play Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder (written 1937; first produced 1941; Mother Courage and Her Children, 1941) shows an indomitable mother figure who misguidedly seeks to profit from war but loses her children instead. In Der gute Mensch von Sezuan (written 1938-1940; first produced 1948; 1943;The Good Woman of Setzuan, 1948), which Brecht called a parable play, a kindhearted prostitute is forced to disguise herself as her ruthless male cousin and exploit others in order to survive. In Der kaukasische Kreidekreis (written 1944-1945; first produced 1943; The Caucasian Chalk Circle, 1948) a singer-narrator directs and comments on the poetic exploration of maternal sacrifice and justice.

Brecht's greatest achievement is, without doubt, his contribution to the repertory of the international theater. Apart from his greatest theatrical hit, The Threepenny Opera, which had a seven-year run in New York City in the 1950s, he provided the stage with a rich array of texts. They range from early dramas, infused with his rebellious spirit, to his mature plays that seek to promote the prospect of a better world. Brecht, who formulated his theory of epic theater in Kleines Organon für das Theater (1948; A Short Organum for the Theatre, 1964), also achieved renown as a theoretician. Perceived as a liberating influence in South America and East Asia, Brechtian theater has often been declared outmoded by critics in Europe and North America. But no serious director can ignore Brecht, and his plays continue to be produced all over the world.