1957 Warsaw YIDDISH Polish BRECHT THEATRE PROGRAM Kaminska MOTHER COURAGE Jewish

$202.33 Buy It Now or Best Offer, $42.15 Shipping, 30-Day Returns, eBay Money Back Guarantee
Seller: judaica-bookstore ✉️ (2,805) 100%, Location: TEL AVIV, IL, Ships to: WORLDWIDE, Item: 276310681318 1957 Warsaw YIDDISH Polish BRECHT THEATRE PROGRAM Kaminska MOTHER COURAGE Jewish.

DESCRIPTION Up for auction is an EXTREMELY RARE gem. It's an advertising YIDDISH POLISH THEATRE program , Published and issued in WARSAW POLAND in 1957 for the Polish - Yiddish PREMIERE of the THEATRE ADAPTATION of the most popular BERTOLD BRECHT piece " MOTHER COURAGE and HER CHILDREN " ( In Polish " MATKA COURAGE I JEZ DZIECI" in Yiddidh " MUTTER COURAGE UN IRE KINDER" ) which was produced by the "JEWISH - YIDDISH THEATRE of ESTHER RACHEL KAMINSKA" and its legendary ARTISTIC DIRECTOR - IDA KAMINSKA who also played MOTHER COURAGE in this unique production. The production commemorates one decade , 10 years to the death , Exactly 10 years earlier of BRECHT. The music for this production was composed by PAUL DESSAU , A collaborator of BRECHT who composed a few of BRECHT plays The exciting PROGRAM , With its PHOTO of BRECHT as a frontispiece is written in POLISH and YIDDISH  . The program size is around  6 x 8 "  . 12 pp excluding the printed wrappers . Very g ood used condition . ( Pls look at scan for accurate AS IS images )  Will be sent inside a protective rigid sealed  packaging.

PAYMENTS : Payment method accepted : Paypal  & All credit cards .

SHIPPMENT :SHIPP worldwide via registered airmail is $ 25  . Will be sent inside a protective rigid sealed  packaging  . Will be sent  around 5-10 days after payment .   

Eugen Bertolt Friedrich Brecht (/brɛkt/;[1][2][3] German: [bʀɛçt]; 10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956) was a German poet, playwright, and theatre director of the 20th century. He made contributions to dramaturgy and theatrical production, the latter through the tours undertaken by the Berliner Ensemble – the post-war theatre company operated by Brecht and his wife, long-time collaborator and actress Helene Weigel.[4] Contents  [hide]  1 Life and career 1.1 Bavaria (1898–1924) 1.2 Weimar Republic Berlin (1925–33) 1.3 Nazi Germany and World War II (1933–45) 1.4 Cold War and final years in East Germany (1945–56) 1.5 Death 2 Theory and practice of theatre 3 Impact 4 Brecht in fiction, drama and film 5 Collaborators and associates 5.1 List of collaborators and associates 6 Works 6.1 Fiction 6.2 Plays and screenplays 6.3 Theoretical works 6.4 Poetry 7 See also 8 References 9 Primary sources 9.1 Essays, diaries and journals 9.2 Drama, poetry and prose 10 Secondary sources 11 External links Life and career[edit] Bavaria (1898–1924)[edit] Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (as a child known as Eugen) was born in February 1898 in Augsburg, Bavaria, the son of Berthold Friedrich Brecht (1869–1939) and his wife Sophie, née Brezing (1871–1920). Brecht's mother was a devout Protestant and his father a Catholic (who had been persuaded to have a Protestant wedding). The modest house where he was born is today preserved as a Brecht Museum.[5] His father worked for a paper mill, becoming its managing director in 1914.[6] Thanks to his mother's influence, Brecht knew the Bible, a familiarity that would have a lifelong effect on his writing. From her, too, came the "dangerous image of the self-denying woman" that recurs in his drama.[7] Brecht's home life was comfortably middle class, despite what his occasional attempt to claim peasant origins implied.[8] At school in Augsburg he met Caspar Neher, with whom he formed a lifelong creative partnership. Neher designed many of the sets for Brecht's dramas and helped to forge the distinctive visual iconography of their epic theatre. When Brecht was 16, the First World War broke out. Initially enthusiastic, Brecht soon changed his mind on seeing his classmates "swallowed by the army".[6] Brecht was nearly expelled from school in 1915 for writing an essay in response to the line "Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori" from the Roman poet Horace, calling it Zweckpropaganda ("[cheap] propaganda for a specific purpose") and arguing that only an empty-headed person could be persuaded to die for their country. His expulsion was only prevented through the intervention of his religion teacher.[9] On his father's recommendation, Brecht sought a loophole by registering for a medical course at Munich University, where he enrolled in 1917.[10] There he studied drama with Arthur Kutscher, who inspired in the young Brecht an admiration for the iconoclastic dramatist and cabaret-star Frank Wedekind.[11] From July 1916, Brecht's newspaper articles began appearing under the new name "Bert Brecht" (his first theatre criticism for the Augsburger Volkswille appeared in October 1919).[12] Brecht was drafted into military service in the autumn of 1918, only to be posted back to Augsburg as a medical orderly in a military VD clinic; the war ended a month later.[6] In July 1919, Brecht and Paula Banholzer (de) (who had begun a relationship in 1917) had a son, Frank. In 1920 Brecht's mother died.[13] Some time in either 1920 or 1921, Brecht took a small part in the political cabaret of the Munich comedian Karl Valentin.[14] Brecht's diaries for the next few years record numerous visits to see Valentin perform.[15] Brecht compared Valentin to Charlie Chaplin, for his "virtually complete rejection of mimicry and cheap psychology".[16] Writing in his Messingkauf Dialogues years later, Brecht identified Valentin, along with Wedekind and Büchner, as his "chief influences" at that time: But the man he learnt most from was the clown Valentin, who performed in a beer-hall. He did short sketches in which he played refractory employees, orchestral musicians or photographers, who hated their employers and made them look ridiculous. The employer was played by his partner, Liesl Karlstadt, a popular woman comedian who used to pad herself out and speak in a deep bass voice.[17] Brecht's first full-length play, Baal (written 1918), arose in response to an argument in one of Kutscher's drama seminars, initiating a trend that persisted throughout his career of creative activity that was generated by a desire to counter another work (both others' and his own, as his many adaptations and re-writes attest). "Anyone can be creative," he quipped, "it's rewriting other people that's a challenge."[18] Brecht completed his second major play, Drums in the Night, in February 1919. Between November 1921 and April 1922 Brecht made acquaintance with many influential people in the Berlin cultural scene. Amongst them was the playwright Arnolt Bronnen with whom he established a joint venture, the Arnolt Bronnen / Bertolt Brecht Company. Brecht changed the spelling of his first name to Bertolt to rhyme with Arnolt. In 1922 while still living in Munich, Brecht came to the attention of an influential Berlin critic, Herbert Ihering: "At 24 the writer Bert Brecht has changed Germany's literary complexion overnight"—he enthused in his review of Brecht's first play to be produced, Drums in the Night—"[he] has given our time a new tone, a new melody, a new vision. [...] It is a language you can feel on your tongue, in your gums, your ear, your spinal column."[19] In November it was announced that Brecht had been awarded the prestigious Kleist Prize (intended for unestablished writers and probably Germany's most significant literary award, until it was abolished in 1932) for his first three plays (Baal, Drums in the Night, and In the Jungle, although at that point only Drums had been produced).[20] The citation for the award insisted that: Poster for the Riverside Shakespeare Company's production of Brecht and Lion Feuchtwanger's Edward II; New York City, 1982 [Brecht's] language is vivid without being deliberately poetic, symbolical without being over literary. Brecht is a dramatist because his language is felt physically and in the round.[21] That year he married the Viennese opera-singer Marianne Zoff. Their daughter—Hanne Hiob (1923–2009)—was a successful German actress.[6] In 1923, Brecht wrote a scenario for what was to become a short slapstick film, Mysteries of a Barbershop, directed by Erich Engel and starring Karl Valentin.[22] Despite a lack of success at the time, its experimental inventiveness and the subsequent success of many of its contributors have meant that it is now considered one of the most important films in German film history.[23] In May of that year, Brecht's In the Jungle premiered in Munich, also directed by Engel. Opening night proved to be a "scandal"—a phenomenon that would characterize many of his later productions during the Weimar Republic—in which Nazis blew whistles and threw stink bombs at the actors on the stage.[15] In 1924 Brecht worked with the novelist and playwright Lion Feuchtwanger (whom he had met in 1919) on an adaptation of Christopher Marlowe's Edward II that proved to be a milestone in Brecht's early theatrical and dramaturgical development.[24] Brecht's Edward II constituted his first attempt at collaborative writing and was the first of many classic texts he was to adapt. As his first solo directorial début, he later credited it as the germ of his conception of "epic theatre".[25] That September, a job as assistant dramaturg at Max Reinhardt's Deutsches Theater—at the time one of the leading three or four theatres in the world—brought him to Berlin.[26] Weimar Republic Berlin (1925–33)[edit] In 1923 Brecht's marriage to Zoff began to break down (though they did not divorce until 1927).[27] Brecht had become involved with both Elisabeth Hauptmann and Helene Weigel.[28] Brecht and Weigel's son, Stefan, was born in October 1924.[29] In his role as dramaturg, Brecht had much to stimulate him but little work of his own.[30] Reinhardt staged Shaw's Saint Joan, Goldoni's Servant of Two Masters (with the improvisational approach of the commedia dell'arte in which the actors chatted with the prompter about their roles), and Pirandello's Six Characters in Search of an Author in his group of Berlin theatres.[31] A new version of Brecht's third play, now entitled Jungle: Decline of a Family, opened at the Deutsches Theater in October 1924, but was not a success.[32] In the asphalt city I'm at home. From the very start Provided with every last sacrament: With newspapers. And tobacco. And brandy To the end mistrustful, lazy and content. Bertolt Brecht, "Of Poor BB". At this time Brecht revised his important "transitional poem", "Of Poor BB".[33] In 1925, his publishers provided him with Elisabeth Hauptmann as an assistant for the completion of his collection of poems, Devotions for the Home (Hauspostille, eventually published in January 1927). She continued to work with him after the publisher's commission ran out.[34] In 1925 in Mannheim the artistic exhibition Neue Sachlichkeit ("New Objectivity") had given its name to the new post-Expressionist movement in the German arts. With little to do at the Deutsches Theater, Brecht began to develop his Man Equals Man project, which was to become the first product of "the 'Brecht collective'—that shifting group of friends and collaborators on whom he henceforward depended."[35] This collaborative approach to artistic production, together with aspects of Brecht's writing and style of theatrical production, mark Brecht's work from this period as part of the Neue Sachlichkeit movement.[36] The collective's work "mirrored the artistic climate of the middle 1920s," Willett and Manheim argue: with their attitude of Neue Sachlichkeit (or New Matter-of-Factness), their stressing of the collectivity and downplaying of the individual, and their new cult of Anglo-Saxon imagery and sport. Together the "collective" would go to fights, not only absorbing their terminology and ethos (which permeates Man Equals Man) but also drawing those conclusions for the theatre as a whole which Brecht set down in his theoretical essay "Emphasis on Sport" and tried to realise by means of the harsh lighting, the boxing-ring stage and other anti-illusionistic devices that henceforward appeared in his own productions.[37] In 1925, Brecht also saw two films that had a significant influence on him: Chaplin's The Gold Rush and Eisenstein's Battleship Potemkin.[38] Brecht had compared Valentin to Chaplin, and the two of them provided models for Galy Gay in Man Equals Man.[39] Brecht later wrote that Chaplin "would in many ways come closer to the epic than to the dramatic theatre's requirements."[40] They met several times during Brecht's time in the United States, and discussed Chaplin's Monsieur Verdoux project, which it is possible Brecht influenced.[41] In 1926 a series of short stories was published under Brecht's name, though Hauptmann was closely associated with writing them.[42] Following the production of Man Equals Man in Darmstadt that year, Brecht began studying Marxism and socialism in earnest, under the supervision of Hauptmann.[43][citation needed] "When I read Marx's Capital", a note by Brecht reveals, "I understood my plays." Marx was, it continues, "the only spectator for my plays I'd ever come across."[44] Inspired by the developments in USSR Brecht wrote a number of agitprop plays, praising the bolshevik collectivism (replaceability of each member of the collective in Man Equals Man) and red terror (The Decision). As Herbert Lüthy commented on this period of Brecht's work: Brecht was not attracted by the workers' movement—with which he was never acquainted—but by a profound need of total authority, of total submission to a total power, the immutable, hierarchical Church of the new Byzantine state, based on the infallibility of its chief — Herbert Lüthy, Du Pauvre Bertold Brecht. 1953[full citation needed] For us, man portrayed on the stage is significant as a social function. It is not his relationship to himself, nor his relationship to God, but his relationship to society which is central. Whenever he appears, his class or social stratum appears with him. His moral, spiritual or sexual conflicts are conflicts with society. Erwin Piscator, 1929.[45] In 1927 Brecht became part of the "dramaturgical collective" of Erwin Piscator's first company, which was designed to tackle the problem of finding new plays for its "epic, political, confrontational, documentary theatre".[46] Brecht collaborated with Piscator during the period of the latter's landmark productions, Hoppla, We're Alive! by Toller, Rasputin, The Adventures of the Good Soldier Schweik, and Konjunktur by Lania.[47] Brecht's most significant contribution was to the adaptation of the unfinished episodic comic novel Schweik, which he later described as a "montage from the novel".[48] The Piscator productions influenced Brecht's ideas about staging and design, and alerted him to the radical potentials offered to the "epic" playwright by the development of stage technology (particularly projections).[49] What Brecht took from Piscator "is fairly plain, and he acknowledged it" Willett suggests: The emphasis on Reason and didacticism, the sense that the new subject matter demanded a new dramatic form, the use of songs to interrupt and comment: all these are found in his notes and essays of the 1920s, and he bolstered them by citing such Piscatorial examples as the step-by-step narrative technique of Schweik and the oil interests handled in Konjunktur ('Petroleum resists the five-act form').[50] Brecht was struggling at the time with the question of how to dramatize the complex economic relationships of modern capitalism in his unfinished project Joe P. Fleischhacker (which Piscator's theatre announced in its programme for the 1927–28 season). It wasn't until his Saint Joan of the Stockyards (written between 1929–1931) that Brecht solved it.[51] In 1928 he discussed with Piscator plans to stage Shakespeare's Julius Caesar and Brecht's own Drums in the Night, but the productions did not materialize.[52] 1927 also saw the first collaboration between Brecht and the young composer Kurt Weill.[53] Together they began to develop Brecht's Mahagonny project, along thematic lines of the biblical Cities of the Plain but rendered in terms of the Neue Sachlichkeit's Amerikanismus, which had informed Brecht's previous work.[54] They produced The Little Mahagonny for a music festival in July, as what Weill called a "stylistic exercise" in preparation for the large-scale piece. From that point on Caspar Neher became an integral part of the collaborative effort, with words, music and visuals conceived in relation to one another from the start.[55] The model for their mutual articulation lay in Brecht's newly formulated principle of the "separation of the elements", which he first outlined in "The Modern Theatre Is the Epic Theatre" (1930). The principle, a variety of montage, proposed by-passing the "great struggle for supremacy between words, music and production" as Brecht put it, by showing each as self-contained, independent works of art that adopt attitudes towards one another.[56] Stamp from the former East Germany depicting Brecht and a scene from his Life of Galileo In 1930 Brecht married Weigel; their daughter Barbara Brecht was born soon after the wedding.[57] She also became an actress and would later hold the copyrights to all of Brecht's work. Brecht formed a writing collective which became prolific and very influential. Elisabeth Hauptmann, Margarete Steffin, Emil Burri, Ruth Berlau and others worked with Brecht and produced the multiple teaching plays, which attempted to create a new dramaturgy for participants rather than passive audiences. These addressed themselves to the massive worker arts organisation that existed in Germany and Austria in the 1920s. So did Brecht's first great play, Saint Joan of the Stockyards, which attempts to portray the drama in financial transactions. This collective adapted John Gay's The Beggar's Opera, with Brecht's lyrics set to music by Kurt Weill. Retitled The Threepenny Opera (Die Dreigroschenoper) it was the biggest hit in Berlin of the 1920s and a renewing influence on the musical worldwide. One of its most famous lines underscored the hypocrisy of conventional morality imposed by the Church, working in conjunction with the established order, in the face of working-class hunger and deprivation: Erst kommt das Fressen Dann kommt die Moral. First the grub (lit. "eating like animals, gorging") Then the morality. The success of The Threepenny Opera was followed by the quickly thrown together Happy End. It was a personal and a commercial failure. At the time the book was purported to be by the mysterious Dorothy Lane (now known to be Elisabeth Hauptmann, Brecht's secretary and close collaborator). Brecht only claimed authorship of the song texts. Brecht would later use elements of Happy End as the germ for his Saint Joan of the Stockyards, a play that would never see the stage in Brecht's lifetime. Happy End's score by Weill produced many Brecht/Weill hits like "Der Bilbao-Song" and "Surabaya-Jonny". The masterpiece of the Brecht/Weill collaborations, Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny (Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny), caused an uproar when it premiered in 1930 in Leipzig, with Nazis in the audience protesting. The Mahagonny opera would premier later in Berlin in 1931 as a triumphant sensation. Brecht spent the last years of the Weimar-era (1930–1933) in Berlin working with his "collective" on the Lehrstücke. These were a group of plays driven by morals, music and Brecht's budding epic theatre. The Lehrstücke often aimed at educating workers on Socialist issues. The Measures Taken (Die Massnahme) was scored by Hanns Eisler. In addition, Brecht worked on a script for a semi-documentary feature film about the human impact of mass unemployment, Kuhle Wampe (1932), which was directed by Slatan Dudow. This striking film is notable for its subversive humour, outstanding cinematography by Günther Krampf, and Hanns Eisler's dynamic musical contribution. It still provides a vivid insight into Berlin during the last years of the Weimar Republic. Nazi Germany and World War II (1933–45)[edit] Unhappy the land where heroes are needed. Galileo, in Brecht's Life of Galileo (1943) Fearing persecution, Brecht left Nazi Germany in February 1933, just after Hitler took power. After brief spells in Prague, Zurich and Paris he and Weigel accepted an invitation from journalist and author Karin Michaëlis to move to Denmark. The family first stayed with Karin Michaëlis at her house on the small island of Thurø close to the island of Funen. They later bought their own house in Svendborg on Funen. This house located at Skovsbo Strand 8 in Svendborg became the residence of the Brecht family for the next six years, where they often received guests including Walter Benjamin, Hanns Eisler and Ruth Berlau. During this period Brecht also travelled frequently to Copenhagen, Paris, Moscow, New York and London for various projects and collaborations. When war seemed imminent in April 1939, he moved to Stockholm, Sweden, where he remained for a year.[58] After Hitler invaded Norway and Denmark, Brecht left Sweden for Helsinki, Finland, where he lived and waited for his visa for the United States until 3 May 1941.[59] During this time he wrote the play Mr Puntila and his Man Matti (Herr Puntila und sein Knecht Matti) with Hella Wuolijoki, with whom he lived in Marlebäck (de). During the war years, Brecht became a prominent writer of the Exilliteratur.[60][60] He expressed his opposition to the National Socialist and Fascist movements in his most famous plays: Life of Galileo, Mother Courage and Her Children, The Good Person of Szechwan, The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, The Caucasian Chalk Circle, Fear and Misery of the Third Reich, and many others. Brecht co-wrote the screenplay for the Fritz Lang-directed film Hangmen Also Die! which was loosely based on the 1942 assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, the Nazi Reich Protector of the German-occupied Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, number-two-man in the SS, and a chief architect of the Holocaust, who was known as "The Hangman of Prague." Hanns Eisler was nominated for an Academy Award for his musical score. The collaboration of three prominent refugees from Nazi Germany – Lang, Brecht and Eisler – is an example of the influence this generation of German exiles had on American culture. Hangmen Also Die! was Brecht's only script for a Hollywood film. The money he earned from writing the film enabled him to write The Visions of Simone Machard, Schweik in the Second World War and an adaptation of Webster's The Duchess of Malfi. In 1942 Brecht's reluctance to help Carola Neher, who died in a gulag death camp in the USSR after being arrested during the 1936 purges, caused much controversy among Russian emigrants in the West.[61] Cold War and final years in East Germany (1945–56)[edit] Brecht and Weigel on the roof of the Berliner Ensemble during the International Workers' Day demonstrations in 1954 In the years of the Cold War and "Red Scare", Brecht was blacklisted by movie studio bosses and interrogated by the House Un-American Activities Committee.[62] Along with about 41 other Hollywood writers, directors, actors and producers, he was subpoenaed to appear before the HUAC in September 1947. Although he was one of 19 witnesses who declared that they would refuse to appear, Brecht eventually decided to testify. He later explained that he had followed the advice of attorneys and had not wanted to delay a planned trip to Europe. On 30 October 1947 Brecht testified that he had never been a member of the Communist Party.[62] He made wry jokes throughout the proceedings, punctuating his inability to speak English well with continuous references to the translators present, who transformed his German statements into English ones unintelligible to himself. HUAC vice-chairman Karl Mundt thanked Brecht for his co-operation. The remaining witnesses, the so-called Hollywood Ten, refused to testify and were cited for contempt. Brecht's decision to appear before the committee led to criticism, including accusations of betrayal. The day after his testimony, on 31 October, Brecht returned to Europe. In Chur in Switzerland, Brecht staged an adaptation of Sophocles' Antigone, based on a translation by Hölderlin. It was published under the title Antigonemodell 1948, accompanied by an essay on the importance of creating a "non-Aristotelian" form of theatre. An offer of his own theatre (completed in 1954) and theatre company (the Berliner Ensemble) encouraged Brecht to return to Berlin in 1949. He retained his Austrian nationality (granted in 1950) and overseas bank accounts from which he received valuable hard currency remittances. The copyrights on his writings were held by a Swiss company.[63] At the time he drove a pre-war DKW car—a rare luxury in the austere divided capital. Though he was never a member of the Communist Party, Brecht had been schooled in Marxism by the dissident communist Karl Korsch. Korsch's version of the Marxist dialectic influenced Brecht greatly, both his aesthetic theory and theatrical practice. Brecht received the Stalin Peace Prize in 1954.[64] Brecht wrote very few plays in his final years in East Berlin, none of them as famous as his previous works. He dedicated himself to directing plays and developing the talents of the next generation of young directors and dramaturgs, such as Manfred Wekwerth, Benno Besson and Carl Weber. At this time he wrote some of his most famous poems, including the "Buckow Elegies". At first Brecht apparently supported the measures taken by the East German government against the Uprising of 1953 in East Germany, which included the use of Soviet military force. In a letter from the day of the uprising to SED First Secretary Walter Ulbricht, Brecht wrote that: "History will pay its respects to the revolutionary impatience of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany. The great discussion [exchange] with the masses about the speed of socialist construction will lead to a viewing and safeguarding of the socialist achievements. At this moment I must assure you of my allegiance to the Socialist Unity Party of Germany."[65] Graves of Helene Weigel and Bertolt Brecht in the Dorotheenstadt cemetery Brecht's subsequent commentary on those events, however, offered a very different assessment—in one of the poems in the Elegies, "Die Lösung" (The Solution), a disillusioned Brecht writes: After the uprising of the 17th of June The Secretary of the Writers Union Had leaflets distributed in the Stalinallee Stating that the people Had forfeited the confidence of the government And could win it back only By redoubled efforts. Would it not be easier In that case for the government To dissolve the people And elect another?[66] Death[edit] Brecht died on 14 August 1956[67] of a heart attack at the age of 58. He is buried in the Dorotheenstädtischer cemetery on Chausseestraße in the Mitte neighbourhood of Berlin, overlooked by the residence he shared with Helene Weigel. According to Stephen Parker, who reviewed Brecht's writings and unpublished medical records, Brecht contracted rheumatic fever as a child, which led to an enlarged heart, followed by lifelong chronic heart failure and Sydenham's chorea. A report of a radiograph taken of Brecht in 1951 describes a badly diseased heart, enlarged to the left with a protruding aortic knob and with seriously impaired pumping. Brecht's colleagues described him as being very nervous, and sometimes shaking his head or moving his hands erratically. This can be reasonably attributed to Sydenham's chorea, which is also associated with emotional lability, personality changes, obsessive-compulsive behavior, and hyperactivity, which matched Brecht's behavior. "What is remarkable," wrote Parker, "is his capacity to turn abject physical weakness into peerless artistic strength, arrhythmia into the rhythms of poetry, chorea into the choreography of drama."[68] Theory and practice of theatre[edit] From his late twenties Brecht remained a lifelong committed Marxist[citation needed] who, in developing the combined theory and practice of his "epic theatre", synthesized and extended the experiments of Erwin Piscator and Vsevolod Meyerhold to explore the theatre as a forum for political ideas and the creation of a critical aesthetics of dialectical materialism. Statue of Brecht outside the Berliner Ensemble's theatre in Berlin Epic Theatre proposed that a play should not cause the spectator to identify emotionally with the characters or action before him or her, but should instead provoke rational self-reflection and a critical view of the action on the stage. Brecht thought that the experience of a climactic catharsis of emotion left an audience complacent. Instead, he wanted his audiences to adopt a critical perspective in order to recognise social injustice and exploitation and to be moved to go forth from the theatre and effect change in the world outside.[69] For this purpose, Brecht employed the use of techniques that remind the spectator that the play is a representation of reality and not reality itself. By highlighting the constructed nature of the theatrical event, Brecht hoped to communicate that the audience's reality was equally constructed and, as such, was changeable. Brecht's modernist concern with drama-as-a-medium led to his refinement of the "epic form" of the drama. This dramatic form is related to similar modernist innovations in other arts, including the strategy of divergent chapters in James Joyce's novel Ulysses, Sergei Eisenstein's evolution of a constructivist "montage" in the cinema, and Picasso's introduction of cubist "collage" in the visual arts.[70] One of Brecht's most important principles was what he called the Verfremdungseffekt (translated as "defamiliarization effect", "distancing effect", or "estrangement effect", and often mistranslated as "alienation effect").[71] This involved, Brecht wrote, "stripping the event of its self-evident, familiar, obvious quality and creating a sense of astonishment and curiosity about them".[72] To this end, Brecht employed techniques such as the actor's direct address to the audience, harsh and bright stage lighting, the use of songs to interrupt the action, explanatory placards, the transposition of text to the third person or past tense in rehearsals, and speaking the stage directions out loud.[73] In contrast to many other avant-garde approaches, however, Brecht had no desire to destroy art as an institution; rather, he hoped to "re-function" the theatre to a new social use. In this regard he was a vital participant in the aesthetic debates of his era—particularly over the "high art/popular culture" dichotomy—vying with the likes of Adorno, Lukács, Ernst Bloch, and developing a close friendship with Benjamin. Brechtian theatre articulated popular themes and forms with avant-garde formal experimentation to create a modernist realism that stood in sharp contrast both to its psychological and socialist varieties. "Brecht's work is the most important and original in European drama since Ibsen and Strindberg," Raymond Williams argues, while Peter Bürger dubs him "the most important materialist writer of our time."[74] Brecht was also influenced by Chinese theatre, and used its aesthetic as an argument for Verfremdungseffekt. Brecht believed, "Traditional Chinese acting also knows the alienation [sic] effect, and applies it most subtly.[75]... The [Chinese] performer portrays incidents of utmost passion, but without his delivery becoming heated."[76]Brecht attended a Chinese opera performance and was introduced to the famous Chinese opera performer Mei Lanfang in 1935.[77] However, Brecht was sure to distinguish between Epic and Chinese theatre. He recognized that the Chinese style was not a "transportable piece of technique,"[78] and that Epic theatre sought to historicize and address social and political issues.[79] Brecht used his poetry to criticize European culture, including Nazis, and the German bourgeoisie. Brecht's poetry is marked by the effects of the First and Second World Wars. Many of the poems take a Marxist[citation needed] outlook, celebrating the defeat of a capitalist system.[citation needed] Throughout his theatric production, poems are incorporated into this plays with music. In 1951, Brecht issued a recantation of his apparent suppression of poetry in his plays with a note titled On Poetry and Virtuosity. He writes: We shall not need to speak of a play's poetry ... something that seemed relatively unimportant in the immediate past. It seemed not only unimportant, but misleading, and the reason was not that the poetic element had been sufficiently developed and observed, but that reality had been tampered with in its name ... we had to speak of a truth as distinct from poetry ... we have given up examining works of art from their poetic or artistic aspect, and got satisfaction from theatrical works that have no sort of poetic appeal ... Such works and performances may have some effect, but it can hardly be a profound one, not even politically. For it is a peculiarity of the theatrical medium that it communicates awarenesses and impulses in the form of pleasure: the depth of the pleasure and the impulse will correspond to the depth of the pleasure. Brecht's most influential poetry is featured in his Manual of Piety (Devotions), establishing him as a noted poet. Impact[edit] Brecht's widow, the actress Helene Weigel, continued to manage the Berliner Ensemble until her death in 1971; it was primarily devoted to performing Brecht's plays. Dramatists and directors in whom one may trace a clear Brechtian legacy include: Dario Fo, Ruth Berghaus, Augusto Boal, Joan Littlewood, Peter Brook, Máiréad Ní Ghráda, Peter Weiss, Heiner Müller, Pina Bausch, Tony Kushner, Robert Bolt and Caryl Churchill. Brecht's influence may also be detected in the films of Jean-Luc Godard, Lindsay Anderson, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Joseph Losey, Nagisa Oshima, Lars von Trier, Hal Hartley[citation needed], Jan Bucquoy,[80] and Ritwik Ghatak.[81] Besides being an influential dramatist and poet, some scholars have stressed the significance of Brecht's original contributions in political and social philosophy.[82] Brecht's collaborations with Kurt Weill have had some influence in rock music. The "Alabama Song" for example, originally published as a poem in Brecht's Hauspostille (1927) and set to music by Weill in Mahagonny, has been recorded by The Doors, on their self-titled debut album, as well as by David Bowie and various other bands and performers since the 1960s. Brecht's son, Stefan Brecht, became a poet and theatre critic interested in New York's avant-garde theatre. The actress Sonja Kehler played his characters on stage and focused on performances of his songs, touring in Europe and recording, for example a collection Sonja Kehler singt Brecht. Brecht in fiction, drama and film[edit] In the 1930 novel Success, Brecht's mentor Lion Feuchtwanger immortalized Brecht as the character Kaspar Pröckl. Brecht appears as a character in Christopher Hampton's play Tales from Hollywood, first produced in 1982, dealing with German expatriates in Hollywood at the time of the House Un-American Activities Committee hearings on supposed Communist infiltration of the motion picture industry and the beginning of the Hollywood blacklist. The 2000 German film Abschied – Brechts letzter Sommer (The Farewell), directed by Jan Schütte,[83] depicts Brecht (Josef Bierbichler) shortly before his death, attended to by Helene Weigel (Monica Bleibtreu) and two former lovers. In the 2006 film The Lives of Others, a Stasi agent played by Ulrich Mühe is partially inspired to save a playwright he has been spying on by reading a book of Brecht poetry that he had stolen from the artist's apartment. In particular, the poem "Reminiscence of Marie A." is read. Brecht at Night by Mati Unt, transl. Eric Dickens (Dalkey Archive Press, 2009) In the Günter Grass play The Plebeians Rehearse the Uprising (1966), Brecht appears as "The Boss", rehearsing his version of Shakespeare's Coriolanus against the background of worker unrest in Berlin in 1953. In the 1999 film Cradle Will Rock Brecht appears as an inspiration to Marc Blitzstein. The 2013 film Witness 11 draws upon historical events exploring the justice-thirsty courtroom through the eyes of Brecht as he is called to testify in front of the House Un-American Activities Committee. In the 2013 Italian film Viva la libertà the Brecht poem To a Waverer forms the text for an important and moving speech. In the 2014 novel Leaving Berlin by Joseph Kanon, Brecht appears as a cynical returnee to Soviet Berlin, lauded by the authorities as a symbol of communist German culture and willing to ignore moral issues to pursue his art.[citation needed] Collaborators and associates[edit] Collective and collaborative working methods were inherent to Brecht's approach, as Fredric Jameson (among others) stresses. Jameson describes the creator of the work not as Brecht the individual, but rather as 'Brecht': a collective subject that "certainly seemed to have a distinctive style (the one we now call 'Brechtian') but was no longer personal in the bourgeois or individualistic sense." During the course of his career, Brecht sustained many long-lasting creative relationships with other writers, composers, scenographers, directors, dramaturgs and actors; the list includes: Elisabeth Hauptmann, Margarete Steffin, Ruth Berlau, Slatan Dudow, Kurt Weill, Hanns Eisler, Paul Dessau, Caspar Neher, Teo Otto, Karl von Appen, Ernst Busch, Lotte Lenya, Peter Lorre, Therese Giehse, Angelika Hurwicz, Carola Neher and Helene Weigel herself. This is "theatre as collective experiment [...] as something radically different from theatre as expression or as experience."[84] List of collaborators and associates[edit] Karl von Appen Walter Benjamin Eric Bentley Ruth Berghaus Ruth Berlau Berliner Ensemble Benno Besson Arnolt Bronnen Emil Burri Ernst Busch Paul Dessau Slatan Dudow Hanns Eisler Erich Engel Erwin Faber Lion Feuchtwanger Therese Giehse Alexander Granach Elisabeth Hauptmann Paul Hindemith Oskar Homolka Angelika Hurwicz Herbert Ihering Fritz Kortner Fritz Lang Wolfgang Langhoff Charles Laughton Lotte Lenya Theo Lingen Peter Lorre Joseph Losey Ralph Manheim Carola Neher Caspar Neher Teo Otto G. W. Pabst Erwin Piscator Margarete Steffin Carl Weber Helene Weigel Kurt Weill John Willett Hella Wuolijoki Works[edit] Fiction[edit] Stories of Mr. Keuner (Geschichten vom Herrn Keuner (de)) Threepenny Novel (Dreigroschenroman, 1934) The Business Affairs of Mr. Julius Caesar (Die Geschäfte des Herrn Julius Caesar (de), 1937–39, unfinished, published 1957) Plays and screenplays[edit] Entries show: English-language translation of title (German-language title) [year written] / [year first produced][85] Baal 1918/1923 Drums in the Night (Trommeln in der Nacht) 1918–20/1922 The Beggar (Der Bettler oder Der tote Hund) 1919/? A Respectable Wedding (Die Kleinbürgerhochzeit) 1919/1926 Driving Out a Devil (Er treibt einen Teufel aus) 1919/? Lux in Tenebris 1919/? The Catch (Der Fischzug) 1919?/? Mysteries of a Barbershop (Mysterien eines Friseursalons) (screenplay) 1923 In the Jungle of Cities (Im Dickicht der Städte) 1921–24/1923 The Life of Edward II of England (Leben Eduards des Zweiten von England) 1924/1924 Downfall of the Egotist Johann Fatzer (Der Untergang des Egoisten Johnann Fatzer) (fragments) 1926–30/1974 Man Equals Man also A Man's A Man (Mann ist Mann) 1924–26/1926 The Elephant Calf (Das Elefantenkalb) 1924–26/1926 Little Mahagonny (Mahagonny-Songspiel) 1927/1927 The Threepenny Opera (Die Dreigroschenoper) 1928/1928 The Flight across the Ocean (Der Ozeanflug); originally Lindbergh's Flight (Lindberghflug) 1928–29/1929 The Baden-Baden Lesson on Consent (Badener Lehrstück vom Einverständnis) 1929/1929 Happy End (Happy End) 1929/1929 The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny (Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny) 1927–29/1930 He Said Yes / He Said No (Der Jasager; Der Neinsager) 1929–30/1930–? The Decision/The Measures Taken (Die Maßnahme) 1930/1930 Saint Joan of the Stockyards (Die heilige Johanna der Schlachthöfe) 1929–31/1959 The Exception and the Rule (Die Ausnahme und die Regel) 1930/1938 The Mother (Die Mutter) 1930–31/1932 Kuhle Wampe (screenplay, with Ernst Ottwalt) 1931/1932 The Seven Deadly Sins (Die sieben Todsünden der Kleinbürger) 1933/1933 Round Heads and Pointed Heads (Die Rundköpfe und die Spitzköpfe) 1931–34/1936 The Horatians and the Curiatians (Die Horatier und die Kuriatier) 1933–34/1958 Fear and Misery of the Third Reich (Furcht und Elend des Dritten Reiches) 1935–38/1938 Señora Carrar's Rifles (Die Gewehre der Frau Carrar) 1937/1937 Life of Galileo (Leben des Galilei) 1937–39/1943 How Much Is Your Iron? (Was kostet das Eisen?) 1939/1939 Dansen (Dansen) 1939/? Mother Courage and Her Children (Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder) 1938–39/1941 The Trial of Lucullus (Das Verhör des Lukullus) 1938–39/1940 The Judith of Shimoda (Die Judith von Shimoda) 1940 Mr Puntila and his Man Matti (Herr Puntila und sein Knecht Matti) 1940/1948 The Good Person of Szechwan (Der gute Mensch von Sezuan) 1939–42/1943 The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui (Der aufhaltsame Aufstieg des Arturo Ui) 1941/1958 Hangmen Also Die! (credited as Bert Brecht) (screenplay) 1942/1943 The Visions of Simone Machard (Die Gesichte der Simone Machard ) 1942–43/1957 The Duchess of Malfi 1943/1943 Schweik in the Second World War (Schweyk im Zweiten Weltkrieg) 1941–43/1957 The Caucasian Chalk Circle (Der kaukasische Kreidekreis) 1943–45/1948 Antigone (Die Antigone des Sophokles) 1947/1948 The Days of the Commune (Die Tage der Commune) 1948–49/1956 The Tutor (Der Hofmeister) 1950/1950 The Condemnation of Lucullus (Die Verurteilung des Lukullus) 1938–39/1951 Report from Herrnburg (Herrnburger Bericht) 1951/1951 Coriolanus (Coriolan) 1951–53/1962 The Trial of Joan of Arc of Proven, 1431 (Der Prozess der Jeanne D'Arc zu Rouen, 1431) 1952/1952 Turandot (Turandot oder Der Kongreß der Weißwäscher) 1953–54/1969 Don Juan (Don Juan) 1952/1954 Trumpets and Drums (Pauken und Trompeten) 1955/1955 Theoretical works[edit] The Modern Theatre Is the Epic Theatre (1930) The Threepenny Lawsuit (Der Dreigroschenprozess) (written 1931; published 1932) The Book of Changes (fragment also known as Me-Ti; written 1935–1939) The Street Scene (written 1938; published 1950) The Popular and the Realistic (written 1938; published 1958) Short Description of a New Technique of Acting which Produces an Alienation Effect (written 1940; published 1951) A Short Organum for the Theatre ("Kleines Organon für das Theater", written 1948; published 1949) The Messingkauf Dialogues (Dialogue aus dem Messingkauf, published 1963) Poetry[edit] Brecht wrote hundreds of poems throughout his life.[86] He began writing poetry as a young boy, and his first poems were published in 1914. His poetry was influenced by folk-ballads, French chansons, and the poetry of Rimbaud and Villon.[citation needed] Some of Brecht's poems 1940 A Bad Time for Poetry Alabama Song Children's Crusade Children's Hymn Contemplating Hell From a German War Primer Germany Honored Murderer of the People How Fortunate the Man with None Hymn to Communism I Never Loved You More I want to Go with the One I Love I'm Not Saying Anything Against Alexander In Praise of Illegal Work In Praise of the Work of the Party Mack the Knife My Young Son Asks Me Not What Was Meant O Germany, Pale Mother! On Reading a Recent Greek Poet On the Critical Attitude Parting Questions from a Worker Who Reads Radio Poem Reminiscence of Marie A. Send Me a Leaf Solidarity Song The Book Burning (The Burning of the Books) The Exile of the Poets The Invincible Inscription The Mask of Evil The Sixteen-Year-Old Seamstress Emma Ries before the Magistrate The Solution To Be Read in the Morning and at Night To Posterity To the Students and Workers of the Peasants' Faculty An die Nachgeborenen (de) (To Those Born After) United Front Song War Has Been Given a Bad Name What Has Happened? See also[edit] Book: Bertolt Brecht Bertolt-Brecht-Literaturpreis Brecht Forum Weimar culture Western Marxism  ****  Mother Courage and Her Children (German: Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder) is a play written in 1939 by the German dramatist and poet Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956), with significant contributions from Margarete Steffin.[1] Four theatrical productions were produced in Switzerland and Germany from 1941 to 1952, the last three supervised and/or directed by Brecht, who had returned to East Germany from the United States. Several years after Brecht's death in 1959/1960, the play was adapted as a German film starring Helene Weigel, Brecht's widow and a leading actress.[2] Mother Courage is considered by some to be the greatest play of the 20th century, and perhaps also the greatest anti-war play of all time.[3] Contents  [hide]  1 Context 2 Overview 2.1 Mother Courage as Epic Theatre 3 Roles 4 Synopsis 5 Performances 6 Brecht's reaction 7 Popular culture 8 English versions 9 See also 10 References 11 External links Context[edit] Mother Courage is one of nine plays that Brecht wrote in resistance to the rise of Fascism and Nazism. In response to the invasion of Poland by the German armies of Adolf Hitler in 1939, Brecht wrote Mother Courage in what writers call a "white heat"—in a little over a month.[4] As leading Brecht scholars Ralph Manheim and John Willett wrote in 1972: Mother Courage, with its theme of the devastating effects of a European war and the blindness of anyone hoping to profit by it, is said to have been written in a month; judging by the almost complete absence of drafts or any other evidence of preliminary studies, it must have been an exceptionally direct piece of inspiration.[5] "Brecht's genius was to mix humor in the great tragedies – not always, but as a contrast." Therese Giehse, 1968.[6] Following Brecht's own principles for political drama, the play is not set in modern times but during the Thirty Years' War of 1618–1648, which involved all the European states. It follows the fortunes of Anna Fierling, nicknamed "Mother Courage," a wily canteen woman with the Swedish Army, who is determined to make her living from the war. Over the course of the play, she loses all three of her children, Swiss Cheese, Eilif, and Kattrin, to the very war from which she tried to profit. Overview[edit] Stamp commemorating the Berliner Ensemble production The name of the central character, Mother Courage, is drawn from the picaresque writings of the 17th-century German writer Grimmelshausen. His central character in the early short novel, The Runagate Courage,[7] also struggles and connives her way through the Thirty Years' War in Germany and Poland. Otherwise the story is mostly Brecht's, in collaboration with Steffin. The action of the play takes place over the course of 12 years (1624 to 1636), represented in 12 scenes. Some give a sense of Courage's career, but do not provide time for viewers to develop sentimental feelings and empathize with any of the characters. Meanwhile, Mother Courage is not depicted as a noble character. The Brechtian epic theatre distinguished itself from the ancient Greek tragedies, in which the heroes are far above the average. Neither does Brecht's ending of his play inspire any desire to imitate the main character, Mother Courage. Mother Courage is among Brecht's most famous plays. Some directors consider it to be the greatest play of the 20th century.[8]Brecht expresses the dreadfulness of war and the idea that virtues are not rewarded in corrupt times. He used an epic structure to force the audience to focus on the issues rather than getting involved with the characters and their emotions. Epic plays are a distinct genre typical of Brecht. Some critics believe that he created the form.[9] Mother Courage as Epic Theatre[edit] Mother Courage is an example of Brecht's concepts of Epic Theatre and Verfremdungseffekt,or "V" effect; preferably "alienation" or "estrangement effect." Verfremdungseffekt is achieved through the use of placards which reveal the events of each scene, juxtaposition, actors changing characters and costume on stage, the use of narration, simple props and scenery. For instance, a single tree would be used to convey a whole forest, and the stage is usually flooded with bright white light, whether it's a winter's night or a summer's day. Several songs, interspersed throughout the play, are used to underscore the themes of the play. They also require the audience to think about what the playwright is saying. Roles[edit] Mother Courage (also known as "Canteen Anna") Kattrin (Catherine), her mute daughter Eilif, her older son Swiss Cheese (also mentioned as Feyos), her younger son Recruiting Officer Sergeant Cook Swedish Commander Chaplain Ordinance Officer Yvette Pottier Man with the Bandage Another Sergeant Old Colonel Clerk Young Soldier Older Soldier Peasant Peasant Woman Young Man Old Woman Another Peasant Another Peasant Woman Young Peasant Lieutenant Voice Synopsis[edit] The play is set in the 17th century in Europe during the Thirty Years' War. The Recruiting Officer and Sergeant are introduced, both complaining about the difficulty of recruiting soldiers to the war. Anna Fierling (Mother Courage) enters pulling a cart containing provisions for sale to soldiers, and introduces her children Eilif, Kattrin, and Swiss Cheese. The sergeant negotiates a deal with Mother Courage while Eilif is conscripted by the Recruiting Officer. Two years thereafter, Mother Courage argues with a Protestant General's cook over a capon, and Eilif is congratulated by the General for killing peasants and slaughtering their cattle. Eilif and his mother sing "The Fishwife and the Soldier". Mother Courage scolds her son for endangering himself. Three years later, Swiss Cheese works as an army paymaster. The camp prostitute, Yvette Pottier, sings "The Fraternization Song". Mother Courage uses this song to warn Kattrin against involving herself with soldiers. Before the Catholic troops arrive, the Cook and Chaplain bring a message from Eilif. Swiss Cheese hides the regiment's paybox from invading soldiers, and Mother Courage & Co. change their insignia from Protestant to Catholic. Swiss Cheese is captured and tortured by the Catholics having hidden the paybox by the river. Mother Courage attempts bribery to free him, planning to pawn the wagon first and redeem it with the regiment money. When Swiss Cheese claims that he has thrown the box in the river, Mother Courage backtracks on the price, and Swiss Cheese is killed. Fearing to be shot as an accomplice, Mother Courage does not acknowledge his body, and it is discarded. Later, Mother Courage waits outside the General's tent to register a complaint and sings the "Song of Great Capitulation" to a young soldier anxious to complain of inadequate pay. The song persuades both to withdraw their complaints. When Catholic General Tilly's funeral approaches, the Chaplain tells Mother Courage that the war will still continue, and she is persuaded to pile up stocks. The Chaplain then suggests to Mother Courage that she marry him, but she rejects his proposal. Mother Courage curses the war because she finds Kattrin disfigured after being raped by a drunken soldier. Thereafter Mother Courage is again following the Protestant army. Two peasants try to sell merchandise to her when they hear news of peace with the death of the Swedish king. The Cook appears and causes an argument between Mother Courage and the Chaplain. Mother Courage is off to the market while Eilif enters, dragged in by soldiers. Eilif is executed for killing a peasant while stealing livestock, trying to repeat the same act for which he was praised as hero in wartime, but Mother Courage never hears thereof. When she finds out the war continues, the Cook and Mother Courage move on with the wagon. In the seventeenth year of the war, there is no food and no supplies. The Cook inherits an inn in Utrecht and suggests to Mother Courage that she operate it with him, but refuses to harbour Kattrin. Thereafter Mother Courage and Kattrin pull the wagon by themselves. When Mother Courage is trading in the Protestant city of Halle, Kattrin is left with a peasant family in the countryside overnight. As Catholic soldiers force the peasants to guide the army to the city for a sneak attack, Kattrin fetches a drum from the cart and beats it, waking the townspeople, but is herself shot. Early in the morning, Mother Courage sings a lullaby to her daughter's corpse, has the peasants bury it, and hitches herself to the cart. Performances[edit] Therese Giehse as Mother Courage by Günter Rittner The play was originally produced at the Schauspielhaus Zürich, produced by Leopold Lindtberg in 1941. Most of the score consisted of original compositions by the Swiss composer Paul Burkhard; the rest had been arranged by him. The musicians were placed in view of the audience so that they could be seen, one of Brecht's many techniques in Epic Theatre. Therese Giehse, (a well-known actress at the time) took the title role. The second production of Mother Courage took place in then East Berlin in 1949, with Brecht's (second) wife Helene Weigel, his main actress and later also director, as Mother Courage. Paul Dessau supplied a new score, composed in close collaboration with Brecht himself. This production would highly influence the formation of Brecht's company, the Berliner Ensemble, which would provide him a venue to direct many of his plays. Brecht died directing Galileo for the Ensemble. Brecht revised the play for this production in reaction to the reviews of the Zürich production, which empathized with the "heart-rending vitality of all maternal creatures." Even so, he wrote that the Berlin audience failed to see Mother Courage's crimes and participation in the war and focused on her suffering instead.[10] The next production (and second production in Germany), was directed by Brecht at the Munich Kammerspiele in 1950, with the original Mother Courage, Therese Giehse, with a set designed by Theo Otto (see photo, above.) In Spanish, it was premiered in 1954 in Buenos Aires with Alejandra Boero and in 1958 in Montevideo with China Zorrilla.[importance?] Elizabeth Cutts played Courage in the English Midlands premiere, directed by Keith Fowler in Stratford-upon-Avon, 1961 In 1955, Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop gave the play its London première, with Littlewood performing the title role. The play remained unperformed in England after the 1955 Littlewood production until 1961 when the Stratford-upon-Avon Amateur Players undertook to introduce the play to the English Midlands. Directed by American Keith Fowler and presented on the floor of the Stratford Hippodrome, the play drew high acclaim.[11] The title role was played by Elizabeth ("Libby") Cutts, with Pat Elliott as Katrin, Digby Day as Swiss Cheese, and James Orr as Eiliff.[11] The play received its American premiere at Cleveland Play House in 1958, starring Harriet Brazier as Mother Courage. The play was directed by Benno Frank and the set was designed by Paul Rodgers.[12] The first Broadway production of Mother Courage opened at the Martin Beck Theatre on March 28, 1963. It was directed by Jerome Robbins, starred Anne Bancroft, and featured Barbara Harris and Gene Wilder. It ran for 52 performances and was nominated for 5 Tonys.[13] During this production Wilder first met Bancroft's then-boyfriend, Mel Brooks.[14] In 1971 Joachim Tenschert directed a staging of Brecht's original Berliner Ensemble production for the Melbourne Theatre Company at the Princess Theatre.[15] Gloria Dawn played Mother Courage; Wendy Hughes, John Wood, Tony Llewellyn-Jones her children; Frank Thring the Chaplain; Frederick Parslow the cook; Jennifer Hagan played Yvette; and Peter Curtin. Angelique Rockas as Yvette (Mother Courage and her children) in 1982 at the Internationalist Theatre. In May 1982 Internationalist Theatre gave the first UK multi-racial and multi-national performance of Mother Courage at London's Theatre Space, a basement theatre in the old Charing Cross hospital. Peter Hepple of The Stage affirms that "director Peter Stevenson has achieved a significant piece of epic theatre with his multi-national cast".[16] Richard Ingham (Where To Go) observed that the cast "is made from experienced actors from all over the world, and perhaps their very cosmopolitanism helps to bring out new textures from a familiar dish."[17] Christopher Hudson of The Standard lauds "the serious, workmanlike performances" of the actors of Internationalist Theatre prepared to allow the play to "speak for itself".[18][19] In 1995/6, Diana Rigg was awarded an Evening Standard Theatre Award for her performance in the title role, directed by Jonathan Kent, at the National Theatre. David Hare provided the translation.[20][21] From August to September 2006, Mother Courage and Her Children was produced by The Public Theater in New York City with a new translation by playwright Tony Kushner. This production included new music by composer Jeanine Tesori and was directed by George C. Wolfe. Meryl Streep played Mother Courage with a supporting cast that included Kevin Kline and Austin Pendleton. This production was free to the public and played to full houses at the Public Theater's Delacorte Theater in Central Park. It ran for four weeks. This same Tony Kushner translation was performed in a new production at London's Royal National Theatre between September and December 2009, with Fiona Shaw in the title role, directed by Deborah Warner and with new songs performed live by Duke Special. In 2013, Wesley Enoch directed a new translation by Paula Nazarski for an all-indigenous Australian cast at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre's Playhouse Theatre.[22] In Sri Lanka, Mother Courage has been translated into Sinhalese and produced several times. In 1972, Henry Jayasena directed it as Diriya Mawa Ha Ege Daruwo and under the same name Anoja Weerasinghe directed it in 2006. In 2014, Ranjith Wijenayake translated into Sinhalese the translation of John Willet as Dhairya Maatha and produced it as a stage drama.[23][24][full citation needed] Brecht's reaction[edit] After the 1941 performances in Switzerland, Brecht believed critics had misunderstood the play. While many sympathized with Courage, Brecht's goal was to show that Mother Courage was wrong for not understanding the circumstances she and her children were in. According to Hans Mayer, Brecht changed the play for the 1949 performances in East Berlin to make Courage less sympathetic to the audience.[25] However, according to Mayer, these alterations did not significantly change the audience's sympathy for Courage.[25] Katie Baker, author of a retrospective article about Mother Courage on its 75th anniversary, notes that "[Brecht's audiences] were missing the point of his Verfremdungseffekt, that breaking of the fourth wall which was supposed to make the masses think, not feel, in order to nudge them in a revolutionary direction." She also quotes Brecht as lamenting: "The (East Berliner) audiences of 1949 did not see Mother Courage's crimes, her participation, her desire to share in the profits of the war business; they saw only her failure, her sufferings."[26] Popular culture[edit] The German feminist newspaper Courage, published from 1976 to 1984, was named after Mother Courage, whom the editors saw as a "self-directed woman ... not a starry-eyed idealist but neither is she satisfied with the status quo".[27] The character of Penelope Pennywise in the Tony Award-winning musical Urinetown has been called "a cartoonish descendant of Brecht's Mother Courage".[28] The rock band My Chemical Romance created the character Mother War for their third album The Black Parade. Mother War's song, "Mama", is influenced by themes from Mother Courage and Her Children, including the effect of war on personal morals. Mother Courage has been compared to the popular musical, Fiddler on the Roof. As Matthew Gurewitsch wrote in The New York Sun, "Deep down, Mother Courage has a lot in common with Tevye the Milkman in Fiddler on the Roof. Like him, she's a mother hen helpless to protect the brood."[29][full citation needed] Mother Courage was the inspiration for Lynn Nottage's Pulitzer winning play Ruined,[30] written after Nottage spent time with Congolese women in Ugandan refugee camps.[31] English versions[edit] 1941 – Hoffman Reynolds Hays (1904–1980), translation for New Directions Publishing 1955 – Eric Bentley, translation for Doubleday/Garden City 1965 – Eric Bentley, translation, and W. H. Auden, songs translation, for the National Theatre, London 1972 – Ralph Manheim, translation for Random House/Pantheon Books 1980 – John Willett, translation for Methuen Publishing 1980 – Ntozake Shange, adaptation for New York Shakespeare Festival New York 1984 – Hanif Kureishi, adaptation, and Sue Davies, songs translation, for the Barbican Centre, London (Samuel French Ltd.) 1995 – David Hare, adaptation for the Royal National Theatre, London (A & C Black, 1996) 2000 – Lee Hall, adaptation, and Jan-Willem van den Bosch, translation, for Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, England (Methuen Drama, 2003) 2006 – Michael Hofmann, adaptation, and John Willett, songs translation, for the English Touring Theatre (A & C Black, 2006) 2006 – Tony Kushner, adaptation for The Public Theater, New York City, published in the form used in the 2009 Royal National Theatre production 2014 – David Hare, adaptation presented by the Arena Stage, Washington DC with Kathleen Turner as Mother Courage and featuring 13 new songs.[32] 2014 – Wesley Enoch, adaptation, Queensland Theatre Company 2015 - Ed Thomas for National Theatre Wales, site specific production with an all-female cast held at the Merthyr Tydfil Labour Club 2015 - Eamon Flack, adaptation, Belvoir St Theatre, Sydney.[33] See also[edit] List of plays with anti-war themes  ****  Bertolt Brecht GERMAN DRAMATIST WRITTEN BY: The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica LAST UPDATED: 2-8-2016 See Article History Alternative Title: Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht Bertolt Brecht GERMAN DRAMATIST ALSO KNOWN AS Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht BORN February 10, 1898 Augsburg, Germany DIED August 14, 1956 East Berlin, Germany NOTABLE WORKS “The Caucasian Chalk Circle” “The Good Woman of Setzuan” “Mother Courage and Her Children” “Mahagonny” “The Threepenny Opera” “A Manual of Piety” “The Life of Galileo” “The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui” “Kleines Organon für das Theater” “Baal” VIEW OTHERS KNOWN FOR: novel criticism dramatic literature poetry directing (movie and theater) producing libretto Marxism RELATED BIOGRAPHIES Franz Werfel Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Gertrude Stein Franz Ferdinand, count von Dingelstedt Volker Braun Sir Noël Coward George Abbott Gerhart Hauptmann Hugo von Hofmannsthal Joshua Logan Bertolt Brecht, original name Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (born February 10, 1898, Augsburg, Germany—died August 14, 1956, East Berlin), German poet, playwright, and theatrical reformer whose epic theatre departed from the conventions of theatrical illusion and developed the drama as a social and ideological forum for leftist causes. Until 1924 Brecht lived in Bavaria, where he was born, studied medicine (Munich, 1917–21), and served in an army hospital (1918). From this period date his first play, Baal (produced 1923); his first success, Trommeln in der Nacht (Kleist Preis, 1922; Drums in the Night); the poems and songs collected as Die Hauspostille (1927; A Manual of Piety, 1966), his first professional production (Edward II, 1924); and his admiration for Wedekind, Rimbaud, Villon, and Kipling. During this period he also developed a violently antibourgeois attitude that reflected his generation’s deep disappointment in the civilization that had come crashing down at the end of World War I. Among Brecht’s friends were members of the Dadaist group, who aimed at destroying what they condemned as the false standards of bourgeois art through derision and iconoclastic satire. The man who taught him the elements of Marxism in the late 1920s was Karl Korsch, an eminent Marxist theoretician who had been a Communist member of the Reichstag but had been expelled from the German Communist Party in 1926. In Berlin (1924–33) he worked briefly for the directors Max Reinhardt and Erwin Piscator, but mainly with his own group of associates. With the composer Kurt Weill he wrote the satirical, successful ballad opera Die Dreigroschenoper (1928; The Threepenny Opera) and the opera Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny (1930; Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny). He also wrote what he called “Lehr-stücke” (“exemplary plays”)—baldly didactic works for performance outside the orthodox theatre—to music by Weill, Hindemith, and Hanns Eisler. In these years he developed his theory of “epic theatre” and an austere form of irregular verse. He also became a Marxist. In 1933 he went into exile—in Scandinavia (1933–41), mainly in Denmark, and then in the United States (1941–47), where he did some film work in Hollywood. In Germany his books were burned and his citizenship was withdrawn. He was cut off from the German theatre; but between 1937 and 1941 he wrote most of his great plays, his major theoretical essays and dialogues, and many of the poems collected as Svendborger Gedichte (1939). Between 1937 and 1939, he wrote, but did not complete, the novel Die Geschäfte des Herrn Julius Caesar (1957; The Business Affairs of Mr. Julius Caesar). It concerns a scholar researching a biography of Caesar several decades after his assassination. BRITANNICA STORIES IN THE NEWS / GEOGRAPHY Colossal Statue of Ramses II (”Ozymandias”) Discovered in Cairo DEMYSTIFIED / SCIENCE Is Climate Change Real? SPOTLIGHT / HISTORY The Legacy of Order 9066 and Japanese American Internment IN THE NEWS / SCIENCE More Evidence of Neanderthal Lifestyles The plays of Brecht’s exile years became famous in the author’s own and other productions: notable among them are Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder (1941; Mother Courage and Her Children), a chronicle play of the Thirty Years’ War; Leben des Galilei (1943; The Life of Galileo); Der gute Mensch von Sezuan (1943; The Good Woman of Setzuan), a parable play set in prewar China; Der Aufhaltsame Aufstieg des Arturo Ui (1957; The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui), a parable play of Hitler’s rise to power set in prewar Chicago; Herr Puntila und sein Knecht Matti (1948; Herr Puntila and His Man Matti), a Volksstück (popular play) about a Finnish farmer who oscillates between churlish sobriety and drunken good humour; and The Caucasian Chalk Circle (first produced in English, 1948; Der kaukasische Kreidekreis, 1949), the story of a struggle for possession of a child between its highborn mother, who deserts it, and the servant girl who looks after it. TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE Titanic: The Movie Brecht left the United States in 1947 after having had to give evidence before the House Un-American Activities Committee. He spent a year in Zürich, working mainly on Antigone-Modell 1948 (adapted from Hölderlin’s translation of Sophocles; produced 1948) and on his most important theoretical work, the Kleines Organon für das Theater (1949; “A Little Organum for the Theatre”). The essence of his theory of drama, as revealed in this work, is the idea that a truly Marxist drama must avoid the Aristotelian premise that the audience should be made to believe that what they are witnessing is happening here and now. For he saw that if the audience really felt that the emotions of heroes of the past—Oedipus, or Lear, or Hamlet—could equally have been their own reactions, then the Marxist idea that human nature is not constant but a result of changing historical conditions would automatically be invalidated. Brecht therefore argued that the theatre should not seek to make its audience believe in the presence of the characters on the stage—should not make it identify with them, but should rather follow the method of the epic poet’s art, which is to make the audience realize that what it sees on the stage is merely an account of past events that it should watch with critical detachment. Hence, the “epic” (narrative, nondramatic) theatre is based on detachment, on the Verfremdungseffekt (alienation effect), achieved through a number of devices that remind the spectator that he is being presented with a demonstration of human behaviour in scientific spirit rather than with an illusion of reality, in short, that the theatre is only a theatre and not the world itself. BRITANNICA LISTS & QUIZZES MUSIC QUIZ Fundamentals of Music Theory Part 2 ARTS & CULTURE LIST 10 Angry Young Men SCIENCE QUIZ Groundwater Quiz HISTORY LIST Before the E-Reader: 7 Ways Our Ancestors Took Their Reading on the Go In 1949 Brecht went to Berlin to help stage Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder (with his wife, Helene Weigel, in the title part) at Reinhardt’s old Deutsches Theater in the Soviet sector. This led to formation of the Brechts’ own company, the Berliner Ensemble, and to permanent return to Berlin. Henceforward the Ensemble and the staging of his own plays had first claim on Brecht’s time. Often suspect in eastern Europe because of his unorthodox aesthetic theories and denigrated or boycotted in the West for his Communist opinions, he yet had a great triumph at the Paris Théâtre des Nations in 1955, and in the same year in Moscow he received a Stalin Peace Prize. He died of a heart attack in East Berlin the following year. Brecht was, first, a superior poet, with a command of many styles and moods. As a playwright he was an intensive worker, a restless piecer-together of ideas not always his own (The Threepenny Opera is based on John Gay’s Beggar’s Opera, and Edward II on Marlowe), a sardonic humorist, and a man of rare musical and visual awareness; but he was often bad at creating living characters or at giving his plays tension and shape. As a producer he liked lightness, clarity, and firmly knotted narrative sequence; a perfectionist, he forced the German theatre, against its nature, to underplay. As a theoretician he made principles out of his preferences—and even out of his faults. ***** Ida Kamińska (September 18, 1899 – May 21, 1980) was a Polish-Jewish actress and director. Known mainly for her work in the theatre, she was the daughter of Ester Rachel Kaminska, who was known as the Mother of the Jewish Stage. The Jewish Theatre in Warsaw, Poland is named in their honor. In her long career Ida produced more than 70 plays, and performed in more than 150 productions. She also wrote two plays of her own and translated many works in Yiddish. World War II disrupted her career, and she later immigrated to the United States, and continued to act. In 1967, she directed herself in the lead role of Mother Courage and Her Children on Broadway.[1]In 1973, she released her autobiography, titled My Life, My Theater.[2] She starred in the 1965 film The Shop on Main Street, which won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film. For her performance, she received special mention at the Cannes Film Festival, as well as nominations for the Golden Globe Award and the Academy Award for Best Actress. Contents  [hide]  1 Early life and career 2 Postwar career 3 Death and legacy 4 References 5 External links Early life and career[edit] She was born in Odessa, Russian Empire (now Ukraine), the daughter of Yiddish stage actress Ester Rachel Kamińska (1870–1925) and actor, director and stage producer Abraham Izaak Kaminska (1867–1918). Her sister was Regina Kaminska, who was also an actress. Her brother was Joseph Kaminska, a composer.[3]Her mother was described as the "Jewish Eleanor Duse".[4] The grave of Ester Rachel Kaminska, her mother. Ida Kamińska began her stage career at the age of six.[3] One of her earliest roles was in Jakob Gordin's play Mirele Efros, as the grandson of the title character, who was played by her mother.[5][6] She was acting in both tragedies and comedies, as well as directing plays in her father's troupe by the time she was 18.[7] In 1918 she married the Yiddish actor and director Zygmunt Turkow (1896-1970), who was a member of her parents' troupe. She and Turkow had a daughter, Ruth Kamińska-Turkow, who was born in 1919.[7] Following a three-year tour of the Kamiński theater in the Soviet Union, the young couple settled in Warsaw, and together established the Warsaw Jewish Art Theater, in 1922, with Ida Kamińska as the principal actress. They divorced in 1932, and in the same year Ida organized her own company in Warsaw, the Drama Theater of Ida Kamińska, which she continued to direct until 1939.[7] In July 1936 Kamińska married the Yiddish actor Marian (Meir) Melman (1900-1978). In October 1939, in the early part of the Second World War, Kamińska and family members, including her husband, Melman, and daughter, Ruth, fled to Lwów (Lviv, Ukraine), which was under Soviet occupation. There she was able to direct a Yiddish theater funded by the Soviet authorities.[5] She and her family took shelter with friends there, and were under caution[clarification needed] due to their performances being deemed as anti-Hitler.[citation needed] Kamińska and her family subsequently migrated to various localities in the Soviet Union. Her and Melman's son, Victor, was born in Frunze (Bishkek), in Soviet Central Asia, in fall 1941.[3] In 1944 they arrived in Moscow,[3] where Kamińska again acted in Yiddish productions.[7] Postwar career[edit] After the war, Kamińska and her family returned to Warsaw. The Polish Jewish population had been decimated by the events of the Holocaust. Nevertheless, Kamińska and Melman made the decision to try to reestablish the Jewish theater. A Yiddish theater reopened in Warsaw in November 1946.[7] In 1949 the Polish government granted a subsidy for the establishment of the Jewish State Theater of Poland, with Kamińska serving as its artistic director.[7] In its early period the theater toured between the cities of Łódź (1949-1953) and Wrocław (1953-1955). In 1955 it was established permanently in Warsaw, as the State Jewish Theater, which was later named after Ida and her mother Ester (the Ester Rachel Kamińska and Ida Kamińska State Jewish Theater). Ida Kamińska continued to direct the theater until 1968. Memorial Plaque in Warsaw, honoring where Kaminska worked. In 1957, she went on tour to Israel for the first time, where she performed for Prime Minister Golda Meir.[3] In 1965, she starred in the Czechoslovak movie The Shop on Main Street (Obchod na korze, directed by Ján Kadár and Elmar Klos), for which she received a 1967 nomination for Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role.[3] In protest against government antisemitic campaign during March 1968 events she left Poland forever in July 1968, first to Israel, and ended up living in New York. Her last role was The Angel Levine (1970), directed by Ján Kadár.[3][8] Death and legacy[edit] Ida Kaminska died of cardiovascular disease in 1980, aged 80. Her husband, Meir Melman, had died in 1978.[9] She was interred in the Yiddish theater section of the Mount Hebron Cemetery in Flushing, New York. Also buried in Mount Hebron is Yiddish-American theatre operator Molly Picon.[10][11] In 2014, the Jewish Theatre in Warsaw held a special exhibition in her honor. The exhibit featured costumes worn by Kaminska, as well as photographs and memorabilia from her esteemed career.[12] *** The Ester Rachel Kamińska and Ida Kamińska State Jewish Theater (in Polish Teatr Żydowski im. Estery Racheli i Idy Kamińskich) is a state theatrical institution in Warsaw, the capital city of Poland. It was named after the Polish-Jewish actress Ester Rachel Kamińska, who was called the "mother of Yiddish theater,"[1] and her daughter, the Academy Award-nominated actress Ida Kaminska.[2] Ida Kamińska directed the theater and acted in its productions from the time of its founding until 1968.[3] The State Jewish Theater was formed in 1950 from two theater troupes which performed in Wrocław and Łódź in 1945-50. The theater worked in both cities over the next few years and gave guest performances across Poland. In 1955 it moved to Warsaw permanently. Since 1970 it has performed in its own building on Plac Grzybowski (Grzybowski Square).[3] Since its inception, the theater has sought to continue the rich traditions of prewar Jewish theatrical stages in Poland. Plays at the theater are shown in Polish and Yiddish (headphones with Polish translation are available). The theater cultivates the creativity of great Jewish drama. Its repertoire features the best works by Abraham Goldfaden, Mendele-Moykher Sforim, Sholom Aleichem, Isaac Leib Peretz and Jacob Gordin. The president of the theatre was, in the years 1970 to 2014, an actor Szymon Szurmiej. *****  Wystawa pamięci Idy Kamińskiej w Teatrze Żydowskim w Warszawie PAP 18 września 2014 | 16:50 Fotografie poświęcone najważniejszym kreacjom aktorskim i oryginalne kostiumy sceniczne Idy Kamińskiej znalazły się na wystawie zorganizowanej z okazji 115. rocznicy urodzin patronki Teatru Żydowskiego. Ekspozycję można oglądać od czwartku w foyer teatru. Artykuł otwarty w ramach bezpłatnego limitu prenumeraty cyfrowej Jak powiedziała PAP wicedyrektor Teatru Żydowskiego Gołda Tencer, wystawa ma przypomnieć o ogromnym wkładzie, jaki Ida Kamińska wniosła w rozwój Teatru Żydowskiego. "To dzięki naszej patronce z połączenia teatrów żydowskich z Łodzi i Wrocławia powstał Teatr Żydowski w Warszawie. Jej zawdzięczamy także dobór odpowiedniego repertuaru oraz tłumaczenia wielu sztuk teatralnych. Pamiętajmy o tych, którzy odeszli i przypominajmy o ich zasługach" - zaapelowała Tencer.  Ekspozycja składa się z kilkunastu zdjęć pochodzących z zasobów Archiwum Teatru Żydowskiego, które przedstawiają Idę Kamińską w jej najsłynniejszych rolach. Podziwiać można również oryginalne kostiumy sceniczne aktorki ze spektakli "Mirełe Efros" Jakuba Gordina oraz "Meir Ezofowicz" Elizy Orzeszkowej. Wystawę dopełnia film dokumentalny "Jej teatr" w reżyserii Władysława Forberta z 1967 roku.  W foyer Teatru Żydowskiego ustawiono także symboliczny stół urodzinowy jubilatki wraz z fotografiami przedstawiającymi jej gości, wśród nich jest m.in. mąż Idy Marian Melman, aktorka Helena Wilda, reżyser i aktor Michał Szwejlich, aktor Herman Lercher. Autorką scenografii jest Ewa Łaniewska.  "Ida Kamińska była wybitną aktorką. Pochodziła zresztą z wielkiego rodu aktorów i reżyserów, w którym tradycje artystyczne były obecne od lat. Stworzyła takie kreacje jak choćby Mirełe Efros w sztuce pod tym samym tytułem czy Frejdę w +Meir Ezofowicz+. Miałam przyjemność poznać ją osobiście już po jej wyjeździe z Polski. Nasze spotkanie odbyło się w Łodzi podczas jubileuszu, na którym Ida gościła. Pamiętam, że wręczałam jej wówczas kwiaty" - wspomina Gołda Tencer.  Ida Kamińska (1899-1980) - aktorka, reżyserka, pedagog, tłumaczka sztuk teatralnych. Córka założycielki Teatru Żydowskiego Estery Rachel Kamińskiej i aktora Abrahama Kamińskiego. W latach 1955-1968 dyrektor Państwowego Teatru Żydowskiego w Warszawie. Wystąpiła w wielu sztukach, m.in. "Mirełe Efros" Gordina, "Drzewa umierają stojąc" Casony, "Matka Courage i jej dzieci" Brechta. W 1967 roku otrzymała nominację do Oscara w kategorii najlepszej roli kobiecej za rolę sklepikarki w filmie pt. "Sklep przy głównej ulicy". W 1968 roku wyemigrowała do USA, gdzie mieszkała do śmierci.  Teatr Żydowski im. Estery Rachel i Idy Kamińskich - jedyny Teatr Żydowski w Polsce i jeden z dwóch teatrów wystawiających sztuki w języku jidysz w Europie. Powstał w 1950 roku z połączenia zespołu Dolnośląskiego Teatru Żydowskiego we Wrocławiu i Teatru Żydowskiego w Łodzi. Teatr przeniesiono do Warszawy w 1955 roku z inicjatywy Idy Kamińskiej. Od 1970 roku siedziba Teatru mieści się przy Pl. Grzybowskim.  Wystawę będzie można oglądać do 15 października.   Ida Kamińska[edytuj] Ida Kamińska אידה קאַמינסקאַ Data i miejsce urodzenia 4 września 1899 Odessa Data i miejsce śmierci 21 maja 1980 Nowy Jork Zawód aktorka, reżyser teatralna Odznaczenia      Ida Kamińska, jid. אידה קאַמינסקאַ (ur. 4 września 1899 w Odessie, zm. 21 maja 1980 w Nowym Jorku) – polska aktorka teatralna i filmowa oraz reżyser żydowskiego pochodzenia, jedna z największych aktorek w historii żydowskiej sceny teatralnej. W latach 1949–1953 dyrektor Teatru Żydowskiego w Łodzi, w latach 1953–1955 Dolnośląskiego Teatru Żydowskiego we Wrocławiu i następnie w latach 1955–1968 Teatru Żydowskiego w Warszawie. Była pierwszą aktorką z krajów socjalistycznych nominowaną do Oscara. Nominację za najlepszą rolę kobiecą otrzymała w 1967 za rolę sklepikarki w czechosłowackim filmie Sklep przy głównej ulicy (cz. Obchod na korze) w reżyserii Jána Kadára i Elmara Klosa. Spis treści  [ukryj]  1 Życiorys 1.1 Lata 1899–1939 1.2 II wojna światowa 1.3 Lata 1947–1968 1.4 Emigracja 2 Upamiętnienie 3 Działalność artystyczna 3.1 Filmografia 3.2 Reżyser 4 Odznaczenia 5 Przypisy 6 Linki zewnętrzne 7 Bibliografia Ida Kamińska była córką aktorki Ester Rachel Kamińskiej (1870–1925), zwanej matką teatru żydowskiego oraz aktora i reżysera Abrahama Izaaka Kamińskiego (1867–1918), a także siostrą aktorki Reginy Kamińskiej (1894–1913) i kompozytora Józefa Kamińskiego (1903–1972). Urodziła się w hotelu Teatralnaja Gostinica w Odessie, gdzie wówczas gościnnie występowali jej rodzice. W 1904 po raz pierwszy stanęła na deskach teatru Jardin d'Hiver w Warszawie, odtwarzając rolę Sionki w sztuce pt. Matka Dawida Pińskiego. W 1916 ukończyła gimnazjum i po raz pierwszy zadebiutowała na scenie Teatru Żydowskiego w Warszawie[1], który założyli jej rodzice w 1913 w rotundzie na Dynasach przy ulicy Oboźnej 1–3. Przez dwa lata grała głównie w przedstawieniach operetkowych. Po śmierci ojca w 1918 wyjechała z matką na występy na Ukrainę, skąd powróciła w 1921. Od tego czasu grała w Teatrze Centralnym na Lesznie kierowanym przez Ester Rachel Kamińską oraz gościnnie w Trupie Wileńskiej. W latach 1924–1928 prowadziła wraz ze swoim pierwszym mężem Zygmuntem Turkowem Warszawski Żydowski Teatr Artystyczny (jid. Warszawe Idiszer Kunstteater). Od 1926 wystawiał on swoje sztuki w gruntownie odnowionym Teatrze Żydowskim im. Abrahama Izaaka Kamińskiego przy ulicy Oboźnej 1–3. W latach 1931–1932 przebywała na występach w Belgii i Francji. Od 1933 Kamińska kierowała własnym zespołem teatralnym, który od 1937 miał siedzibę w Teatrze Nowości przy ulicy Bielańskiej. W 1937 świętowała w Wilnie 20 lat pracy aktorskiej. Po wybuchu II wojny światowej, 6 września 1939 jej mieszkanie i teatr zostały zbombardowane, a sama przez trzy tygodnie przebywała w schronie wraz z rodziną i grupką przyjaciół, m.in. Adolfem Rosnerem. Nie zostało jej nic poza dwoma futrami i pierścionkiem. W drugim tygodniu, w schronie Rosner oświadczył się córce Idy Kamińskiej – Ruth. Matka dała córce w posagu swój pierścionek i dwie puszki sardynek znalezione w ruinach. Po wyjściu z bunkra przez pewien czas wraz z rodziną mieszkała u znajomych. Pewnego wieczoru zjawiła się dziennikarka pani Słapak z ostrzeżeniem, aby wyjechali natychmiast, gdyż Ida Kamińska jest na liście reżyserów sztuk antyhitlerowskich i jest przeznaczona do likwidacji. Kamińska wkrótce z falą mieszkańców opuściła Warszawę i dotarła do Lwowa, gdzie władze komunistyczne powierzyły jej kierowanie Państwowym Teatrem Żydowskim. Po agresji III Rzeszy na Związek Radziecki, w czerwcu 1941 wyjechała do Równego, a następnie przez Charków i Baku do Frunze, stolicy Kirgistanu. Tam zorganizowała zespół i przez dwa lata wystawiała sztuki w miejscowej filharmonii oraz innych miastach republik radzieckich. Wówczas urodziła syna Wiktora, którego ojcem był Marian Melman, drugi mąż Idy. W latach 1944–1946 Kamińska pracowała w moskiewskim radiu w audycjach polskich i obcojęzycznych. Kamienica w Alejach Jerozolimskich 101 w Warszawie, gdzie w latach 1960-1968 mieszkała aktorka Ida Kamińska W 1947 Ida z Marianem Melmanem i synem wróciła do Polski i zamieszkała w wyzwolonej Warszawie. Przez wiele lat starała się o powrót do kraju córki, która przebywała na zesłaniu w ZSRR (ostatecznie wróciła w 1956). W 1948 władze komunistyczne zaproponowały jej zorganizowanie państwowego teatru żydowskiego w Łodzi, którego w latach 1949–1953 była dyrektorem. Następnie w latach 1953–1955 była dyrektorem Dolnośląskiego Teatru Żydowskiego we Wrocławiu, a od 1955 dyrektorem naczelnym i artystycznym Teatru Żydowskiego im. Ester Rachel Kamińskiej w Warszawie. W latach 1956–1960, po kolejnych falach emigracji Żydów z Polski, publiczność Idy Kamińskiej malała, dlatego aktorka wyjeżdżała coraz częściej na tournée po Europie, do obu Ameryk, Izraela i Australii. W 1966 wyjechała wraz z zespołem do Stanów Zjednoczonych na tournée, gdzie odniosła wielki sukces. W 1967 nakręcono o niej film dokumentalny pt. Jej teatr. Po wydarzeniach marca 1968, na znak protestu przeciwko oficjalnej propagandzie antysemickiej, dobrowolnie udała się do wydziału kultury urzędu miejskiego i podała się do dymisji. 21 sierpnia, kiedy jechała na Dworzec Gdański okazało się, że pociągi do Wiednia zostały wstrzymane, ze względu na napaść wojsk Układu Warszawskiego na Czechosłowację. Po kilku dniach wyjechała z rodziną do Wiednia, skąd następnie udała się do Tel Awiwu, gdzie wystawiła kilka przedstawień. Przed końcem 1968 dotarła do Stanów Zjednoczonych i zamieszkała w Nowym Jorku, gdzie usiłowała założyć Yiddish Theater, ale wysiłki te nie zostały zakończone powodzeniem. Zagrała również główną rolę u boku Harry'ego Belafonte w filmie The Angel Levin i role w dwóch filmach telewizyjnych, które nie przyniosły oczekiwanego sukcesu. W 1975 Ida Kamińska odwiedziła Warszawę z okazji 50. rocznicy śmierci jej matki. Władze obawiały się tej wizyty i dyskusję o wydaniu Kamińskiej wizy trafiały nawet do Biura Politycznego KC PZPR. Odmowa wywołałaby jednak skandal międzynarodowy, więc pozwolono na jej przyjazd. Odwiedziła wówczas m.in. Teatr Żydowski. W tym samym roku Kamińska emigrowała do Izraela, skąd w 1977 wróciła do Nowego Jorku, aby świętować sześćdziesięciolecie swojej działalności teatralnej. Ida Kamińska zmarła na atak serca w Nowym Jorku, gdzie została pochowana na Mount Hebron Cemetery[2]. Jest autorką autobiografii Moje życie, mój teatr, wydanej w 1973 w Nowym Jorku. Polskie wydanie ukazało się w 1995 w Warszawie. Jest także autorką Nie brakuje mi niczego prócz pracy. Tablica upamiętniająca Idę Kamińską na budynku przy Alejach Jerozolimskich 101 w Warszawie W 1993 na ścianie budynku przy Alejach Jerozolimskich 101 w Warszawie, w którym mieszkała Kamińska odsłonięto tablicę pamiątkową. Podobne tablice znajdują się na ścianach na budynku Teatru Kameralnego (dawniej Dolnośląskiego Teatru Żydowskiego) przy ulicy Świdnickiej we Wrocławiu (z 2005) oraz Teatru Nowego w Łodzi (z 2004). Od 2005 jej imię nosi również Teatr Żydowski w Warszawie. Ida Kamińska w swoim życiu zagrała 124 role, wyreżyserowała 65 przedstawień, przetłumaczyła na język jidysz 58 sztuk, dokonała kilku adaptacji dramaturgicznych, napisała dwa dramaty: w 1932 Ongiś był król i w 1964 Zasypać bunkry. 1970: Mój anioł stróż 1967: Czarna suknia 1965: Sklep przy głównej ulicy 1948: Ulica Graniczna 1939: Bezdomni 1924: Ślubowanie 1916: Małżeństwo na rozdrożu 1914: Macocha 1913: Kara Boża 1913: Bigamistka 1912: Mirełe Efros Teatr Żydowski w Warszawie 1968: Dziesięciu nas było braci 1966: Mister David 1966: Sure Szejndł 1965: Meir Ezofowicz 1964: Zasypać bunkry! 1964: Akt ślubny 1963: Bezdomni 1963: Rachunek 1963: Serkełe 1962: Eksperyment 1961: Samotny statek 1960: Meir Ezofowicz 1960: Strach i nędza III Rzeszy 1959: Mejłech Frejłech 1958: Drzewa umierają stojąc 1958: Glikl Hameln 1958: Kune-Lemł 1956: Człowiek, któremu się powodzi 1955: Mirełe Efros Tablica poświęcona Idzie Kamińskiej w Teatrze Nowym w Łodzi Teatr Żydowski w Łodzi 1954: Juliusz i Ethel 1954: Pajęczyna 1953: Meir Ezofowicz 1953: Dom w getcie 1952: Tragedia optymistyczna 1952: Glik Hameln żąda ... 1952: Pan Jowialski 1951: Dr A.Leśna 1951: Rodzina 1950: Ludzie. Jaknehuz. Ojlem habo 1949: W noc zimową 1948: Bez winy winni 1948: Glikl Hameln żąda ... 1948: Strzały na ulicy Długiej 1948: Pani adwokat Dolnośląski Teatr Żydowski we Wrocławiu 1955: Profesor Mamlock 1955: Matka Rywa 1954: Dziewczęta w zasłonach 1954: Juliusz i Ethel 1954: Pajęczyna 1953: Meir Ezofowicz 1950: Rodzina 1950: Jakenhuz. Ojeem habo. Ludzie 1947: Dziś nocą 1947: Dwaj Kune-Lemł Krzyż Oficerski Orderu Odrodzenia Polski (1951)[3] Order Sztandaru Pracy I klasy (1959) Order Sztandaru Pracy II klasy (1949)[4] Medal 10-lecia Polski Ludowej (1955) Odznaka 1000-lecia Państwa Polskiego (1967)Ida Kaminska POLISH ACTRESS WRITTEN BY: The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica LAST UPDATED: 7-20-1998 See Article History Ida Kaminska POLISH ACTRESS BORN September 4, 1899 Odessa, Ukraine DIED May 21, 1980 New York City, New York VIEW OTHERS KNOWN FOR: acting directing (movie and theater) RELATED BIOGRAPHIES John Houseman Sidney Poitier Dame Gladys Cooper Louis Jouvet Marlon Brando Romolo Valli André Antoine Orson Welles Gino Cervi Woody Allen Ida Kaminska, (born Sept. 4, 1899, Odessa, Ukraine, Russian Empire [now in Ukraine]—died May 21, 1980, New York, N.Y., U.S.), Polish-born Yiddish performer and theatre manager who achieved international stature. The daughter of the well-known Yiddish actors Abraham Isaac and Ester Rachel Kaminski, she appeared for the first time onstage at age five. Her true debut was in Warsaw (1916) with the theatre company named for her father. She played many leads in Warsaw (1916–19), toured Russia for three years (1919–21), and returned to Warsaw to found her own Ida Kaminska Theatre, where she starred in productions that she adapted and directed. She spent the years during World War IIacting in the Soviet Union and then returned to her homeland to found the Jewish State Theatre of Poland (1945), which received official recognition and financial aid from the state until she abandoned Poland for the United States in 1968. Her best-known stage performance was the title role in Mirele Efros by Jacob Gordin in a version she adapted and directed. She portrayed this role at home and on tour in western Europe and the United States with her Jewish State Theatre (1967) and revived the character once again when she was in the United States as a private citizen (1969). Other particularly notable roles included Nora in Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, Laurenzia in Lope de Vega’s Fuente Ovejuna, and the title role in Bertolt Brecht’s Mother Courage and Her Children. She also had great success in her own stage adaptation of The Brothers Karamazov. Kaminska’s film credits, while not extensive, are noteworthy. She made Polish films infrequently, starting in 1913, and her A Vilna Legend (silent, 1924) and Without a Home (1939) were especially well received. The height of her film career was her appearance in the Czech film The Shop on Main Street (1965), for which she was nominated for an Academy Award in the United States. In 1973 Kaminska published her autobiography in English, My Life, My Theatre. Disappointed in her attempts to establish a Yiddish repertory theatre in the United States, she went to Israel. ****  Paul Dessau (19 December 1894 – 28 June 1979) was a German composer and conductor. Contents  [hide]  1 Biography 2 Works 2.1 Operas 2.2 Incidental music 2.3 Film music 2.4 Works for choir 2.5 Songs 2.6 Other compositions 3 Awards 4 Sources 5 External links Biography[edit] Dessau was born in Hamburg into a musical family. His grandfather, Moses Berend Dessau, was a cantor in the Hamburg synagogue (Hennenberg 2001); his uncle, Professor Bernhard Dessau, was Konzertmeister (English: leader, lead violinist, or concertmaster) at the Royal Opera House, Unter den Linden[citation needed]; his cousin, Max Winterfeld, became generally known under the name Jean Gilbert as a composer of operettas (Hennenberg 2001); and his second cousin, Robert Gerson Muller-Hartmann, was a composer and collaborator with Ralph Vaughan Williams.[citation needed] From 1909 he majored in violin, studying under Florian Zajic at the Klindworth-Scharwenka Conservatory in Berlin. In 1912 he became répétiteur at the City Theatre (Stadttheater) in Hamburg. There he studied the work of the conductors Felix Weingartner and Arthur Nikisch and took classes in composition from Max Julius Loewengard. He was second Kapellmeister at the Tivoli Theatre in Bremen in 1914 before being drafted for military service in 1915 (Hennenberg 2001). After World War I he became conductor at the Intimate Theatre (Kammerspiele), Hamburg, and was répétiteur and later Kapellmeister at the opera house in Cologne under Otto Klemperer between 1919 and 1923. In 1923 he became Kapellmeister in Mainz and from 1925 Principal Kapellmeister at the Städtische Oper Berlin under Bruno Walter (Hennenberg 2001). In 1933 Dessau emigrated to France, and 1939 moved further to the United States, where initially he lived in New York before moving to Hollywood in 1943 (Hennenberg 2001). Dessau returned to Germany with his second wife, the writer Elisabeth Hauptmann, and settled in East Berlin in 1948.[citation needed] Dessau's grave in Berlin Starting in 1952, he taught at the Public Drama School (Staatliche Schauspielschule) in Berlin-Oberschöneweide where he was appointed to a professorship in 1959. He became a member of the DDR Academy of Arts, Berlin in 1952 and was vice-president of this institution between 1957 and 1962. He taught many master classes, his pupils including Friedrich Goldmann, Reiner Bredemeyer, Jörg Herchet, Hans-Karsten Raecke, Friedrich Schenker, Luca Lombardi and Karl Ottomar Treibmann.[citation needed] From 1954 he was married to the choreographer and director Ruth Berghaus. Their son Maxim Dessau (b. 1954) is a film director. Dessau died on 28 June 1979 at the age of 84, in the then East German city of Königs Wusterhausen, on the outskirts of Berlin. Works[edit] Dessau composed operas, scenic plays, incidental music, ballets, symphonies and other works for orchestra, and pieces for solo instruments as well as vocal music. From the 1920s on, he was fascinated by film music. He composed music for early movies of Walt Disney, as well as background music for silent pictures and early German films. While in exile in Paris he wrote the oratorio Hagadah shel Pessach after a libretto by Max Brod. In the 1950s in collaboration with Bertolt Brecht he focused on the musical theatre. During that time several of his operas were produced. He also wrote Gebrauchsmusik (utility music) for the propaganda of the German Democratic Republic. At the same time he lobbied for the musical avant-garde (e.g. Witold Lutosławski, Alfred Schnittke, Boris Blacher, Hans Werner Henze and Luigi Nono). Operas[edit] Die Reisen des Glücksgotts (fragment), 1945 (after Bertolt Brecht) Die Verurteilung des Lukullus [Das Verhör des Lukullus], 1949–1951 (after Bertolt Brecht), world premiere on March 17, 1951 at the Staatsoper Puntila, 1956–1959 (Peter Palitzsch and Manfred Wekwerth after Brecht play), world premiere on November 15, 1966 at the Staatsoper Die heilige Johanna der Schlachthöfe [fragment], 1961 (after Bertolt Brecht) Lanzelot, 1967-9 (text: Heiner Müller and Ginka Tsholakova), world premiere on 19 December 1969 at the Staatsoper Einstein, 1969–1972, (text: Karl Mickel), world premiere on February 16, 1974 at the Staatsoper Leonce und Lena, 1976–1979 (Thomas Körner after Georg Büchner), world premiere on November 24, 1979 Incidental music[edit] 99%- eine deutsche Heerschau" (Furcht und Elend des Dritten Reiches) 1938 Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder: Chronik aus dem Dreißigjährigen Krieg 1946–1949 Der gute Mensch von Sezuan 1947–1948 Die Ausnahme und die Regel 1948 Herr Puntila und sein Knecht Matti, Volksstück (folk play) 1949 Wie dem deutschen Michel geholfen wird. Clownspiel (clown play) 1949 Der Hofmeister 1950 Herrnburger Bericht for youth choir, soloists and orchestra 1951 Mann ist Mann 1951–1956 Urfaust 1952–1953 Don Juan 1953 Der kaukasische Kreidekreis 1953–1954 Coriolan 1964 Film music[edit] Alice the Fire Fighter (Alice und ihre Feuerwehr) (21.8.1928), Alice's Monkey Business (Alice und die Flöhe) (25.9.1928), Alice in the Wooly West (Alice und die Wildwest-Banditen) (18.10.1928) and Alice Helps the Romance (Alice und der Selbstmörder) (31.1.1929) by Walt Disney L'Horloge Magique. 2. La Forêt enchanté (Der verzauberte Wald) (7.9.1928) and L'Horloge Magique. 1. L'Horloge Magique (Die Wunderuhr) (12.11.1928) by Ladislas Starewitch Doktor Doolittle und seine Tiere (15.12.1928) by Lotte Reiniger with arrangements of music by Kurt Weill, Paul Hindemith and a private composition Musical director in musical and operetta films together with Richard Tauber (among others Das Land des Lächelns, Melodie der Liebe). with melodies by Franz Lehár and Bronislaw Kaper 400 cm^3 documentary Stürme über dem Montblanc, Der weiße Rausch and S.O.S. Eisberg by Arnold Fanck White Cargo (by Robert Siodmak), Yoshiwara (by Max Ophüls), The Novel of Werther (by Max Ophüls) See also the extensive filmography in the IMD Movie Database, at /name/nm0006036/ Works for choir[edit] Deutsches Miserere for mixed choir, children's choir, soprano, alto, tenor and bass soloists, large orchestra, organ and trautonium 1943–1944 Internationale Kriegsfibel for soloists, mixed choir and instruments 1944–45 Die Erziehung der Hirse, musical epic for one narrator, one solo voice, mixed choir, youth choir and large orchestra 1952–1954 Vier Grabschriften. Grabschrift für Gorki for one or several male voices and brass (1947) Grabschrift für Rosa Luxemburg for mixed choir and orchestra Grabschrift für Liebknecht Grabschrift für Lenin 5 Songs for three female voices and cappella: "Die Thälmannkolonne" "Mein Bruder war ein Flieger" "Vom Kind, das sich nicht waschen wollte" "Sieben Rosen hat der Strauch" "Lied von der Bleibe" "Appell der Arbeiterklasse" for alto and tenor solo, narrator, children's and mixed choir and large orchestra, 1960–1961 Songs[edit] "Kampflied der schwarzen Strohhüte" 1936 "Die Thälmann-Kolonne" 1936 "Lied einer deutschen Mutter" 1943 "Das deutsche Miserere" 1943 "Horst-Dussel-Lied" 1943 "Wiegenlied für Gesang und Gitarre" 1947 "Aufbaulied der FDJ" 1948 "Zukunftslied" 1949 "Friedenslied" for one solo voice with one accompanying voice (text: Bertolt Brecht after Pablo Neruda) 1951 "Der Augsburger Kreidekreis" A dramatic ballad for music 1952 "Jakobs Söhne ziehen aus, im Ägyptenland Lebensmittel zu holen" for children's choir, soloists and instruments 1953 "Der anachronistische Zug" ballad for song, piano and percussion 1956 "Kleines Lied" for song and piano 1965 "Historie vom verliebten Schwein Malchus" for solo voice 1973 "Spruch für Gesang und Klavier" 1973 "Bei den Hochgestellten" 1975 Other compositions[edit] In memoriam Bertolt Brecht for large orchestra 1956–1957 Bach-Variationen for large orchestra 1963 Symphonic Mozart-Adaptation (after the Quintet, K.614) 1965 Lenin, music for orchestra no. 3 with concluding chorus "Grabschrift für Lenin" 1969 Für Helli, small piece for piano 1971 Bagatelles for viola and piano (1975) Sonatine for viola and piano (1929) two symphonies seven string quartets and others Awards[edit] Award of the music publisher Schott 1925 National Prize III. Category 1953 National Prize II. Category 1956 National Prize I. Category 1965 Vaterländischer Verdienstorden (Decoration of Honour for Services to the GDR) in Gold 1965 Karl-Marx-Orden (Karl-Marx-Decoration) 1969 National Prize I. Category 1974      ebay3890

  • Condition: Used
  • Condition: Very good used condition . ( Pls look at scan for accurate AS IS images )
  • Modified Item: No
  • Country/Region of Manufacture: Poland
  • Religion: Judaism

PicClick Insights - 1957 Warsaw YIDDISH Polish BRECHT THEATRE PROGRAM Kaminska MOTHER COURAGE Jewish PicClick Exclusive

  •  Popularity - 0 watchers, 0.0 new watchers per day, 59 days for sale on eBay. 0 sold, 1 available.
  •  Best Price -
  •  Seller - 2,805+ items sold. 0% negative feedback. Great seller with very good positive feedback and over 50 ratings.

People Also Loved PicClick Exclusive