In his literary works, Bertolt Brecht criticized social injustice, denounced National Socialism and kindled hope for a more humane, socialist society. Seventy years after his death, remembering Brecht also means revisiting his insistence that art should question existing power relations and imagine a different society.
“Food is the first thing, morals follow on.” [1]
14 August 2026 marks the 70th anniversary of the death of Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956), the most important German-language playwright and director. This year has seen a number of new Brecht productions, following decades of relative quiet around his profoundly political theatre.
Brecht made his breakthrough in Berlin, where he studied Marxist theory and developed epic (dialectical) theatre, with his most frequently performed play, The Threepenny Opera (1928). Rather than presenting the tragic individual fates characteristic of bourgeois illusionistic theatre, epic theatre uses the alienation effect – including songs, commentary and visual signs – to portray social conflicts such as war, revolution, economics and social injustice, calling on audiences as co-producers to participate in transforming society.
Brecht escaped Nazi Germany in 1933, travelling via Prague, Vienna, Zurich and several Scandinavian countries before reaching the United States in 1941. After being interrogated by the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1947, he returned to Europe and, together with his wife Helene Weigel, founded the legendary Berliner Ensemble in East Berlin.
“And the shark, it has teeth…” Thus begins the famous song from The Threepenny Opera. Amid Kurt Weill’s lively music and the work’s humorous tone, its critical message is often overlooked – the satirical indictment of the criminal behaviour of capitalists both large and small, who resort to illegal means to maintain their power in times of crisis. There are numerous parallels with our own time: the play emerged from the economic crisis at the end of the Weimar Republic and reflects the divide between rich and poor, the loss of social cohesion and the erosion of democratic principles. Much like Brecht’s Mackie Messer operating from the criminal underworld, today’s elites seize key positions within the state, rule through terror and violence – and yet continue to grow in popularity.
Where Brecht’s wrongdoers ultimately meet their downfall, contemporary actors sit at the levers of international capital, manipulate elections, discriminate against outsiders and instigate illegal wars. Although The Threepenny Opera remains one of Brecht’s most frequently performed works, its political message is often lost amid the absurdity of the action on stage: those who fail to resist the erosion of democracy before it is too late have already lost.
Notes:
[1] Original German: “Erst kommt das Fressen, dann kommt die Moral.” From Bertolt Brecht, The Threepenny Opera (Die Dreigroschenoper), translated by John Willett and Ralph Manheim.
xxxxxx moderator note: Brecht's theory of Epic Theatre "wanted his audiences to adopt a critical perspective in order to recognize social injustice and exploitation and to be moved to go forth from the theatre and effect change in the world outside. 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." Wikipedia
