What Weimar Berlin’s Most Famous Plays Revealed About Artistic Freedom
Is there a German word that means the opposite of “doppelgänger”—not the uncannily mysterious twin, but the secretly matched-up opponent who stands for everything one hates and also hates everything one stands for? If so, Bertolt Brecht could have filled
The German playwright Bertolt Brecht and the Russian-American novelist Vladimir Nabokov were both born in 1898 and shared a similar age during two crucial years of their youth—the Great War and the Russian Revolution. While Nabokov saw the former as a distant event and the latter as a permanent tragedy, Brecht sympathized with the Soviet revolutionary cause and manifested those class sympathies in his writing.
Despite their political differences, they both began their careers as poets before becoming known for their plays and theatrical collaborations. Brecht gained instant fame in Berlin with his second or third collaboration with composer Kurt Weill, The Threepenny Opera, which opened at the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm on August 31, 1928.
The play, a fusion of outrageous wit and social criticism, was initially met with mixed reactions but soon became a major hit. Brecht's role in the play was particularly significant, as he identified with his imperfect hero, Mack the Knife, who was both attractive and repulsive. Brecht's involvement in the production was so influential that even a notoriously snobbish count, Harry Kessler, commented on the show's appeal and praised Brecht's performance.
The Threepenny Opera's lasting impact on various art forms, including theater, jazz, graphic art, film, and television commercials, has made it an essential part of German literature and culture.
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