Postmodern Brecht

In this radical and deliberately controversial re-reading of Brecht, first published in 1989, Elizabeth Wright takes a new view of the playwright, giving us a more Brechtian reading than so far achieved and making his work historically relevant here and now. The author discusses in detail Brechts principle theories and concepts in the light of poststructuralist theory, and reassess the aesthetics and politics with regard to Marxist critics of his own day. Wright includes a re-reading of Brechts early works, which presents them in relation to a postmodern theatre, and gives critical analyses of the work of Pina Bausch, Robert Wilson, and Heiner Mller, who use the techniques of performance theatre, showing how they deconstruct Brechts distinction between illusion and reality and point to a postmodern understanding of their dialectical relation.