Mr Brecht
Are you now, or have you ever been...?
America 1947. Anti-Communist hysteria is at its height. Bertolt Brecht - once near the top of the Nazis' most wanted list - is being interrogated by the House Un-American Activities Committee. Brecht responds to his interrogation by being scrupulously polite, but not scrupulously truthful.
For our closing night – after a day celebrating that great performer and activist, Paul Robeson – we turn to the songs of Kurt Weill and his greatest collaborator, Bertolt Brecht. In 1928 they wrote the musical that was to change the face of musical theatre, The Threepenny Opera – the most popular musical in pre-war Europe – and continued with Happy End, Mahagonny Songspiel and The Seven Deadly Sins.
Heading up our celebration is Frances Ruffelle, who has just enjoyed success in Songs from a Hotel Bedroom at The Royal Opera House’s Linbury Theatre, and won a Tony award for her Broadway performances of Éponine in Les Misérables.
Other performers invited to the party include Clive Rowe, Olivier Award-winner in The National Theatre’s Guys and Dolls, and the popular actor Roger Lloyd Pack from, among many other appearances, Only Fools and Horses.
With support from twenty young actors from Drama Centre London, a six piece band, and directed by Richard Williams, this is a witty, poignant, spicy evening of words and song from two of the most original, and politically astute, creators of the twentieth century.
£20
(Concessions available)
N3
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