Bertolt Brecht

Born in 1898, the originator of the “alienating effect” made his playwriting debut with Baal and In the Jungle of Cities. The rest is history: after discovering the political theatre of Erwin Piscator, he penned his masterpieces, The Threepenny Opera and, during his exile from Nazi Germany, Life of Galileo, Mother Courage and her Children, and The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui. He emigrated to the United States, but his Marxist convictions put him under suspicion and he was expelled. Returning to Europe, he moved to East Berlin and founded the Berliner Ensemble, whose powerfully political theatre influenced generations of creators.