Shakespeare and Brecht

A Practical Guide for Actors, Directors, Students and Teachers

This practical guide uncovers the roots of Brecht’s lifelong obsession with Shakespeare and makes the case for reading the two together today. By connecting these two great playwrights, Stephen Unwin imagines new possibilities for Brechtian productions of Shakespeare and outlines practical suggestions for how to stage such productions.

Drawing on directing and performance experience in over 60 productions, Unwin’s knowledge of Brecht provides students, teachers, and practitioners with practical exercises for use in the classroom and rehearsal room. The book charts a chronology of Brecht’s engagement with Shakespeare before delving into his core theories and practices which detail a Brechtian approach to reading, performing and staging Shakespeare that is still pertinent today. Unwin also provides an in-depth look at five of Shakespeare’s plays through Brecht’s own words and imagines a Brechtian staging for them. In simple, non-theoretical language Shakespeare and Brecht reveals how Brecht can help us understand Shakespeare, but also how an understanding of Shakespeare can help explain Brecht for a new chapter of Brechtian Shakespeare in the 21st century.