Brecht, Music and Culture: A Theatrical Reconstruction of Conversations between theAustrian Composer Hanns Eisler and the Brecht Scholar Hans Bunge

Translated and Performed by Sabine Berendse and PaulClements

Inthis multi-media show the audienceis taken back to the East Berlin of 1958 when Hans Bunge began the first of hisfourteen recorded interviews with the courageous and committed left-wingcomposer, Hanns Eisler – played by Paul Clements. Eisler was an enormously intelligentand entertaining conversationalist: sharp, witty, incisive, humorous andlively, and with such a breadth of knowledge and profound understanding ofhistorical processes that it is extraordinarily stimulating to read and hearhis words today.

Askingthe questions is Hans Bunge whose words are spoken by his daughter, SabineBerendse. Bunge was one of Bertolt Brecht’s assistants at the Berliner Ensembleand, after the playwright’s death in 1956 Brecht’s widow, Helene Weigel, gavehim the responsibility of creating the Brecht Archive.

Theinitiative behind the fourteen conversations was Eisler’s wish to keep alivethe memory of his great friend and colleague, Bertolt Brecht. But Eisler’sdynamic conversational range embraces far more than his relationship withGermany’s greatest twentieth-century playwright. He reflects on their exile fromNazi Germany in Los Angeles where they numbered among their many friends andacquaintances Charlie Chaplin, Arnold Schönberg and Thomas Mann. He alsorecalls their bruising encounters with the House Committee on un-AmericanActivities. The performance includes eight recordings of Eisler’s music indifferent genres and four are of Eisler singing and accompanying himself at thepiano. Rarely seen photographic images of Eisler and others illustrate theshow.

Sabine Berendse works in Wales as a Librarian and InformationSpecialist and translator. Paul Clements has taught, acted and directedin the UK, US, Canada, and Scandinavia, and was previously Artistic Director ofthe National Youth Theatre of Wales. The pair’s translation, in book form with the title: Brecht, Music and Culture: Hanns Eisler inConversation with Hans Bunge is available at the Bookworm.