riefly in Hollywood. There he was reunited with other German intellectuals, including Lion Feuchtwanger, Fritz Lang, Hans Eisler, and Paul Dessau. He also met Aldous Huxley and Charlie Chaplin. Brecht was a fan of Chaplin especially, once saying, "There are two directors in the world. Chaplin is the other."
             During this period, Brecht had trouble finding work, but continued to write, producing The Visions of Simone Machard, Schweik in the Second World War, The Caucasian Chalk Circle, and the American version of The Life of Galileo, translated with and starring Charles Laughton.
             In 1947, the House Un-American Activities Committee submitted him; after testifying (smoking a cigar the whole time), he returned to Europe, where he formed the Berliner Ensemble with Helene Wiegel. There he finally realised his dream of producing and directing his own work, and produced some of the finest productions of the twentieth century. He also continued his theoretical writings, including Theatrearbeit and the Model Books, which chronicled the rehearsals and productions of the Berliner Ensemble. Brecht died in 1956.
             Brecht's actors are his students. He really makes them work on stage. They build up a play, and the director tears it down, discovers something, and then cutting the idea down, keeping genius and naivety in balance. This combination is the key to Brecht‘s success. But it's would be a mistake to reduce his work simply to political subjects. It's much more about Brecht‘s political stance, about his desire for change. In many of his plays, there isn't one political word. But he dismantles, and that's his form of politics.
             He began as an Expressionist but soon developed his own style, Epic theatre using ballads, documentary techniques, and other innovations as commentary on the dramatic action. He unashamedly used the stage as a forum for political messages, his early didactic pieces advocating communis...