Brecht's Political Legacy Reexamined in London Exhibition Featuring Archival Fragments and Live Performances

Raven Row in London presents 'Brecht: fragments', an exhibition exploring Bertolt Brecht's evolution through scrapbooks, sketches, and notes from the mid-1920s onward. It highlights his fragmented dramaturgy, noted by Walter Benjamin, and his use of theatre and film to raise political consciousness about capitalism's crises. The show includes archival materials like newspaper clippings spanning global anti-fascist struggles, annotated photographs from his 'War Primer', and a film extract from 'Kuhle Wampe' co-written with Ernst Ottwalt. Live performances, directed by curator Phoebe von Held, feature sections of four unfinished 1920s texts, such as 'Fatzer: Downfall of an Egoist' and 'The Bread Shop', with actors like Efé Agwele, staged across the gallery's three floors. The exhibition contrasts Brecht's lesser-known works with famous pieces like 'The Threepenny Opera' with Kurt Weill and 'Mother Courage and Her Children', emphasizing his focus on class conflict and media as tools against powerlessness. It runs through 18 August, inviting a reappraisal of Brecht's methods in contemporary contexts.