The Complete Brecht Toolkit

A practical, hands-on guide - for actors, directors, teachers and students - to Brecht's theory and practice of theatre, with a full set of exercises to help put theory into practice.

The Complete Brecht Toolkit examines, one by one, Brecht's many, sometimes contradictory ideas about theatre - and how he put them into practice. Here are explanations of all the famous key terms, such as Alienation Effect, Epic Theatre and Gestus, as well as many others which go to make up what we think of as 'Brechtian theatre'. The book also explores the practical application of these theories in Acting, Language, Music, Design and Direction. Also included are fifty exercises contributed by Julian Jones, to help student actors investigate Brecht's ideas for themselves, becoming thoroughly familiar with the tools in the Brecht toolkit.

"A thorough yet crystal clear explanation of Brecht's more complicated techniques and ideas." - Teaching Drama Magazine

"One of the best introductory books on Brecht currently in circulation... Unwin [presents] the theoretical and practical ideas of Bertolt Brecht in a clear, concise and connected way so that students and practitioners may consider the importance of his work in the twenty-first century." - A Younger Theatre

"A useful, refreshing, no-nonsense introduction to a practitioner who can be contradictory and is often misunderstood." - The Stage

Stephen Unwin is one of Britain’s leading theatre and opera directors. He worked at the Traverse Theatre in the 1980s, founded English Touring Theatre in 1993, and in 2008 was appointed Artistic Director of the Rose Theatre, Kingston. He has written guides to Shakespeare’s plays; Ibsen, Chekhov and Strindberg; twentieth-century Drama; the plays of Bertolt Brecht; and So You Want To Be A Theatre Director?

Julian Jones, who contributed the exercises included in The Complete Brecht Toolkit, is Senior Lecturer in Acting at Rose Bruford College of Theatre and Performance.

STEPHEN UNWIN is Artistic Director of the Rose Theatre, Kingston. He founded English Touring Theatre in 1993, after a career as a freelance theatre director, which included work at the National Theatre, the Royal Court and the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh. His work includes major productions of plays by Brecht, Shakespeare, Chekhov and Ibsen.