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] major and brilliant achievement… exemplary clarity and concision… honour[s] the complexity of Brecht while providing a valuable addition to the literature aimed at exploring and explaining this key figure. I highly recommend this book to you’
- Drama magazine

‘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