Bertolt Brecht was born on February 10, 1898 in Augsburg, Bavaria, and died on August 14, 1956. He was a German playwright, theatre director and Marxist. The modest house where he was born is today preserved as a Brecht Museum. Brecht formed a writing collective which became prolific and very influential. He wrote many lyrics for musicals and collaborated with Kurt Weill to create Die Dregroschenoper -- the biggest hit in 1920s Berlin. Brecht experimented with his own theater and company -- the Berliner Ensemble -- which put on his plays under his direction and which continued after his death with the assistance of his wife. Brecht aspired to create political theater, and it is difficult to evaluate his work in purely aesthetic terms. Brecht died in 1956.
Sir David Hare is a British playwright and director, noted for his critical examination of post-war British society. In 1968 he became a founder of the travelling fringe company, Portable Theatre, which performed some of his early plays. The following year he became resident playwright at the Royal Court Theatre, before being made resident playwright at the Nottingham Theatre in 1973. In 1974 he co-founded the Joint Stock Company. His plays include Slag, Brassneck, Fanshen, Pravda, Racing Demon, Murmuring Judges, The Absence of War, Amy's View, Via Dolorosa, The Permanent Way, Stuff Happens, The Vertical Hour, The Power of Yes, Berlin and Wall. He was knighted in 1998.
