ABSTRACT
Before taking over as the first artistic director of the English Stage Company at the Royal Court, George Devine visited the Theater am SchifIbauerdamm in East Berlin, where the Berliner Ensemble, under the guidance of Bertolt Brecht, had been in residence since 1949. Devine described his impression in Encore, April 1956:
(The theatre) is situated .. .in a city divided against itself; and there it manages to thrive. To get to it, you must cross from the ghastly glitter of the Western sec tor .. .into the vast sadness ofEast Berlin. Under its red neon sign, the atmosphere of the theatre is quiet and informal. The group appears to function in a natural and unneurotic mann er , and by West End standards, the kind of theatre they believe in seems carefree and dedicated, but without polish.
