ABSTRACT
Western Europe first saw the work of the Berliner Ensemble in the summer of 1954, when the
company performed Mother Courage first in Bruges and Amsterdam, and then at the interna-
tional festival, Théâtre des Nations, in Paris. The production was directed jointly by Brecht and
Erich Engel and it was a festival first prize winner. When the Berliner Ensemble performed
The Caucasian Chalk Circle at the next Paris Festival in 1955, they were greatly admired by the
influential British theatre critic Kenneth Tynan, who was to remain a Brecht devotee and
champion for the rest of his life. In his review of The Caucasian Chalk Circle, headlined ‘Stars
from the East’, Tynan wrote:
I have read a great deal about Brecht’s theory of acting. . . . What it boils down to in
practice is something extremely simple. The small parts are all generalized . . . we know
at a glance what kind of people they are meant to be. . . . We can thus concentrate on
the principals, who wear no masks or make-up and play with absolute realism.
