Stranger Than The Moon

Presented by The Berliner Ensemble

Text by Bertolt Brecht with music by Hanns Eisler and others
Directed by Oliver Reese
Adapted for the stage by Adam Benzwi, Oliver Reese and Lucien Strauch
Starring Katharine Mehrling and Paul Herwig
Musical direction and piano by Adam Benzwi

Bertolt Brecht – in his own words. Tender, funny, furious, and moving between cabaret, opera and prose, Stranger Than The Moon is an exhilarating concert portrait of the life of a giant of 20th century theatre.

“It gives you goosebumps. Brecht is still so relevant.” (Berlin Morning Post)

Bertolt Brecht was not only a playwright, theatre theoretician and political thinker but also an exceptionally gifted poet and singer-songwriter. Stranger Than The Moon uses his poems, songs, biographical notes and video to convey his life, in his words, created by his theatre.

“Stranger than the Moon by Oliver Reese is great fun.” (Süddeutsche Zeitung)

The story of Brecht’s life is told in three parts: Part one tells of his early success in the days of the Weimar Republic, including The Threepenny Opera and his collaborations with Elisabeth Hauptmann, Kurt Weill and Hanns Eisler. Part two follows his exile to Denmark, Sweden and US, writing about politics and war, including Mother Courage and Her Children, The Resistable Rise of Arturo Ui and The Caucasian Chalk Circle. In the final part, hearing Hitler has fallen, he returns to East Berlin, where he and his wife, actress Helene Weigel, found The Berliner Ensemble and enjoy considerable success before his death in 1956.

Directed by Berliner Ensemble Artistic Director Oliver Reese, Stranger Than The Moon is performed by two of Germany’s most celebrated actor/singers: Katharine Mehrling, well known to the Berlin audience from her starring roles at Komische Oper Berlin and Bar jeder Vernunft, and award-winning stage, film and TV actor Paul Herwig. They are joined by pianist and musical director Adam Benzwi.

“A remarkable evening that offers a fresh look at Brecht, the influential man of theatre.” (The German Stage)

Berliner Ensemble is one of the most renowned and long-standing theatres in Germany, and is part of international theatre history. This is the Berliner Ensemble’s first visit to the UK since 2020’s The Tin Drum, also at The Coronet Theatre.

In German with English surtitles.