This production history of The Mother provides substantial new insights into Bertolt Brecht's theatre and drama, his impact on political theatre, and the relationship between text, performance, and politico-cultural context. As the only play which Brecht staged in the Weimar Republic, during his exile, and in the GDR, The Mother offers a unique opportunity to compare his theatrical practice in contrasting settings and at different points in his career. Through detailed analysis of original archival evidence, Bradley shows how Brecht became far more sensitive to his spectators' political views...

Despite all the evidence to the contrary, the authorities in the German Democratic Republic always denied that they practised censorship. In this fascinating new study, Laura Bradley explores how the authorities' denial affected the language and experience of theatre censorship. She shows that it left theatre practitioners doubly exposed: they remained officially responsible for their productions, even if the productions had passed pre-performance controls. In the absence of a fixed set of criteria, cultural functionaries had to make difficult judgements about which plays and productions to...

Make an appointment for intrigue at Reyn Marten Sawyer's
hair salon Outrageous, flirtatious, and as colorful as a magenta mohawk, Reyn tracks twisted crimes, untangles tight knots,
and never, ever leaves loose ends.

Someone clearly meant business when they targeted San Antonio's hair salon king, Ricardo, who was fatally stabbed with a one-of-a-kind weapon: a sharp plastic hair pick. Reyn had loaned Ricardo the tool -- and now she's not only mourning her friend and mentor's murder: she's also a suspect. And in the eyes of sexy detective Jackson Scythe, she's one alluring stylist...

She's a cut above the average sleuth....Reyn Marten Sawyer is a San Antonio hair stylist with a head for solving murders

Dye Young, Stay Pretty

Reyn is getting conditioned to normal life after untangling the murder of her beloved mentor. So she's a little frosted by a late-night call from wealthy Alexandra Barrister, desperate for Reyn's help with a hair crisis. She arrives at the imposing Barrister estate -- and wishes she was packing more than a hot brush when she finds the body of Alexandra's socialite mother, arranged with her hair standing on end, cemented into place by a killer...

The avant-garde writer and director Bertolt Brecht left the West for good in 1949, returning to East Berlin and founding the Berliner Ensemble. While he quickly became identified internationally as the cultural figurehead of the young socialist state, his relationship with the authorities was always complex, and he was increasingly marginalized by restrictive and authoritarian structures of power. It was only after his death that the regime sought to elevate him as a socialist classic - a shift that entailed the selective appropriation of his legacy and the development of authorized modes of...