Brecht's First Play: Baal Comes to Shanghai

"Brecht's First Play," based on German playwright Bertolt Brecht's "Baal," will be presented to Shanghai audiences during the 25th China Shanghai International Arts Festival.

Before the Hong Kong premiere of "Brecht's First Play" in March, the work underwent five years of development and rehearsal. In June, it met European audiences for the first time in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and later appeared at the Sibiu International Theater Festival in Romania.

A creative and performing team from Ireland and China deconstructed Brecht's theatrical debut, challenging this imperious, transgressive figure.

Written in 1918 and first performed in 1923, "Baal" portrays a gifted but feral poet, singer, and sensualist who drifts through a series of lovers, drinking bouts, friendships, and betrayals, consuming others while rejecting every social and moral obligation. The play follows his charismatic outsider status, his descent into violence and isolation, and his lonely death in the wilderness.

In this new version, the poet Baal shares the stage with the playwright who created him. An endless stream of self-mockery and quasi-out-of-body self-scrutiny from the character continually throws textual games at the audience and raises questions:

If the "problematic figure" Baal were placed under today's "cancel culture" – if otherness were purged – would society become more morally spotless?

Multimedia and real-time video, together with an avant-garde theatrical language, have given a new life to the protagonist from over a century ago.

The performance has English subtitles.

If you go

Dates: October 16-18, 2pm/7:30pm

Tickets: 180-880 yuan

Venue: Grand Shanghai Theater 大上海剧场

Address: 980 Zhonghua Rd 中华路980号