This paper discusses the production and, in particular, the reception of the Leipzig and Berlin premieres of Mahagonny, with extensive reference to contemporary sources from the far Left to the far Right, and the assumptions about art and society implicit in these reactions. No knowledge of German is required to understand the paper, which will be of interest to colleagues and students in drama and theatre studies, cultural studies, sociology of art and literature, and German studies.

Steve Giles is Professor of German Studies and Critical Theory at the University of Nottingham. He has published on Brecht, modern European drama and dramatic theory, modernism, and critical theory, and has also translated a selection of Brecht's writings on art and politics. His new edition and translation of Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny will appear later this year with Methuen.

For more information contact Christine Achinger, Department of German Studies, on C.E.Achinger@warwick.ac.uk