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Coriolanus is an unfinished German adaptation by the modernist playwright Bertolt Brecht of the English 17th-century tragedy of the same name by William Shakespeare. Brecht wrote it sometime between 1951 and 1953. This adaptation reveals the influence of Mao Zedong on Brecht's social thought especially the idea of primary and secondary contradictions which Mao discussed in his treatise On Contradiction. Brecht alluded to this text and discusses his development on the original and his ideas for its staging in an essay entitled "Study of the First Scene of Shakespeare's Coriolanus", which is written in the form of a dialogue with his collaborators at the Berliner Ensemble theatre company. The play was first staged by Heinrich Koch at the Frankfurt Schauspielhaus theatre, where it opened on 22 September 1962. It was later staged by the Berliner Ensemble in September 1964. Ruth Berghaus became famous for her staging of the battle scenes in this production. The play was published in an English translation by Ralph Manheim in volume nine of Brecht's Collected Plays.

References

1. ^ Willett (1959, 63).
2. Squiers, Anthony (2013). "Contradiction and Coriolanus: A Philosophical Analysis of Mao Tse Tung's influence on Bertolt Brecht". Philosophy and Literature. 37: 239–246. doi:10.1353/phl.2013.0014. S2CID 170416967.
3. Brecht (1964, 252-265).
4. Manheim and Willett (1972, 57-146).

Works cited

• Brecht, Bertolt. 1964. Brecht on Theatre: The Development of an Aesthetic. Ed. and trans. John Willett. British edition. London: Methuen. ISBN 0-413-38800-X. USA edition. New York: Hill and Wang. ISBN 0-8090-3100-0.
• Manheim, Ralph and John Willett, eds. 1972. Collected Plays: Nine. By Bertolt Brecht. Bertolt Brecht: Plays, Poetry, Prose Ser. New York: Vintage. ISBN 0-394-71819-4.
• Willett, John. 1959. The Theatre of Bertolt Brecht: A Study from Eight Aspects. London: Methuen. ISBN 0-413-34360-X.

v t e Bertolt Brecht
Dramatic works	Baal Drums in the Night A Wedding Driving Out a Devil Mysteries of a Barbershop In the Jungle of Cities Edward II Man Equals Man Downfall of the Egotist Johann Fatzer The Elephant Calf Little Mahagonny The Threepenny Opera The Flight Across the Ocean The Baden-Baden Lesson on Consent Happy End Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny Der Jasager / Der Neinsager The Decision Saint Joan of the Stockyards The Exception and the Rule The Mother Kuhle Wampe The Seven Deadly Sins Round Heads and Pointed Heads The Horatians and the Curiatians Fear and Misery of the Third Reich Señora Carrar's Rifles Life of Galileo How Much Is Your Iron? Dansen Mother Courage and Her Children The Trial of Lucullus Mr Puntila and His Man Matti The Good Person of Szechwan The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui Hangmen Also Die! The Visions of Simone Machard The Duchess of Malfi Schweyk in the Second World War The Caucasian Chalk Circle Antigone The Days of the Commune The Tutor Die Verurteilung des Lukullus Report from Herrnburg Coriolanus The Trial of Joan of Arc at Rouen, 1431 Turandot Don Juan Trumpets and Drums
Poems, songs	"Reminiscence of Marie A." "Alabama Song" "Pirate Jenny" "What Keeps Mankind Alive?" "Solidaritätslied" "Einheitsfrontlied" "Kinderhymne" "Die Lösung"
Theories and techniques	Epic theatre Lehrstücke Non-Aristotelian drama Complex seeing Defamiliarization Demonstration Fabel Gestus Historicization Interruptions Not / But Refunctioning Separation of the elements Messingkauf Dialogues The Modern Theatre Is the Epic Theatre A Short Organum for the Theatre Street scene
Category

v t e William Shakespeare's Coriolanus
Characters	Historical Caius Martius Coriolanus Menenius Agrippa Cominius Titus Lartius Sicinius Velutus Junius Brutus Tullus Aufidius Fictional Volumnia Virgilia
Sources	Roman Antiquities Parallel Lives Ab Urbe Condita Policraticus A Mervalious Combat of Contrarieties (William Averell)
Adaptations	Coriolanus (1953) The Spread of the Eagle (1963; TV) The Tragedy of Coriolanus (1984; TV) Coriolanus (2011)
Related	Veturia Thomas North Roman Tragedies (2007)

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