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| Bertolt Brecht's Berliner Ensemble faces eviction | Bertolt Brecht's Berliner Ensemble faces eviction |
| (4 months later) | |
| The future of the Berliner Ensemble, the theatre company founded by the Marxist playwright Bertolt Brecht, hangs in the balance as a result of a row over the rental contract between the group and the owner of the theatre it calls home. | The future of the Berliner Ensemble, the theatre company founded by the Marxist playwright Bertolt Brecht, hangs in the balance as a result of a row over the rental contract between the group and the owner of the theatre it calls home. |
| The company has been based at the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm beside the river Spree in Berlin for almost 60 years, but the leader of the foundation that owns the theatre says he is cancelling the contract and evicting the company. | The company has been based at the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm beside the river Spree in Berlin for almost 60 years, but the leader of the foundation that owns the theatre says he is cancelling the contract and evicting the company. |
| Rolf Hochhuth of the Ilse Holzapfel Foundation claims the BE and its director Claus Peymann have consistently flouted the contract's conditions, including a requirement to stage an annual performance of Hochhuth's 1960s play The Deputy, which criticises the perceived indifference of Pope Pius XII to the deportation of Jews from Rome during the second world war. | Rolf Hochhuth of the Ilse Holzapfel Foundation claims the BE and its director Claus Peymann have consistently flouted the contract's conditions, including a requirement to stage an annual performance of Hochhuth's 1960s play The Deputy, which criticises the perceived indifference of Pope Pius XII to the deportation of Jews from Rome during the second world war. |
| Brecht founded the BE in 1949 to perform his works, including A Life of Galileo and The Threepenny Opera. He died in in 1956, and after the death of his wife Helene Weigel in 1971, the theatre group has incorporated a wider variety of playwrights producing innovative and controversial pieces, which are performed regularly at the Berlin theatre. | Brecht founded the BE in 1949 to perform his works, including A Life of Galileo and The Threepenny Opera. He died in in 1956, and after the death of his wife Helene Weigel in 1971, the theatre group has incorporated a wider variety of playwrights producing innovative and controversial pieces, which are performed regularly at the Berlin theatre. |
| "We have rented the building out at a very low price," said Hochhuth's foundation in a cancellation notice, adding that the BE had obligations that have "never been carried out according to the contract", according to the Berliner Morgenpost. The newspaper added that the Berlin senate, which leases the building on behalf of the theatre group, pays €214,000 (£182,000) a year. | "We have rented the building out at a very low price," said Hochhuth's foundation in a cancellation notice, adding that the BE had obligations that have "never been carried out according to the contract", according to the Berliner Morgenpost. The newspaper added that the Berlin senate, which leases the building on behalf of the theatre group, pays €214,000 (£182,000) a year. |
| The former owners of the theatre, the Wertheim family, sold the building after the fall of the Berlin Wall specifically to Hochhuth, so that it would not fall into the hands of the German government and so that The Deputy and other politically critical plays could be performed, the paper quoted the foundation as saying. | The former owners of the theatre, the Wertheim family, sold the building after the fall of the Berlin Wall specifically to Hochhuth, so that it would not fall into the hands of the German government and so that The Deputy and other politically critical plays could be performed, the paper quoted the foundation as saying. |
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