I greatly enjoyed my teaching career, for which I ranged widely across German literature and language; now my research career can continue (more gently) in retirement. My interest is in the political literature of the 20th century. I have worked particularly on Bertolt Brecht, and was the series editor of the English-language edition of Brecht’s works (with Bloomsbury Methuen Drama). With David Constantine I translated and edited The Collected Poems of Bertolt Brecht (2018). Other major publications include Brecht on Theatre and Brecht on Performance (both 2014), and Brecht and the Writer’s Workshop: Fatzer and Other Dramatic Projects (2019). I have written on German exile and anti-fascist literature, and on more recent drama, and I led the ‘Writing Brecht’ project on the translation, edition and cultural transmission of Brecht: https://brecht.mml.ox.ac.uk/welcome-writing-brecht. Outputs included major publications of Brecht’s work in English, alongside critical commentaries and essays. More recently I have been working on Brecht’s engagement with the visual arts. I continue to work with composers, artists and theatre makers, looking for ways to make Brecht’s work productive for contemporary audiences.
