Relating to or characteristic of the playwright Bertolt Brecht, who believed that theatre should be used to make political or social comment, and who therefore refused to allow the audience to suspend their disbelief by, for example, keeping the lights on in the auditorium.
Brechtian
Fact of the Day
The earliest book of English table manners was written by Daniel of Beccles in the time of Henry II. It prohibited elbows on tables, talking with full mouths and scratching armpits. It also gave guidance on what to do if the wife of the host were to make a pass at a guest: he should feign illness.
Quote of the Day
"To ravage, to slaughter, to usurp under false titles, they call empire; and where they make a desert, they call it peace
"
~ Tacitus
On This Day
1536 The trial of four of Anne Boleyn's 'lovers'. Only one confessed (under torture), which he maintained up to the point of his death.
1689 William III went to war with France. It was the start of more than a century of titanic clashes for global hegemony.
1789 William Wilberforce made his first speech to the Commons on the abolition of slavery.
1926 Limited power of unions shown as TUC calls off General Strike without consulting miners, who went back to work in November on reduced pay.
1937 In a ceremony that had originally been scheduled for his brother, Edward VIII (who had abdicated in December 1936), George VI was crowned at Westminster Abbey.
1969 The minimum voting age in Britain was reduced from 21 to 18.
1994 The popular Labour leader John Smith died of a heart attack. He was replaced as leader by Tony Blair.