The Days of the Commune

Bertolt Brecht

Translations: Clive Barker and Arno Reinfrank, music by Hanns Eisler, Jean Benedetti, Ray Herman

Play. M42 F12, 2 children. Extras. Interior and exterior settings. Set in Paris between January-April 1871.

A critical and extensive reworking of The Defeat by Nordahl Grieg

Set at the time of the Paris Commune (1871) the story is told through fictional Men in the Street grouped round a Montmartre café, and a number of historical personages. The Men in the Street resist Thier's attempt to disarm the National Guard and watch its Central Committee seize power at the Hôtel de Ville. The liberal prejudices and outdated notions of legality held by the leaders of the Commune cause them to make mistakes. Instead of following the radical revolutionary road, they restrain the masses, respect the inviolability of the Bank of France and fail to impose discipline on their ranks. The Men in the Street put up a barricade, on which they fight and die.