Berliner Ensemble   CD and MP3 files

East Berlin was also famous for its BERLINER ENSEMBLE, a theatre and troupe founded by Bertold Brecht in the 1950s to present his plays, not only to East German audiences, but all over Europe and the West. Somehow the Ensemble survived Brecht's death in 1956 and went on for the next 30 years to become the guardian of not only Brecht's legacy but also often-innovative stagings of contemporary and classical plays, including Shakespeare, where underlying themes of social and class conflict could be emphasized.