Thomas Brasch | |
|---|---|
 Thomas Brasch in 1993 | |
| Born | 19 February 1945 Westow, Yorkshire, England |
| Died | 3 November 2001 (aged 56) |
| Occupations | Author, Poet, Film director |
| Notable work | Engel aus Eisen, Domino, Lovely Rita |
| Awards | 1981 Bavarian Film Awards – Best Director, 1987 Kleist Prize |
Thomas Brasch (19 February 1945 – 3 November 2001) was a British and German author, poet and film director.
Born in Westow, Yorkshire, England, Thomas Brasch was the son of German Jewish Communist émigré parents. In 1947, the family returned to East Germany. Brasch attended school in Cottbus. From 1956 to 1960, he was at the National People's Army Cadet School and made his Abitur. From 1964, he studied journalism in Leipzig and was forced in 1965 to ex-matriculate. Since 1966 he worked at the theater Volksbühne Berlin, and studied dramaturgy at the film school Babelsberg afterwards. In 1968, he was relegated and sentenced to two years and three months in prison for "anti-state agitation", because of the protest against the invasion of Czechoslovakia. In 1971, after being a miller in a Berlin factory, he worked in the Brecht archive and was then freelance writer. In 1976, after protesting against Wolf Biermann's expatriation, he moved to West Germany.
Brasch was in a relationship with the actress Katharina Thalbach.
Brasch died in Berlin on 3 November 2001.
In May 2012, Brasch's play Lovely Rita was performed in English for the first time in the Warwick Arts Centre.
In November 1976, Brasch's theatre piece Paper Tiger was performed in English for the first time at the 4th International Bertolt Brecht Conference in Austin, Texas, with music composed by Raymond Benson. Benson subsequently directed an off-off-Broadway production of the musical in New York, New York, in September 1980.
