Good Woman of Setzuan

"First comes eating and then comes morality". One day three Gods come down to Earth in Szechwan China in the early part of the 20th century. They meet an indigent man, a water carrier named Wang and ask him to find someone who will put them up for the night. They are travelling the world in search of good persons. They find one. After getting refused repeatedly, Wang at last finds someone to host these gentlemen, a prostitute named Shen-Teh. At some expense to herself, as she is expecting a client, Shen-Teh selflessly lets them stay with her. Pleased they were able to find a good person, they give her 1,000 silver coins. With this money Shen-Teh buys a tobacco shop. Immediately people start taking advantage of her. An entire family moves into the shop. People make claims, saying she owes them money. Facing swift ruin, Shen-Teh creates a fictitious cousin, Shui-Ta. She dresses up as him, and he's able to put people off in the way she can't. Shui-Ta can say no. Shui-Ta helps her out then leaves. Shen-Teh continues on, trying to make a living with the shop. On a rainy evening Shen-Teh meets a man Yang Sun. He is about to commit suicide. She speaks with him and prevents it. She falls in love with him. That's the basic plot setup. I'll just add that Shui-Ta is forced to come back again. Things just keep conspiring against good Shen-Teh. It's unconventional, as Brecht frequently is. Characters will break into song every once in a while. They'll talk directly to the audience. Sylistically, it's part fable/parable, part farce, part tragedy. I read the tone as semi-humourous, semi-serious. It's absurdist, but I agree with the idea that you can't have great comedy without a serious undercurrent and that comedy enhances a serious subject. I had a few minor quibbles - towards the end it got a trifle confusing, there are a lot of minor characters that I had some trouble keeping track of, and I found Yang Sun a tad cryptic.

"The Good Woman of Sezuan" is my favourite play of Brecht's and I really recommend it to anyone who is interested in german literature and plays. It's also a good one to start if this is your first contact with Bertolt Brecht!

I had to read this for my theatre department at school. But as I did I found that through the course of this play, Brecht gives a sense of honesty in all of the chracters. Weather that honesty is good or bad, it is a truthfull play that brings forth many aspects of seraching for what is good and bad.

Well written, talented authors! I really liked it!