YORK Settlement Community Players are to bring a little-known Bertolt Brecht play to the York stage for the first time.

The company has a habit of picking works outside the familiar and Brecht’s Drums In The Night will continue this trend in a run from April 30 to May 2 at Friargate Theatre, Lower Friargate, York.

At a time when we are commemorating the First World War, Brecht’s Expressionist drama focuses on the personal and political effects of the war in 1919 Germany as it follows a returning soldier, Andreas Kragler (played by George Stagnell), through the streets and bars of a Berlin in turmoil in the immediate postwar period.

Kragler has been thought dead for the past four years. He comes home to find his fiancée, Anna Balicke (Emma Dubruel), has become engaged instead to the war profiteer Friedrich Murk (James Osman).

Giving up hope of a life with her, Kragler is drawn into Berlin’s backstreets and is convinced by a barman, Glubb (Ian Giles), and his bunch of lowlifes to join the Spartacist Uprising, now taking place across the city.

When the final drums sound, and he is torn between his desire for Anna and his new-found politics, will he fight for the revolution or for the girl he loves?

Written between 1919 and 1920, Drums In The Night was Brecht’s second play, from a portfolio of more than 30 major works, and was first performed when he was only 24. Brecht was destined to become a giant of German letters and this play about a period which pre-dates the rise of Hitler is fascinating for its examination of how ordinary German people were exercised by the trauma of the first World War.

By chance the show’s director, Claire Morley is the same age as Brecht when he wrote his play. She says: “Written before Brecht fully developed his theories on epic theatre, even theatre-goers who count themselves Brecht fans may never have come across this little-seen gem, which critic Herbert Jhering said ‘changed the face of German literature overnight’.

The Settlement Players are no strangers to Brecht, having performed The Good Person Of Szechwan in 2004, and as they did on that occasion, they bring an ensemble cast and live music to his work.

Beryl Nairn, Andy Love, Sonia Di Lorenzo, Tim Holman and Mark Simmonds will complete the company.

Claire said: “I think people will find the play engaging for many different reasons. There’s the draw of Brecht, who is undoubtedly one of the greatest playwrights of the 20th century; the insight into a part of Germany’s history that is often overlooked; and there are the universal themes of love, betrayal, jealousy and disaffection with politics, which will strike a chord with lots of people.

“The script manages to be both visceral and poetic, and I am lucky to have a cast drawn from the best of York’s community talent.”

Tickets for the 7.30pm evening performance and 2pm Saturday matinee are £10. Call 01904 613000 or visit ridinglights.org