The experimentation in drama was abruptly ended in the Third Reich. Many playwrights such as Bertolt Brecht and Ernst Toller emigrated with others being banned from making productions. Drama now concentrated on historical drama, light entertainment and ‘blood and soil’ stories. Drama was brought to the people in subsidised theatres run by Strength through Joy, and by touring companies. A new form of drama called Thingspielen (literally, assembly) was developed. A combination of pageant circus, it glorified the pagan past and was performed in specially constructed outdoor amphitheatres.
About 4000 people connected to theatre fled from the country because of the dictatorship. Jewish actors were forced to take an early retirement or be exiled.
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