In 1938, Bertolt Brecht collaborated with the actresses Margarete Steffin and Ruth Berlau on The Good Person of Szechwan, a play set in China between the wars. Three gods come to Earth searching for a “good” person and ultimately pick Shen Teh, a kindhearted young prostitute, who isn’t sure she is deserving. The gods give her money, with which she buys a tobacco shop. Yet her new career brings neighbors who want to take advantage of her kindness, so much so that she invents an alter ego—a “cousin” named Shui Ta. When she needs to be tough, even mean, she becomes Shui Ta, and the result is success and wealth. A parable about capitalism, the play is one of Brecht’s most difficult to stage. Anthony Lau takes on the challenge, directing this new production at Sheffield Theatres. —Jensen Davis