The first rule of ju-jitsu is to conquer through yielding. It is a complex philosophy, based on the interdependence of passivity and power. Followed to its extreme, you could say that the destiny of nations is determined by the man in the pub.
Jaroslav Hasek's creation, the simple soldier Schweyk, is the universal man in the pub: toper, raconteur and some-time dog thief whose guileless interventions in 20th-century history exposes the impotence of emperors and dictators.
Buffeted by authority, baffled by bureaucracy and bullied by the army, Schweyk's passive dysfunctionality initially mirrored the obsolescence of the Austro-Hungarian empire. In Bertolt Brecht's remake of Hasek's stories, Schweyk develops into a propaganda tool, a symbol of proletarian oppression.
Brecht's ambitious musical satire might be better known if it had become the Kurt Weill-Lotte Lenya collaboration he originally envisaged. In the event, Weill lost faith in the book and Brecht never saw the work staged. The music, however, was provided by the great Viennese composer Hanns Eisler, whose avant-garde cabaret settings are the principal glory of this fine revival.
The compass of Brecht's epic theatre is so diverse, and the performance discipline so demanding, that it really requires a dedicated ensemble to do it justice. It would be hard to recreate the expertise of the Berliner Ensemble, but Chris Honer's Library Company is probably our closest alternative.
Honer has spearheaded an outstanding Brecht tradition in Manchester. Here he marshals a large cast with no weak links, with stand-out turns from Olwen May as the matriarchal pub-owner Kopecka, who carries off most of the cabaret-style commentary in a querulous voice, and Sion Tudor Owen as Schweyk's permanently hungry drinking buddy, Baloun.
It all rests on an ebullient title performance from Robert Horwell as the bouncing Czech, who spends a heroic three hours chewing his pipe and speaking in bizarre parables, before concluding with a tipsy waltz in the arms of the Führer.
· Until March 15. Box office: 0161-236 7110.
