Title: Turandot, or, The whitewashers' congress
Description: For his adaptation of the story of the emperor's daughter Turandot and the suitors who would marry her, Brecht has the action take place during a strike by clothes-makers - and the clothesless - who rise up in protest at the Emperor's dishonest manipulation of the cotton-market in which he has a monopoly: he is withholding stock until the prices rise. In order to control public relations, the Emperor hires three thinkers to invent reasons as to why the cotton market should be so dry; the winning thinker will win the hand of his daughter. 'Turandot' premiered at Zurich Schauspielhaus, in February 1969.