Brecht/Epic Theatre
Research
About Bertolt Brecht
·
Born in 1898 and died in 1956
·
Brecht was a German playwright, poet, director
and theatre practitioner.
·
In his late 20’s,Brecht became a life- long
committed Marxist
(Marxism is a method of socioeconomic
analysis that analyses class relations and societal conflict).
·
Brecht created epic theatre.
EPIC THEATRE
“Art is not a mirror
held up to reality, but a hammer with which to shape it.” –Brecht.
Brecht wanted to create theatre where his audience had the
ability to think critically and judge what was going on on-stage. He believed
that the world of naturalistic theatre, where the audience lose themselves in
the lives of the characters, meant that the audience could no longer think as
they were emotionally invested in the play. To keep his audience emotionally
distant, so that they could make rational judgements about any social comments
or issues Brecht brought up in his plays, he created EPIC THEATRE. He used a
range of theatrical devices to remind his audience that they were watching
theatre (not real life). Brecht called this process of distancing the audience
from emotional involvement verfremdungseffekt or “alienation”.
Examples of “alienation”
include…
Ø
Songs used as commentary on action
Ø
The use of captions/placards
Ø
Narrators
Ø
An episodic format
Ø
Masks
Ø
Gestus
Ø
Juxtapositioning
Ø
Props/set
Ø
Lighting
Key elements of
Brechtian Theatre
Ø
Breaking the fourth wall
o
Actors directly address the audience.
Ø
Gestus
o
Presenting an emotion through gesture
Ø
Didacticism
o
Teaching of a moral lesson
Ø
Narration and song
o
Adds commentary on/or narrates the story.
Ø
Acting techniques
o
Multi-rolling characters
o
Exaggerated/ repetitive actions
Ø
Alienation technique
o
Audience is left to question characters
o
Use of lighting/ sound is simple and exposed.
Brecht’s plays:
o
Mother Courage and Her Children.
o
The Good Person of Szechuan.
o
The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui.
o
The Caucasian Chalk Circle.
Useful links:
Introduction to Brechtian theatre
The Caucasian Chalk Circle Trailer:
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