Epic theatre
About Bertolt Brecht
- Brecht lived through world war 1, world war 2, Russian revolution, establishment of
the eastern bloc
- He was born in Germany but fled in the 1930’s because of the Nazis. He settled in
America (1939-1947) where he wrote his 3 most important plays (including The
Caucasian Chalk Circle)
- Brecht = influenced by the society in which he lived. He wanted to write about what
was happening in the world around him – his plays reflected the issues that he was
faced with – like the effects of war
- He was also influenced by Karl Marx and Marxism (social and political fabric of
society based on the economy and method of production). He believed in a classless
society and equal distribution of wealth – seen through characters like Natella and
The Fat Prince in The Caucasian Chalk Circle. They are represented as greedy and
corrupt ‘types.’
- He was didactic, he wanted his plays to have a clear message. His main aim was to
make the audience critical and objective by distancing them from the action in order
for his very clear message to be properly communicated.
- He made use of historification – the act of placing something in the past so the present
audience is removed from the action and can think and analyse more clearly.
Artistic Influences
Most important – Erwin Piscator. He was a German Expressionist who used loosely
connected scenes, non-logical and non-linear plot development, levels, scaffolds, projections,
chorus, film sequences, and actors directly addressing the audience to break the fourth wall
all to present a political message.
Brecht was fascinated by this and used these techniques to create his own type of theatre –
Epic Theatre.
He drew influences from
Greek theatre – narrator, chorus and stylised acting
Elizabethan theatre – multifunctional space
Commedia ‘Dell Arte – stereotypes, exaggerated acting – half masks
Chinese theatre – stylised acting
Silent movies – gestus, spass (a sense of fun, satire, ridicule, irreverence)
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, Intention
- To be didactic – wanting to teach the audience
- Convert the audience into thinking that the best type of society was a classless,
communist society
- Using techniques to distance the audience (alienation/estrangement) – make his
audience think about what they are seeing
- In order to engage his audience, he had to entertain – very theatrical staging and use
of music
- By presenting things in a new and unfamiliar way, the audience could be active,
critical and objective and therefore learn. He wanted the audience to go after watching
the plays and make changes in society for the better of the community
- Brecht continually reminds them that what they are watching is not real life to help
them remain distanced and aware
- He used 3 main techniques to achieve this:
Vefremdung historification epic structure
Brecht wished to distance the spectator from the characters and the action on the stage, so
they do not identify with the characters and lose their objectivity towards what they saw on
stage. Do not confuse not becoming emotionally involved with not feeling any emotion.
Brecht wanted the spectator to be emotionally involved and then distanced – he manipulated
the spectator.
The Vefremdungseffekt
The act of distancing the spectator from getting too emotionally involved in the action.
Distancing was achieved through oversimplification of characters, breaking the fourth wall,
interrupting the continuous action of the plot with songs and narration, anti-realistic sets and
one-dimensional backdrops, stage mechanics in full view of the audience, use of audio-
visuals projected onto a stage scree, projected titles of scenes preceding each scene. All these
techniques were to remind the spectator that they were watching a play and not real life.
Brecht used this these effects to break empathy. He wanted the spectator to really enjoy the
event, and to remain interested in what was happening, but at the same time, expected the
interaction between the audience and production to raise the audience’s critical
consciousness. A critical attitude is not a negative one; it is socially active and practical.
Distancing prevents empathy by breaking the dramatic illusion that what the audience is
experiencing is a form of ‘real’ life. The spectator must be reminded that they are in a theatre,
that the play is not a continuous real-life scene, but it is constructed of many parts. Brecht
separates each of those parts with techniques aimed at reminding the audience that this is not
real life, but a play. He wants us to think about each part, not get swept up by the emotions of
the whole.
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