Brecht and Epic Style Theatre
Historical Context
Epic Theatre took place during the 1920s and 1930s in Germany. The theatre style was influenced by the build up of negative events that were initiating in the country, such as the rise in dictatorship and world war 2.
Social Context
Epic Theatre took place at the beginning of a social change, including the rise in dictatorships. The community had to be informed, through theatre, the crisis they were going to face and what they could do to prevent it.
Political Context
At the time Epic Theatre was created, a variety of events were occurring that shaped Brecht’s writing, including German’s the declaration of war against Russia in 1914, the rise in dictatorship in Germany and the beginning of World War 2. These factors encouraged Brecht to initiate his audience’s question of authority and social structures in Germany and around the world.
Leading Playwrite/Theatre Practitioner
Bertolt Brecht was born on the 10th February 1938 and died on the 14th August 1956. Brecht was a German playwright and theatrical practitioner who revolutionized theatre; he revolutionized acting methodology, playwriting and a variety of production techniques. In 1918 Brecht’s first play, “Baal” was written, followed with “Drums in the Night” in 1922 (as Brecht developed his writing styles) and “A Man is a Man” in 1926. Throughout the 1920s, Erwin Piscator (a German director) founded the first Epic theatre and, due to having a great amount of control over the Berlin theatre, he created an environment for Brecht’s plays. Both Piscator and Brecht were into educational theatre, and together they opposed traditional theatre styles, with their qualities of make-believe, and encouraged social activist theatre in which the audience were constantly reminded that they were in a theatre watching a play and absorbing information about their world, in which they should act. This collaboration ended in the late 1920s, although, due to the slowly rising dictatorship in Germany, he decided that Epic Theatre had to be used to change the social, economic and political conditions of the country. Brecht left Germany in 1933, due to the rise of power in the Nazi Party, and stayed in Scandinavia where he wrote several of his major plays, such as “Galileo”, “The Good Woman of Setzuan” etc. After a while, he decided to venture to the United States where he wrote “The Caucasian Chalk Circle”. He decided to stay in the United States until World War 2 was over and didn’t return to East Berlin until 1948. By this time he and his theatrical work were accepted in the United States, England and Europe.
Theatrical Elements and Conventions
Breaking the fourth wall: Breaking the fourth wall means to rupture the imaginary wall that separates the audience from the action. This can be achieved when the actor acknowledges the audience, either by breaking their character or perform as if they’re being watched. This results in the audience being reminded that they’re watching a play and receiving a message about the society they’re living in.
Didacticism: This is the act of teaching the audience a moral lesson. The Epic style plays are all didactic, meaning that they all send a message to the audience about features of society, politics or economy.
Gestus: Gestus is one movement made up of a mixture of a gesture and a social meaning, and is used to help the audience understand a characters emotion and context. In easier terms, it’s a presentation of an emotion through gesture.
Narration and song: These songs were used not to increase the mood of the scene, but to narrate what was happening. It can also be used as an alienation technique towards the audience to make them question the social realities of the play (for example, there might be positive music in a very serious scene, contrasting the two moods and making them seem strange).
Alienation: Used to make the familiar seem strange. This technique forces the audience to question the social realities of the situations in the play, creating an emotional distance between the audience and the characters.
Didacticism: This is the act of teaching the audience a moral lesson. The Epic style plays are all didactic, meaning that they all send a message to the audience about features of society, politics or economy.
Gestus: Gestus is one movement made up of a mixture of a gesture and a social meaning, and is used to help the audience understand a characters emotion and context. In easier terms, it’s a presentation of an emotion through gesture.
Narration and song: These songs were used not to increase the mood of the scene, but to narrate what was happening. It can also be used as an alienation technique towards the audience to make them question the social realities of the play (for example, there might be positive music in a very serious scene, contrasting the two moods and making them seem strange).
Alienation: Used to make the familiar seem strange. This technique forces the audience to question the social realities of the situations in the play, creating an emotional distance between the audience and the characters.
Key Terms
- Alienation
- Bertolt Brecht
- Historification
- Breaking the fourth wall
- Didacticism
- Gestus
- Narration and song
- Alienation
- Colloquial-poetic
- Realistic movement/Bio-mechanical movement/Expressionistic/Asian movement
- Asian techniques
- Symbolism
- Human/Dehumanised and real/non real (selective combination)
- Didactic
- Fan language
Costume and Set
1st Row: “The Early Years” (J.B. Priestley)
2nd Row: “The Man from Makinupin” (Dorothy Hewett)
2nd Row: “The Man from Makinupin” (Dorothy Hewett)
Bibliography
Images
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/73/Bertolt-Brecht.jpg
The Man from Makinupin
http://belvoir.com.au/productions/the-man-from-mukinupin/
http://www.weliketvforum.com/index.php?showtopic=180
The Early Years
http://epictheatreensemble.org/the-early-years
Information
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertolt_Brecht
Acting in Person and in Style in Australia (Book)
http://www.usq.edu.au/artsworx/schoolresources/mothercourage/Influences
http://www.usq.edu.au/artsworx/schoolresources/mothercourage/Brechtian%20Techniques
http://www.slideshare.net/SalvatoreGiovanniSorce/bertolt-brecht-epic-theatre-14203501
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/73/Bertolt-Brecht.jpg
The Man from Makinupin
http://belvoir.com.au/productions/the-man-from-mukinupin/
http://www.weliketvforum.com/index.php?showtopic=180
The Early Years
http://epictheatreensemble.org/the-early-years
Information
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertolt_Brecht
Acting in Person and in Style in Australia (Book)
http://www.usq.edu.au/artsworx/schoolresources/mothercourage/Influences
http://www.usq.edu.au/artsworx/schoolresources/mothercourage/Brechtian%20Techniques
http://www.slideshare.net/SalvatoreGiovanniSorce/bertolt-brecht-epic-theatre-14203501