Download Introduction to Epic Theatre

Epic Theatre
An Introduction to
Bertolt Brecht and his Work
Information from:
http://www.slideshare.net/Crooked49/bertolt-brecht-epic-theatre
http://www.thedramateacher.com/epic-theatre-conventions/
Bertolt Brecht
• 1898 - 1956
• German playwright and poet
• Started to write political poetry and plays at
an early age about social issues
• Interested in Karl Marx’s Theories of Socialism
• Loathed Realism Theatre
Marxist and Socialist Theories
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Social Justice
Critical of Captialism
Questions who has power and money
Industrialisation and how it effects workers
Power Structures in society
THESE ARE COMMON THEMES IN EPIC THEATRE
Pre Epic Theatre
• Realism, Melodrama and Naturalism were
highly popular
• They attempted to create real life on the stage
(Realism and Naturalism) OR focused on stock
characters (Melodrama – Hero always beats
the villain)
• Audiences were looking for escapism. Looking
in to other characters lives and getting
emotionally involved.
Brecht and Realism
• He hated it
• “He likened realism theatre to the effects of a
drug, in that the performance pacified its
audience”
• Waste of an audience.
• Theatre should not be escapism.
http://www.thedramateacher.com/epic-theatre-conventions/
Brecht and his Audience
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Called them “Spectators”
Question and challenge
Not accept and enjoy
Design a theatre to make the audience
question what they were watching.
• Step back and view the message, rather than
enjoy the spectacle.
Epic Theatre
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1920s – 1950s
World War II era
Socialist Theatre
“Lehrstuck” meaning, “learning-play”
Political Theatre
Epic Theatre Plots and Structure
• Large narrative – spanning many locations and
time frames (hence, it was “epic”)
• Non- Linear plots
• Broken up into “Episodes” (Not scenes) – self
contained stories, not a direct result of what
happened in the episode before
• “Historification” – setting the action of the
play in the past, to draw parallels with
contemporary events
Epic Theatre and Spectators
• Emotionally detached from the action
• Characters were representatives of society –
not well rounded
• Forced to think about the message
• Use of the “verfremdungseffekt”, or “V-effekt”
(German) translated to “alienation – effect”
(English)
“To make the familiar, strange”
Alienation - Effect
• Estrangement
• Prevent the audience from getting “pulled in”
to the emotional aspects of the story
• Think about the messages and challenge their
own acceptance of society
• Conventions were designed to keep the
audience (spectators) “alienated” from the
action
Conventions of Epic Theatre
• Narration
• Direct address to audience
• Spoiling of dramatic tension in advance of episodes (telling
spectators what is going to happen)
• Disjointed time sequences (flash backs and flash forwards.
Large jumps between episdoes)
• Historification
• Song – used to convey a message or theme
• Multiple roles – actors performed more than one part
• Demonstration of role – actors not emotionally invested in
character
• Gestus – symbolic action
• Tableau
Stagecraft and Epic Theatre
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Use of placards
Fragmentary costumes
Costume changes in front of spectators
Fragmentary props
Minimalistic Sets
Open white lighting
Kneehigh Theatre production
of The Red Shoes (Uses many
Epic Theatre Techniques)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/educa
tion/guides/z36fyrd/revision/
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How to perform Epic Theatre
• Brecht believed that the actor should:
• Move as if blocking movements on stage for the first time or in a
robotic, dreamlike way
• Treat voice and movement so that they do not match
• Speak as if quoting someone else rather than speaking dialogue
• Speak the stage directions aloud
• Remain physically and emotionally detached from the other actors
• Play scenes with mismatched emotions, for example, humour in a
sad scene
• Perform directly to the audience
• Exchange roles with other actors
• Perform the role as if critically appraising the actions from afar.
Brechts Famous works
• Mother Courage and her Children – 1939
– Theme of the devastating effects of a European war and the blindness of
anyone hoping to profit by it
• The Good Woman of Szechuan – 1943
– Questions economic systems of society and the impact they have on
individuals morality
– What does it mean to be “good”. To be “good” means to be taken advantage
of in modern society
• The Caucasian Chalk Circle – 1948
– A parable about a peasant girl who rescues a baby and becomes a better
mother than its wealthy natural parents.
• The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui – 1958
– It chronicles the rise of Arturo Ui, a fictional 1930s Chicago Mobster and his
attempts to control the cauliflower racked by ruthlessly disposing of the
opposition. The play is a satirical allegory of the rise of Adolf Hitler and the
Nazi Party in Germany prior to World War II
Brecht in his later life
• Fled Nazi Germany
• Lived as a scrit writer in Hollywood in 1940s
• Died of a heart attack and requested that he
be buried in a lead lined coffin with a stiletto
heel through his heart (WEIRD!)
Influence of Epic Theatre
• Managed to transform theatre from pure
entertainment
• A tool for looking at the big issues that affect
us all
• Theatre can make a difference