Brecht and Epic Theatre

A detailed Summary of Brecht and Epic Theatre

Clearly Defining What Brecht Meant By Epic Theatre Show How He Sort To Achieve His Aims Through His Production Methods

Brecht was reacting against the theatre of the time; this was because traditional theatre had a fantastic set, elaborate costumes, sentimental music and sloppy emotion. He thought this type of theatre was aesthetically wrong as he felt a good story had been taken and made sentimental. He also believed this type of theatre was morally wrong, as the plays did not portray a truthful picture of everyday life. For example a poor person would have rosy cheeks and look well fed, which was not the case. It was also the events of the time that also inspired Brecht to create Epic theatre and that was the nazi movement. In the rallies people became so emotionally involved that they would lose control of their bodily functions but also did not have the ability to stand back and look at it analytically to realise what was going was wrong and how to stop it.

From this Brecht wanted a change to take place in the theatre. His aims for this new type of theatre were firstly to entertain, because he knew only then could he change people's minds and in turn change society. Theatre in Brecht's view was that not only should it ente

Dramatic theatre was the traditional form at the time but Brecht along with Piscator created the first Epic theatre. Epic theatre took Brecht years to formulate and was not firmly established until the 1940's-50's. Both forms of theatre had a different purpose and function to each other, which why neither can be better than the other. Obvious differences between the two are plot and narrative. In Dramatic theatre the play has a plot where there is a beginning, middle and end with the events of the play following on with smooth progression, and at the end issues within the play are resolved. In Epic theatre however there is a narrative where events are shown in self compacted scenes creating a montage effect which is why it starts anywhere, continues, stops, and the issues raised are not resolved. As a spectator watches Dramatic theatre the suggestion is made that what they are watching is real life and so the fourth wall is not broken as the spectator is made to feel as if they are eavesdropping in on the action. In Epic theatre it is the opposite where the fourth wall is constantly broken as the actors addresses the spectator and also suggests to the spectator that they can question what they are feeling. Both types of theatre also suggest something about human behaviour. In Dramatic theatre for instance the human behaviour is suggested to be unalterable as preconceptions are reinforced whereas in Epic theatre human behaviour is seen as alterable and able to alter, as change is possible in oneself and in the world. The theatre forms either control feeling or reason. In Dramatic theatre feeling is controlled as it allows the audience to indulge in emotions and sensations where ideas are reinforced and the theatre of illusion is created. Reason however is controlled by Epic theatre as it makes the audience question and think, forcing them to make decisions, making it clear that there are problems to be solved.

After seeing such plays like 'Woyzeck' by Buchner, someone who influenced Brecht and 'Car' which had some of the Epic devices, I would say the V'effekte do work but not in the way Brecht originally intended. Brecht wanted to totally reject emotion from the theatre even though later he changed his mind. This is because I think he realised that the Epic form of theatre cannot succeed in the rejection of emotion because

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Approximate Word count = 1577
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Arts