Epic Theatres :: essays research papers

Epic Theatres"Epic Theatre turns the spectator into an observer, but arouses his capacity foraction, forces him to submit decisions...the spectator stands outside, studies."(Bertolt Brecht. Brecht on Theatre. New YorkHill & Yang, 1964. p37)The concept of epic theatre was brought to life by German playwright, BertoltBrecht. This direction of theatre was inspired by Brechts Marxist politicalbeliefs. It was somewhat of a political platform for his ideologies. Epictheatre is the assimilation of education through entertainment and is theantithesis of Stanislavskys Realism and also Expressionism. Brecht believedthat, contrary epic theatre, Expressionism and Realism were incapable of exposinghuman nature and so had no educational value. He conjectured that his form oftheatre was capable of provoking a transform in society. Brechts intention wasto encourage the audience to ponder, with critical detachment, the moraldilemmas presented before them.In order to analyse and evaluat e the action occurring on stage, Brecht believedthat the audience moldiness not allow itself to become emotionally involved in thestory. Rather they should, through a series of anti-illusive devices, feelalienated from it. The effect of this deliberate elimination makes it difficultfor the audience to empathise with the characters and their predicament. Thus,they could study the plays social or political message and not the actualevents macrocosm performed on stage. This process is called Verfremdungseffekt, orthe craziness effect, where instead of identifying with the characters, theaudience is reminded that they are watching only a portrayal of reality.Several well-known Brechtian plays include Drums in the Night, Edward 2, TheThreepenny Opera, Rise and Fall of the township of Mahoganny, The Life of Galileo,The Good Person of Szechwan, Triple-A Plowed Under, One-Third of a Nation,Mother Courage and her children and the Caucasian Chalk Circle.A play whose dramatic structure and instructive purposes epitomises epic theatre isThe Caucasian Chalk Circle (CCC). The prologue of this play transpires in aCaucasian village of the Soviet Union, where the commonwealth of this village arebeing presented a play called The Chalk Circle. This play is narrated by a Singer and embarks on the story of a servant girl, Grusha, who rescues thegovernors son when their city move under siege. The son, Michael, has beenleft behind, without so much as a backward glance, by his fleeing mother.Grusha escapes, with Michael in her arms, to the mountains where they live forover a year. Along this journey, countless places and people are encountered,a number that would only occur in epic theatre.In truly epic fashion, the play then regresses to the beginning of the story and