Epic Theatre - Taking Down Right Wing Politicians One Play At a Time

I promise I'm not just really enthusiastic about this style of theatre; there really is a style called epic theatre.

 
"Don't be afraid of death so much as an inadequate life."
-Brecht

    Bertolt Brecht was born just over a decade before the first world war, in Germany. He was a devout Marxist, and this played a part in his desire to experiment with using theatre as a tool for displaying social and political opinions. He helped develop a style of theatre called epic theatre.
   

      The aim of epic theatre is to force the audience to reflect critically both inwards at their own lives and outwards at the play, which will have an argument over unfairness or inequality. He wanted the audience to be as detached emotionally from the characters as possible, and realize that the actors are merely manufacturing a story, because he thought emotion would override their ability to discuss rationally. Often, after the play has taken place, the actors will sit down and engage in a discussion about the play with the audience.
     He wrote his plays wanting to treat his audience intelligently, and wanting to inspire them to think, discuss, and then make change in the real world.

  Epic theatre consists of a structure of loosely connected scenes, and the characters usually represent a part of humanity. Often characters don't have actual names, but instead are called by their profession (eg Mother, Judge). Their personalities are written to be very contrasting from each other, in order to startle the audience.
     

     His plays make use of humour, dance, music, and clowning as well as straight acting to explain his political ideas in an entertaining way.

The Mother -When her son is arrested for consorting with revolutionaries, a mother in Russia takes on his role of secretly handing out leaflets that protest the low working wages and high food prices, and she becomes a figurehead for the working class, also fighting against illiteracy.

 

     Some methods that epic theatre uses to create aVerfremdungs-effekt (a distancing effect) are to:

• Interrupt the plot with song interludes
• Use harsh lighting, and have the tech equipment visible onstage
• Have actors "break the fourth wall", and speak directly to the audience
• Show signs explaining the action taking place
• Speak the stage directions out loud
• Do costume changes onstage
• Use set pieces for multiple different things (eg a cardboard background used in one scene might be moved and set down as a table in another) 

     Brecht wanted his actors to remember that they were only playing a character, and often a technique called "Gestus" is used in performances, where the actor will pause for a moment in the scene, using a facial expression or position to express the emotion that the character is currently feeling at the time.


I personally find epic theatre very refreshing and thought-provoking. I highly recommend that everyone who enjoys debates and is invested in world issues and politics go to see a play by Brecht.

http://www.usq.edu.au/artsworx/schoolresources/goodwomanofszechwan/epictheatre
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/b/bertolt_brecht.html
http://www.cs.brandeis.edu/~jamesf/goodwoman/brecht_epic_theater.html
Images: http://oughttobeclowns.blogspot.ca/2011/08/review-mother-scoop-at-more-london.html
http://www.quotecollection.com/author/bertolt-brecht/