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Epic Theatre began in the early 20th century from the theories of a number of Russian and German theatre practitioners: Erwin Piscator, Vladimir Mayakovsky, Vsevolod Meyerhold and, most famously, Bertolt Brecht, who is credited for unifying and popularizing the concepts and practices that now make Epic Theatre.

Background

Brecht (1898 -- 1956) was both playwright and director of plays. His most important works are 'The Life of Galileo' and 'Mother Courage and Her Children' which were written between 1937 and 1945 whilst he was in exile from Nazi Germany. Brecht returned after the war to establish the Berliner Ensemble.

It was only after the production of his plays that he received wide recognition.

The 20th century was an age that saw the political extremes of Nazism and Communism compete for dominance worldwide. Brecht himself had Marxist influences and avoided any support of capitalist values in his plays. Instead, many of his plays demonstrate examples of social injustice, and use these to promote socialist ideals. He believed theatre should be capable of making social change, while still providing entertainment.

Characteristics

Epic theatre was proposed as an alternative to the Naturalism developed by Stanislavski. Brecht was not trying to pretend that what he put on stage was real life. He was not concerned, for example, that a scene in 'Galileo', in a renaissance palace, had to take place in a believable imitation of such a palace. He wanted his audience to be aware of what was really happening -- that they were watching a play. Epic Theatre is supposed to keep an audience calm, reflective and detached from any emotion on stage. Brecht objected to theatre that relieved its audiences of stored emotions and desires, and did not want them to identify with characters. He believed such plays left audiences complacent and did not inspire them to effect change. Rather than passively sit through plays, Brecht's audiences are expected to give intellectual reflection to performances and even initiate social change after seeing examples of exploitation and inequality. The audience is invited not to feel, but to think.

Elements typical to an Epic Theatre production:

Choreographed movements (like a dance) keep audience from empathising with characters but retain interest.

· Loudspeakers announcing political events of the time.

· Flooding the stage with harsh white light, regardless of areas of action.

· Leaving stage lights in full view of the audience.

· Minimal use of props.

· No elaborate scenery.

· Musicians playing in view of audience.

· Intentionally interrupting the action with songs, for example, to make a point.

· Episodic narrative theatre where each scene begins with a caption, displayed or read aloud, that tells the audience what is about to happen.

· Using the voices of the Chorus for a main actor's speech, while the actor mimes.

· Anti-climactic lines after emotive speeches, such as "I must eat now." - a mundane observation made inappropriately by the protagonist in 'Galileo' after an impressive speech, to show the weakness of the man against the inventor.

· Language is clear and often informative, as Brecht intended Epic Theatre to be educational.

· Actors stepping out of role to comment on their character's actions.

· Actors making their choices explicit in speech e.g. "I could have helped the beggar, but I kept walking."

· Actors speaking directly to audience.

· Actors not supposed completely being their characters.

· Highly stylised, exaggerated movements.

All these techniques and elements aim to discourage an audience from suspending their disbelief and to keep them aware that they are watching a play, by making it harder for them to identify with characters and to keep the action alien and remote. Brecht called this the alienation effect, or 'V-Effekt'. These techniques remind the audience that the action is merely an enactment of reality and give Epic plays a constructed appearance, in the hope of communicating that our reality is also constructed by people, and so changeable.

The use of "quotable gesture," (using stances, mannerisms, or repeated action to sum up a character), and sudden shifts from one behaviour to another to put the audience off-balance, and suggesting "roads not taken" in moments of a character's decision-making, encourage audiences to criticize the society we see onstage in Epic Theatre.

Typical plot

Plots are usually created to convey political messages and make audiences think. They are structured and fluent stories but scenes, and the actions in them are intended to be studied separately. Injustice, toil and difficult decisions can be expected themes in plots. Brecht believed these help us examine the way societies live and discuss how and why social groups act the way they do under different political circumstances, and what can be changed to avoid injustices re-occurring.

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