Dzhulia Georgieva
4394554
Discuss the main developments and innovations in theatrical styles in one of the following genres,
using one of the texts as an illustration.
Epic theatre is a theatrical movement which appeared in the early to middle twenty
century from theories and practices of a number of theatre practitioners such as Erwin
Piscator, Vladimir Mayakovsky and mostly the German playwright, theatre theorist and
practitioner, Bertolt Brecht. The definition ‘Epic’ derives from the Greek word Epos, story
and it is a form of theatre which is constantly under development. Epic theatre is also a
reaction against the popular forms of theatre such as the Naturalistic approach managed
by Konstantin Stanislavski, which is the opposite of Brecht and what he did not like and
tried to change. Epic theatre proposed that a play should not cause the spectator to
identify emotionally with the characters or action before him or her, but should provoke
rational self-reflection and a critical view of the action on stage. (reference)
Bertolt Brecht’s Epic theatre departed from the conventions of theatrical illusion and
developed the drama as a social and ideological forum for leftist causes. Brecht is teh
main influence on Epic theatre, he wanted the audience not to sit back and feel, but sit
forward and think. He wanted his audiences to adopt a critical perspective in order to
recognise social injustice and exploration and to be moved to go forth from the theatre
and effect change in the world outside. As an example for that, here comes one of the
most important techniques developed in the Epic theatre by Bertolt Brecht, which is the
Verfremdungseffekt, mostly known as the ‘V’ effect, which is roughly translated as
‘defamiliarization effect’ , ‘distancing effect’, or the ‘estrangement effect’. The ‘V’ effect is
a performing arts concept, which prevents the audience from losing itself passively and
completely in the character created by the actor and which consequently leads the
audience to be a critical observer. To achieve this, Brecht wrote ‘stripping the event of its
self-evident, familiar, obvious quality and creating a sense of astonishment and curiosity
about them’ . (reference) He used various theatrical techniques such as the actor’s direct
address to the audience, very harsh bright stage lighting and the use of songs which would
interrupt the stage action. In addition, he used placards and even made the actors recite
the stage directions out loud during the play itself. Obviously, all these elements
discouraged the audience from identifying the characters. From the actors, Brecht
demanded not realism and identification with the role, but an objective style of playing,
to become in a sense detached observers. Certainly Brecht’s attack on the illusive theatre
influenced directly the theatre of every Western country. In Britain, the effect of his work
became evident in the work of such playwrights as John Arden and Edward Bond and also
in some of the bare-stage productions by the Royal Shakespeare Company. (reference)
Dzhulia Georgieva
4394554
However, Western theatre in twenty century has proved to be a cross-fertilization of
many styles . Bertolt did not want to destroy the as an institution, he wanted to refunction the theatre to a new social use. Brecht’s work is the important and original in
Europe drama since Ibsen experimentation. Of all Brecht’s ideas about theatre, his
concept of the appropriate emotional distance between performer and role and between
audience and performance is probably the best known. (reference)
A full understanding of his implications, however, is not easy and reaching it is not
assisted by Brecht’s determination to present his theatre as the opposite of ‘naturalistic’
theatre, and therefore, of the approach of its arch-exponent, Konstantin Stanislavski. The
simple ‘binary opposition’ is neither an accurate representation of Brecht’s practice in the
Epic theatre, nor a helpful approach for those wishing to perform his plays in a
sympathetic manner. Furthermore, this opposition has frequently created a barrier for
British actors to understanding the performance demands of a Brecht text. (Margaret
Eddershaw, ‘Performing Brecht’)
In order to create and be a part of the Epic theatre, Brecht has been influenced by many
people, amongst them was teh young singer and playwright Frank Wedekind, of whom he
wrote: ‘I have never been so excited and so deeply moved by a singer. It was the man’s
enormous vitality, his energy, that enabled him, overcome by laughter a d scorn, to bring
off his indomitable song to humanity, and this also gave him his personal magic.’ (Volker,
1979. p.148) Another influence on Brecht is the German director and producer Erwin
Piscator. Along with Bertot Brecht, Erwin Piscator assaulted the theatre on all sides of its
orthodox conventions and outlook. Unlike Brecht though, for Piscator the theatre was a
parliament, the public a legislative body. He did not want to provoke his audience with an
aesthetic experience but to stimulate them to take a practical stand in matters concerning
their own welfare and that of their country. It is quite difficult to explain and illustrate in
a short survey all the theories that arose in the 1920’s and 1930’s. It was an age of ‘isms’