Bertold Brecht, Intellectual Drama and Change

During the time period of and between World War I and World War II, major societal changes began to occur. Fascism, totalitarianism, and socialism began to take hold in certain societies, and economies began to fall. The general social unrest that was occurring throughout the world was also being reflected in theatre, which is when new forms of theatre such as expressionism, futurism, Dadaism, surrealism, and epic theatre began to emerge. Among the pioneers of these avant-garde forms of theatre was Bertold Brecht, a philosophical dramatist who was known for his socialist ideals. He believed that theatre was meant to instruct, not to provide the means for emotional stimulation and purging. Brecht’s ideal form of strictly intellectual epic theatre is not possible, because without catharsis and some form of emotional attachment to theatre, society will be unmotivated to effect change without some element of care for the piece of theatre that they are experiencing.

According to Living Theatre, Brecht believed that “theatre could create an intellectual climate for social change.” (Wilson and Goldfarb 424) In order to create this intellectual environment, he favored “alienating” his audiences from dramatic action by creating a world that would not permit their imaginations to completely carry them into the world of the play, and would therefore allow them to focus more on the pressing social issues that were being presented to them. He did this by making the reality that they were inside of a theatre incredibly evident by using techniques such as placing lighting instruments in obvious places, setting his plays in “fictitious foreign lands,” and separating production elements to convey the play’s message individually, as opposed to p...

... middle of paper ...

...ted. It is in this way that catharsis is truly beneficial not only to the means of theatre and an audience, but to society as well.

In conclusion, Brecht’s philosophies, though popular, are not necessarily correct in their speculations. While there is validity as to why he would want to induce societal change through intellectual theatre, his form of epic theatre is simply impracticable, because in order to have a causal effect on society and create change, an emotional stimulation or catharsis has to occur in order to spark intellectual interest and create a motivation for societal change. Therefore, catharsis and the purging of one’s emotions is necessary to accomplish Brecht’s goals of epic theatre: to instruct and to create change.

Works Cited

Wilson, Edwin, and Alvin Goldfarb. Living Theatre: History of the Theatre. Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill, 2008. Print.