How did Brecht make use of character and audience in order to successfully relay his socio-political messages?

1870 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Writings of brecht on epic theater

Bertolt Brecht was a renowned German theatre practitioner and dramatist whose works are credited as having been at the leading edge of 20th century theatre. Being a socialist-Marxist, Brecht he was deeply concerned with the society in which he lived, and so desired to change the way people both thought and acted towards their fellow man. His concept of the Epic Theatre sought to dramatically change the way in which theatre is to be performed, opposing many of the 19th century dramatic conventions outlined for the ‘well-made play’. Dramatic Theatre is generally thought to be constructed of a number of things; including the use of detailed characters, containing a robust plot, having evolutionary determinism, and progressing with linear development. On the other hand, Brecht’s Epic Theatre focuses on narrative, episodic scenes, curved storylines, and creates a broader picture of the world for the spectator. The primary intention of a ‘well-made play’ is to simply entertain, and as Brecht stated, ‘from the first it has been the theatre’s business to entertain people’ (Brecht, 1964, pg. 180). However, Brecht personally believed that theatre should primarily be a place for learning and social correction – using the stage as a political platform to both inform and inspire its audience members. Although this is not to say that Brecht completely dismissed the notion of having theatrical entertainment, since his plays were also filled with music, comedy and lighting. Thus, theatre should not merely try to represent society – it should attempt to shape it too. The main area that I wish to address is how Brecht made use of both character and audience in an attempt to push forward his own political and moral interests. To do this, I will be l...

... middle of paper ...

...23-31, JSTOR [Online]. Available at: http://www.jstor.org/stable/392365 (Accessed 19/04/2012).

Ernst, R. (2005) The Spectator and Not the Actor is the central focus of Brecht’s Stagecraft. Munich: GRIN Publishing GmbH.

Kolbe, J. (1954) Porträt Bertolt Brecht. [electronic print] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bertolt-Brecht.jpg (Accessed 22/04/2012).

Morley, M. (1977) Brecht: A Study. New Jersey: Rowman and Littlefield.

Needle, J. (1981) Brecht / Jan Needle and Peter Thomson. Oxford: Blackwell.

Styan, J. L. (1981) Modern Drama in Theory and Practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Tatlow, A. and Wong, T. (1982) Brecht and East Asian Theatre: The Proceedings of a Conference on Brecht in East Asian Theatre. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.

Willett, J. (1959) The Theatre of Bertolt Brecht, A Study from Eight Aspects. London: Methuen.

Show More
Related

  • Brecht

    2059 Words  | 5 Pages

    Over the course of his career, Brecht developed the criteria for and conditions needed to create Epic Theatre. The role of the audience can be likened to that of a group of college aged students or intellectuals. Brecht believed in the intelligence of his audience, and their capacity for critical analysis. He detested the trance-like state that an Aristotelian performance can lure the audience into. Plays that idealize life and humanity are appealing to an audience, and this makes it easy for them to identify with the hero, they reach a state of self oblivion. The spectator becomes one with the actor, and experiences the same fantastical climax that is unattainable in real life.

    Read More

  • Examining the Characters and their Weaknesses in Romeo and Juliet

    954 Words  | 2 Pages

    Stephen Greenblatt et al. The Norton Shakespeare Company. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1997.

    Read More

  • Escapism In Epic Theatre, By Bertolt Brecht

    547 Words  | 2 Pages

    Bertolt Brecht was a German playwright, theatre critic, and director. He created and developed epic theatre with the belief that theatre is not solely for entertainment but also tools for politics and social activism. Previous theatre performances offered a form of escapism. The audience would become emotionally invested in the performance. In contrast to the suspension of disbelief, Brecht never wanted the audience to fall into the performance. He wanted the audience to make judgments on the argument dealt in the play. The aim of epic theatre is to detach the audience from any emotional connection in order for them to critically review the story. The ultimate goal of this theatre is creating awareness of social surroundings and encouraging the audience to take initiative on changing the society.

    Read More

  • Intentional Melodrama Forms in Brecht's The Jewish Wife

    1161 Words  | 3 Pages

    The triviality of melodrama is so often the theatrical scapegoat that boils the blood of the modern-day critic: the sentimental monologues, the martyred young lovers, the triumphant hero, and the self-indulgent imagery. Melodrama would seem the ultimate taboo; another failed Shakespearean staging or even worse, an opera minus the pretty music. Ironically, Bertolt Brecht, dramatic revolutionary and cynic of all things contrived found promise in the melodramatic presentation. Brecht examined and manipulated the various superficial and spectacular aspects of theatre, establishing a synthesis of entertainment and social criticism as his fundamental goal. Bertolt Brecht employs various facets of melodramatic technique in The Jewish Wife, ultimately reconfiguring the genre and conveying his central theme; a society rendered immobile at the will of a totalitarian regime.

    Read More

  • Theatre Style: The Brechtian Style Of Performance

    1075 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Brechtian style of performance is a style of theater in which the audience is balanced between two modes of viewership. On the one hand the Brechtian style requires that the audience watch the show engaged emotionally, but not in the classic Aristotelian cathartic way. On the other hand it requires that the audience stay critically active in dealing with the performance, thus, achieving an alienated political and educational response among the members of the audience. Naturally this style of theater produces a conflict of interests in the direction of a show. Should the performance focus on garnering political influence and sway, or should the production be emotionally compelling and relatable, or perhaps a combination of both? In order

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Brecht On Theatre

    1078 Words  | 3 Pages

    Brecht, Bertolt. Brecht on Theatre: The Development of an Aesthetic. Hill & Wang New York,

    Read More

  • The Effects of Advancements in Lighting on The Theatre Experience

    1532 Words  | 4 Pages

    Russell Brown, J. 1995. The Oxford Illustrated History of the Theatre. 3rd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Read More

  • Bread and Puppet Theatre and the Audience

    2123 Words  | 5 Pages

    The name of the Bread and Puppet Theatre hails from the custom of sharing freshly baked bread with the theatre visitors to symbolise that art should be an everyday ritual for everyone just like eating bread.` We give you a piece of bread with the puppet show because our bread and theatre belong together. For a long time the theatre arts have been separated from the stomach. Theatre was entertainment.` (Peter Schumann, Bread & Puppet official website). The foremost goal of this theatre is to raise feelings of sensitivity in the viewer and to outline what the terms 'good' and 'evil' mean, especially in political spheres. This reflects the use of the audience as being used to create this form of emotion within the performanceset up, this is done through the raising the elements of sensitivity within their audience. Theatre also places a huge emphasis on the education and popularisation of art. Artists expressing their pacifistic views, strongly opposed to the war in Vietnam, and the enormous dolls created by Schumann have since become a permanent feature in many pacifistic demonstrations. Theatre critiques racial discrimination, deaf royal of natural habitats, compulsory military service and globalism. The theatre spectacles take the role of mentors who teach is lessons of morality - they are full of symbolism, archetypes and they refer to the bible, mythology and folklore.` ìWe believe in puppet theatre as a wholesome and powerful language that can touch men and women and children alike, and we hope that our plays are true and are saying what has to be said, and that they add to your enjoyment and enlightenment ` (Robert Schumann, Bread & Puppet Theatre official website). They focus on en...

    Read More

  • Indecision, Hesitation and Delay in Shakespeare's Hamlet - Excessive Hesitation and Delay?

    2788 Words  | 6 Pages

    Rose, Mark. “Reforming the Role.” Modern Critical Interpretations: Hamlet. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1986. Rpt. from Homer to Brecht: The European Epic and Dramatic Traditions. Ed. Michael Seidel and Edward Mendelson. N.p.: Yale University Press, 1977.

    Read More

  • Macbeth Play Analysis

    728 Words  | 2 Pages

    During the Splendid adaptation, it was clear that they mainly focused on style, using a Brecht as an influence. At the beginning of the performance, the audience was greeted

    Read More

  • Brechtian Alienation in Theater Performance

    1209 Words  | 3 Pages

    Community performance can include political debates, social commentaries disguised as autobiographical self-debasing monologues as well as Renaissance Faires with their celebratory and informative performances. Each example can be said to include elements of Brechtian Alienation, even if they are not, perhaps, the performances that Brecht himself had in mind. However, the performances are important in that they force us to examine our own place within both the world of the theater and within our respective realities.

    Read More

  • Peter Brook

    1450 Words  | 3 Pages

    On stage, these points were, looking at the opinions of a majority of both the audiences and the critics, presented successfully by Brook and the cast he worked with. From the prison guards who loomed in the background, clothed in butcher aprons and armed with clubs, to the half-naked Marat, slouched in a tub and covered in wet rags, forever scratching and writing, to the small group of singers, dressed and painted up as clowns, to the narcoleptic but murderous Charlotte Corday, Weiss and Brook offered a stage production that both engaged and amazed the audience, while at the same time forced them to question their role as the audience; no better exemplified than at the very end of the play, where the inmates, standing menacingly at the edge of the stage, actually begin to applaud the very people who applaud their performance, aggravating and confusing some, but forcing most t...

    Read More

  • Epic Theatre: The Influences of Bertolt Brecht

    1461 Words  | 3 Pages

    The ideas of Bertolt Brecht (1898-1965) changed the theatre in many ways. Brecht along with Erwin Piscator developed the style of Epic theatre style contrasting to previous accepted styles. Presentational in form, Epic theatre is a vehicle for social comment through techniques such as: alienation, historification, eclectic influences (highly Asian), constructivism in scenery, disjointed and illogical scene placement, ordinary clothing and lighting, the use of music to detach the audience from emotion, placards and signs and projected images. Didactic in nature Brecht’s works aim to challenge the audience to assess socially accepted norms and educate them to injustices often overlooked by the public. The Caucasian Chalk Circle (Brecht, 1944) written during the time of Nazi Germany occupation has a clearly political and social focus.

    Read More

  • Greek and Elizabethan Theatre

    912 Words  | 2 Pages

    The name most associated with excellence in theatre is William Shakespeare. His plays, more than any other playwright, resonate through the ages. It may be safe to say that he has influenced more actors, directors, and playwrights than any thespian in the history of the stage. But what were his influences? During the Middle Ages theatre was dominated by morality, miracle, and mystery plays that were often staged by the church as a means to teach the illiterate masses about Christianity. It wasn’t until the early sixteenth century that Greek tragedy experienced a revival, in turn, inspiring a generation of renaissance playwrights.

    Read More

  • Avant Garde Theatre Essay

    1002 Words  | 3 Pages

    Theatre as we know it now was born more than two thousand years ago and has gone through many streams until it reached the current modernity. Among these streams is the avant-garde theatre. This theatre achieved a break in the traditional theatre and became the forefront of a new experimental theatre. Therefore it is necessary to ask how this theatre started, what impact it had on society and if this type of theatre is still common in our modern era.

    Read More

More about How did Brecht make use of character and audience in order to successfully relay his socio-political messages?

Open Document