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epic theater
3 reference results for: Epic theater
Columbia Encyclopedia
epic theater: see Brecht, Bertolt; Piscator, Erwin.
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Wikipedia
Epic theatre is a theatre movement arising in the early to mid-20th century, inextricably linked to the German playwright Bertolt Brecht. Though many of the concepts involved in epic theatre had been around for years, even centuries, Brecht unified them, developed the style, and popularised it. It is sometimes referred to as Brechtian acting, although its principles apply equally to the writing and production of plays. "Its qualities of clear description and reporting and its use of choruses and projections as a means of commentary earned it the name 'epic'. Brecht later favoured the term dialectical theatre, to emphasize the element of argument and discussion.

Goals of Epic theatre

Epic theatre assumes that the purpose of a play, more than entertainment or the imitation of reality, is to present ideas and invites the audience to make judgments on them. Characters are not intended to mimic real people, but to represent opposing sides of an argument, archetypes, or stereotypes. The audience should always be aware that it is watching a play, and should remain at an emotional distance from the action; Brecht described this ideal as the Verfremdungseffekt — variously translated as "alienation effect", "Defamiliarization effect", or "estrangement effect". It is the opposite of the suspension of disbelief: "It is most important that one of the main features of the ordinary theatre should be excluded from [epic theatre]: the engendering of illusion.

This was largely a reaction against other popular forms of theatre, particularly the realistic drama pioneered by Konstantin Stanislavski. Like Stanislavski, Brecht disliked the shallow spectacle, manipulative plots, and heightened emotion of melodrama; but where Stanislavski attempted to mirror real human behaviour through the techniques of his Stanislavski System, and to immerse the audience totally into the world of the play, Brecht saw this as another form of escapism. The social/political focus of epic theatre was also a departure from the radical theories of Antonin Artaud, who sought to affect audiences on an entirely non-rational level.

Techniques

Common production techniques in epic theatre include simplified, non-realistic set designs and announcements or visual captions that interrupt and summarize the action. Brecht used comedy to distance his audiences from emotional or serious events and was heavily influenced by musicals and fairground performers, putting music and song in his plays. Acting in epic theatre requires actors to play characters believably without convincing either the audience or themselves that they are truly the characters. Actors often address the audience directly out of character ("breaking the fourth wall") and play multiple roles. Brecht thought it was important that the choices the characters made were explicit, and tried to develop a style of acting wherein it was evident that the characters were choosing one action over another. For example, a character could say, "I could have stayed at home, but instead I went to the shops."

Footnotes

See also

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia © 2001-2006 Wikipedia contributors (Disclaimer)
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Last updated on Saturday June 14, 2008 at 19:40:47 PDT (GMT -0700)
View this article at Wikipedia.org - Edit this article at Wikipedia.org - Donate to the Wikimedia Foundation

CITE THIS SOURCE|PRINT
Wikipedia
Epic theatre is a theatre movement arising in the early to mid-20th century, inextricably linked to the German playwright Bertolt Brecht. Though many of the concepts involved in epic theatre had been around for years, even centuries, Brecht unified them, developed the style, and popularised it. It is sometimes referred to as Brechtian acting, although its principles apply equally to the writing and production of plays. "Its qualities of clear description and reporting and its use of choruses and projections as a means of commentary earned it the name 'epic'. Brecht later favoured the term dialectical theatre, to emphasize the element of argument and discussion.

Goals of Epic theatre

Epic theatre assumes that the purpose of a play, more than entertainment or the imitation of reality, is to present ideas and invites the audience to make judgments on them. Characters are not intended to mimic real people, but to represent opposing sides of an argument, archetypes, or stereotypes. The audience should always be aware that it is watching a play, and should remain at an emotional distance from the action; Brecht described this ideal as the Verfremdungseffekt — variously translated as "alienation effect", "Defamiliarization effect", or "estrangement effect". It is the opposite of the suspension of disbelief: "It is most important that one of the main features of the ordinary theatre should be excluded from [epic theatre]: the engendering of illusion.

This was largely a reaction against other popular forms of theatre, particularly the realistic drama pioneered by Konstantin Stanislavski. Like Stanislavski, Brecht disliked the shallow spectacle, manipulative plots, and heightened emotion of melodrama; but where Stanislavski attempted to mirror real human behaviour through the techniques of his Stanislavski System, and to immerse the audience totally into the world of the play, Brecht saw this as another form of escapism. The social/political focus of epic theatre was also a departure from the radical theories of Antonin Artaud, who sought to affect audiences on an entirely non-rational level.

Techniques

Common production techniques in epic theatre include simplified, non-realistic set designs and announcements or visual captions that interrupt and summarize the action. Brecht used comedy to distance his audiences from emotional or serious events and was heavily influenced by musicals and fairground performers, putting music and song in his plays. Acting in epic theatre requires actors to play characters believably without convincing either the audience or themselves that they are truly the characters. Actors often address the audience directly out of character ("breaking the fourth wall") and play multiple roles. Brecht thought it was important that the choices the characters made were explicit, and tried to develop a style of acting wherein it was evident that the characters were choosing one action over another. For example, a character could say, "I could have stayed at home, but instead I went to the shops."

Footnotes

See also

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia © 2001-2006 Wikipedia contributors (Disclaimer)
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Last updated on Saturday June 14, 2008 at 19:40:47 PDT (GMT -0700)
View this article at Wikipedia.org - Edit this article at Wikipedia.org - Donate to the Wikimedia Foundation

CITE THIS SOURCE|PRINT
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