Epic theatre

The only habitus that can grasp the processes which frolic needs to grasp if it Is to provide an broad view of the world BBs all-encompassing view of the world was Marxism. Epic sign derives from Greek. Epos, story. A form of line of business which egotism consciously narrates. Estrangement effect = estrangement/alienation effect distancing the smasher from the action encouraging rational thought and analysis reducing randy catharsis. Aristotelian sphere / non-Aristotelian Theatre.Term derives from Aristotles Poetics. A. formulated an aestheuc based on catharsis, ( = purging of feeling through empathy), hence BBs description of his Epic Theatre as non-Aristotelian Theatre. Epic Theatre = Historicised theatre, theatre about the present, further non doctor In the present. (Distanclatlon) verfremdungseffekt (V-Effekt) Entfremdung both equal alienation. But? Estrangement aims to facilitate rationality, reason, rumination militate against empathy and catharsis learning eithe r from or against characters making governing into art The politicisation of aesthetics and the aesthetlclsatlon of politics. BB was also a great manipulator of genre. Adaptations, parodies, allegories, parables (political not moral e. g. Arturo Ui). 1 . PARODY Keeping an existing cultural form, scarce inserting a different content. The Threepenny Opera (1928) an opera peopled by beggars, gangsters prostitutes 2. TRAVESTY ( = disguise) retaining a familiar existing content, but delivering It In a new or different form. Two examples The Sex Pistols punk variant of God Save the Queen. The credits music at the end of Michael Moores Bowling for aquilegia? the Ram onenesss upbeat version of Wonderful world originally recorded by Louis Armstrong.Why is that travesty, and whats the effect in the context of the film and Its subject matter (crime, racialism and the gun-culture in the LISA)? 3. PARABLE Narration by analogy. A didactic chronicle conveying a moral truth or message in ano ther guise. M. H. Abrams, A Glossary of Literary Terms, London, 1988. Comp atomic number 18d to Kafkas parables (e. g. Before the Law? 4. simile A narrative in which the agents and action, and almosttimes the setting as well, be contrived so as to make coherent sense on the literal, or primary level of significance, and also to signify a second, comparable order of agents, concepts and events.M. H. Abrams, ibid. The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui (1941) reflects in parabolic form events in Germany 1929- 1939. Allusion, rather than direct one-to-one reference. Apparently/superficially about gangsters in 1930s Chicago, but actually about fascisms rise to personnel in Germany. Hitler as A1 Capone, Nazi politicians as 1930s Chicago gangsters, but talking in classical metre ands presented as if in a classical tragedy. Also a parable, with a political moral The uterus is still fertile.Donmar Warehouse London, 2008 Arturo I as Robert Mugabe. . As parables by definition simplify complex processes, BBs model of Germany 929-1938 is inevitably incomplete. What is missing historically? Complex negotiations re. Weimar cabinets before 1933 The book burnings (1933) The Persecution and expulsion of intellectuals (post-33) The Nazi Olympic games (August 1936) The Hitler/Stalin cartel (August 1939) The Spanish civil war July 1936 March 1939) The Munich agreement (Sept 1938) What is retained? 1 .The NAZI tactic of pseudo-legality , so for instance the Nov 1923 Beer Hall Putsch is referred to as a failed bank robbery. BUT Theres no mention of Hitlers electoral deliver 2. BB suggests that the petty bourgeoisie were forced to support Hitler. . Various political manoeuvrings round Hindenburg are addressed in the look, but Brechts portrayal distorts history In reality the Junkers supporting Hindenburg were not captains of industry, but pre-industrial agricultural landowners, economically archaic, a politically powerful landowning elite.BB solves this problem by giving the ca uliflower dedicate a dual function they are both industrialists and they also conciliate the Junkers agricultural interests. 4. The Anschluss (annexation into the greater German Third Reich in 1938) is portrayed by 8B, but BB gives a different reason for it n the play, so that Ul invades Cicero to award business to expand its interest and markets. BB ignores the political and nationalist motivation of Hitlers Anschluss, i. e. manner of speaking the Germans Heim ins Reich. The play portrays historical figures in characters represent types social, political, economic, class positions.Dogsborough represents the old rightist traditional conservatives in Germany, Dollfuss the same in Austria, Trustherren represent the capitalists, and Kleinhndler represent the ticker class. But BB gives hardly any insights into Hitler the person. Although Ui is a ively theatrical character, hes very one-dimensional, a thug with hardly any charisma. Brecht using non-realist techniques to penetrate b eneath the mount appearance of capitalism to reveal its essential reality, its power strategies and economic relations.Dramatic world (naturalism) Dismissed by Brecht as too preoccupied with the accuracy of progress details. The realist myth of a slice of spiritedness Mere re exertion of reality is inadequate. prominent action is Art as a lamp, not a reflect Illumination, v. reflection Art should draw attention to the conditions and the process of its own production Non-realist expose the illusion striven for by naturalist and realist writers and directors, the myth that what they offer an consultation (in a theatre, cinema or wherever) is an uncomplicated unmediated slice of life.For Brecht non-realist methods, transcending the limitations of the strictly empirical, the verifiable, were (paradoxically? ) those most appropriate to understanding the true nature of reality, not Just its superficial appearance. Brecht believed he was not anti realism as such, he preferred a diff erent form of realism. In this observational sense Brecht was both a realist and a modernist. Typical techniques of Brechtian epical theatre in performance 1 . Announcer summarising the events to come. 2.Actors stepping outside their roles, addressing the audience, reminding us we are ceremony a play 3. Characters singing (as in opera, but to didactic effect) 4. Actors swapping roles (to prohibit emotional identification). 5. (In film) Montage Verfremdungseffekt a practical example SPRING The play of the sexes (regeneration of the species) is renewed Every Spring. The lovers Meet. The gentle embrace Of the lovers hand makes the Girls breast tremble. Her evanescent glance beguiles him. In Spring the countryside Appears to the lovers renewed. The air is already warm.The days bewilder long and The fields stay light later. In Spring the trees and sleuth Grow free of inhibition. Fertilisation in the forests and fields gathers pace. And the earth gives consume to the new, Free fr om care and precaution. From the sound film Kuhle Wampe co-scripted by Brecht, Germany, 1931/2 crowd together Lyon, Brecht and Hollywood Conclusion Some broader Brecht issues to reflect on BBs primary tenderness to Marxism was his thirst for greater k nowledge and greater understanding of social processes, what he called the temptation of rational hought (Galileo? BB was above all a scientific thinker, who seek rational solutions to social problems. He rejected metaphysics and all forms of irrationalism, and prioritised empirical thought. barely because of his apparently total exclusive dedication to rationalism BB was worthy of the bound UTOPIAN thinker. BB was the ultimate rationalist, more dedicated to the analytical methods of Marxist query than to Marxisms practical implementation. Did BB fetishise idolise science?Did he acknowledge its limitations? How appropriate is BBs lean to the post-modern age, when scepticism about the ncritical appliance of science, and thus abo ut the desirability of man progress gaykind, seem to dominate the political agenda? How does the above link up to Life of Galileo? Is BB now pass, given the end of the Cold war, the death of real existing socialism in eastern Europe, and the disappearance of his chosen German homeland (DDR) after German re-unification in 1990?Or is BBs project (to stick in politics into art and art into politics i. e. to make both activities fun) now even more necessary? Look out for the predilection amongst some TV advert designers for Brechtian self- irony The essays excerpted in John Willets The Theatre of Bertolt Brecht are a good starting-point for investigating Brechts views on theatrical practice. From The Modern Theatre is the Epic Theatre (notes on Mahagonny) the shifts of accent between dramatic theatre and epic theatre.Wears down his capacity arouses his capacity for for action action provides him with sensations forces him to take decisions let picture of the world the spectator is involved in he is make to face something omething suggestion argument instinctive feelings are preserved are brought to the point of recognition the spectator is in the thick of it, spectator stands outside, studies shares the the human macrocosm is taken inquiry the human being is the object of the for disposed(p) eyes on the finish eyes on the course one scene makes another each scene for itself growth montage unidimensional development in curves evolutionary determinism Jumps man as a frozen(p) point man as a process thought determines being social being determines thought feeling reason Brecht on Theatre.