Bertolt Brecht was a German playwright who developed Epic Theatre, which aimed to make audiences think critically rather than simply accept what they saw on stage. He was interested in Marxism and how industrialization affected society. To achieve his goal, Brecht used techniques like Verfremdungseffekt ("alienation effect") to remind viewers they were watching a play, not becoming absorbed in the story. This prevented emotional engagement and encouraged questioning the ideas presented. His unconventional approach revolutionized theater by transforming it into a medium for examining social issues.

1. Bertolt Brecht
EPIC THEATRE

3. Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956)
was a famous German
playwright and poet.

5. Brecht started to write
political poetry and plays
at an early age about
social issues.
He was branded a
troublemaker at school and
got expelled for writing
anti-war poems.

7. Brecht became interested
in Karl Marx’s Theories
of Socialism.

8. Marxist theories were about
social justice, and were
critical of Capitalism.
It is about questioning who
has power and money, and
who goes without.
It is about
industrialisation, and how
this affects workers and
the power structures of
society.

10. Epic theatre came about at
a time when Melodrama,
Realism and Naturalism
were popular as theatre
forms.

11. Theses naturalistic
styles tried to
recreate real life on
stage.
The idea was for the
audience to believe
the story and
characters in the
play were real.

12. Basically theatre aimed to
be escapism.
The audience could forget
about their lives for a
while.
To not think.

13. Brecht hated this.
He saw it as a huge waste
of an audience.
He wanted people to
question and challenge –
not simply accept and
enjoy.

14. In the 1920’s,
Brecht created a new
form of theatre -
designed to make
the audience
question and think
about what they were
watching.

15. He called it Epic Theatre.

16. So, how did Brecht make
the audience step back
and view the message
rather than the
spectacle?

17. Verfremdungseffekt
or
alienation effects

18. Verfremdungseffekt was used to
direct the audience’s attention to
something new.
This was done by getting the scene
started, and then doing something
unexpected.
When the rhythm is interrupted, the
audience stops getting lost in the
emotion, story and characters.
They are able to start to think
and question.

19. It is like a slap in
the face with a wet
fish.
It wakes us up.

20. The idea with Verfremdungseffekt
was to constantly remind the
audience they were in a theatre,
watching a play.
These techniques break the
illusion of drama. We do not get
lost in the story or the
characters.
Instead we are constantly
reminded that these are actors
communicating ideas and
situations to us.

21. For example
plays were performed with the house
lights on so that audience members
remained aware of each other during
the performance
music and dancing were used to break
up the action of the play, or scenes
were sung rather than spoken
placards were used to give information
to the audience
all of the characters might be dressed
in black rather than individually
costumed
•
•
•
•

22. what did this mean
for the actor?

23. Brecht believed that the
actor’s job was merely to
show what happened. He did
not want actors to identify
with the character or to
play the role realistically,
which was the opposite of
Stanislavski’s purpose.

24. Brecht believed that the actor should:
* move as if blocking movements on stage for the first
time or in a robotic, dreamlike way
* treat voice and movement so that they do not match
* speak as if quoting someone else rather than speaking
dialogue
* speak the stage directions aloud
* remain physically and emotionally detached from the
other actors
* play scenes with mismatched emotions, for example,
humour in a sad scene
* perform directly to the audience
* exchange roles with other actors

25. Brecht died at the age of 54.
He fled Nazi Germany and
lived as a script writer in
Hollywood in the 1940’s.
In his will, he requested to
be buried in a lead lined
coffin with a stiletto heel
through his heart.

26. Theatre people
are weirdos...
But pretty clever, because he revolutionised theatre and
turned it into a tool for looking at the big issues that
affect us all. He made it possible for theatre to make a
difference.