Brecht, B. (1978). Brecht on Theatre: The Development of an Aesthetic. United Kingdom: Hill and Wang. Epic Theatre Alienation Effect The Instructive Theatre Theatre and Knowledge Experimental Theatre Rational and Emotional Elements of Illusion

1. Brecht on Theatre:
The Development of an Aesthetic
Brecht, B. (1978). Brecht on Theatre: The Development of an
Aesthetic. United Kingdom: Hill and Wang.

2. “Theatre for Instruction”
“Briefly, the aristotelian play is essentially static;
its task is to show the world as it is. The
learning-play is essentially dynamic; its task is
to show the world as it changes (and also how
it may be changed). With the learning-play,
then, the stage begins to be didactic.”

4. “Epic Theatre”
“The epic theatre works out scenes
where people adopt attitudes of such
a sort that the social laws under which
they are acting spring into sight. The
concern of the epic theatre is thus
eminently practical. Human behaviour
is shown as alterable.”
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5. “To give an example: a scene where three men are hired by a
fourth for a specific illegal purpose (Mann ist Mann) has to be
shown by the epic theatre in such a way that it becomes possible
to imagine the attitude of the four men other than as it is
expressed there: i.e. so that one imagines either a different set of
political and economic conditions under which these men would
be speaking differently, or else a different approach on their part
to their actual conditions, which would likewise lead them to say
different things. In short, the spectator is given the chance to
criticize human behaviour from a social point of view, and the
scene is played as a piece of history. The idea is that the spectator
should be put in a position where he can make comparisons about
everything that influences the way in which human beings behave.”

6. “Alienation Effect: This method was most
recently used in Germany for plays of a non-
aristotelian (not dependent on empathy) type as
part of the attempts being made to evolve an
epic theatre. The efforts in question were
directed to playing in such a way that the
audience was hindered from simply identifying
itself with the characters in the play. This effort
to make the incidents represented appear
strange to the public can be seen in the
theatrical and pictorial displays at the old
popular fairs.”

7. “Alienation Effect: The A-effect was achieved in the German
epic theatre not only by the actor, but also by the music and
the setting (placards, film etc.). It was principally designed to
historicize the incidents portrayed. By this is meant the
following: The bourgeois theatre emphasized the
timelessness of its objects. Its representation of people is
bound by the alleged ‘eternally human’. Its story is arranged in
such a way as to create ‘universal’ situations. But for the
historicizing theatre everything is different. The theatre
concentrates entirely on whatever in this perfectly everyday
event is remarkable, particular and demanding inquiry.”

8. “Alienation Effect: What! A family letting one of its members leave
the nest to earn her future living independently and without help?
Is she up to it? Will what she has learnt here as a member of the
family help her to earn her living? Is it like that with every family?
Was it always like that? Is this the way of the world, something that
can’t be affected? The fruit falls off the tree when ripe: does this
sentence apply here? Do children always make themselves
independent? Did they do so in every age? These are the
questions (or a few of them) that the actors must answer if they
want to show' the incident as a unique, historical one: if they want
to demonstrate a custom which leads to conclusions about the
entire structure of a society at a particular (transient) time.”

9. “Alienation Effect”
“Winter of 1936: the first mention
in his writings of the term
‘Verfremdungseffekt’… The
formula itself is a translation of the
Russian critic Viktor Shklovskij’s
phrase ‘Priem Ostrannenija’, or
‘device for making strange’.”

10. “Alienation Effect: What is involved here is, briefly, a
technique of taking the human social incidents to
be portrayed and labelling them as something
striking, something that calls for explanation, is not
to be taken for granted, not just natural. The object
of this ‘effect’ is to allow the spectator to criticize
constructively from a social point of view.”

11. “Alienation Effect”
“The A-effect consists in turning the object of which one is to be
made aware, to which one’s attention is to be drawn, from
something ordinary, familiar, immediately accessible, into
something peculiar, striking and unexpected. What is obvious is in
a certain sense made incomprehensible, but this is only in order
that it may then be made all the easier to comprehend. Before
familiarity can turn into awareness the familiar must be stripped of
its inconspicuousness; we must give up assuming that the object
in question needs no explanation.”

12. “A common use of the A-effect is when
someone says: ‘Have you ever really
looked carefully at your watch?’ I used to
look at it to see the time, and now when
he asks me in this importunate way I
realize that I have given up seeing the
watch itself with an astonished eye; and
it is in many ways an astonishing piece
of machinery. The asking of the question
has alienated it, and intentionally so.”

13. “To see one’s mother as a man’s wife one
needs an A-effect; this is provided, for
instance, when one acquires a stepfather.”

14. “Epic Theatre”
Changes of emphasis as between the dramatic and the epic theatre:
Dramatic theatre Epic theatre
plot narrative
implicates the spectator in a stage situation turns the spectator into an observer
provides him with sensations forces him to take decisions
experience arouses his capacity for action
instinctive feelings are preserved brought to the point of recognition
the human being is taken for granted the human being is the object of the inquiry
man as a fixed point man as a process
thought determines being social being determines thought
feeling reason

15. “The dramatic theatre’s spectator
says: ‘Yes, I have felt like that too -
Just like me - It’s only natural - It’ll
never change - The sufferings of
this man appall me, because they
are inescapable - That’s great art; it
all seems the most obvious thing in
the world -I weep when they weep,
I laugh when they laugh’.”
“The epic theatre’s spectator says:
‘I’d never have thought it - That’s
not the way - That’s extraordinary,
hardly believable - It’s got to stop -
The sufferings of this man appall
me, because they are unnecessary
- That’s great art: nothing obvious
in it -I laugh when they weep, I
weep when they laugh’.”

16. “Opera with Innovations”
“The avant-garde are demanding
innovations which are supposedly
going to lead to a renovation of
opera; but nobody demands a
fundamental discussion of opera
(i.e. of its function), and probably
such a discussion would not find
much support.”

17. “Opera with Innovations”
“Values evolve which are based on the fodder principle. And this leads to a general habit of judging
works of art by their suitability for the apparatus without ever judging the apparatus by its suitability
for the work. People say, this or that is a good work; and they mean (but do not say) good for the
apparatus.
Yet this apparatus is conditioned by the society of the day and only accepts what can keep it going
in that society. We are free to discuss any innovation which doesn’t threaten its social function - that
of providing an evening’s entertainment. We are not free to discuss those which threaten to change
its function, possibly by fusing it with the educational system or with the organs of mass
communication. Society absorbs via the apparatus whatever it needs in order to reproduce itself.
This means that an innovation will pass if it is calculated to rejuvenate existing society, but not if it is
going to change it.”

18. “Opera with Innovations”
“The trouble is that at present the apparati do not work for the general
good; the means of production do not belong to the producer; and as a
result his work amounts to so much merchandise, and is governed by
the normal laws of mercantile trade. Art is merchandise, only to be
manufactured by the means of production (apparati).
Even if one wanted to start a discussion of the opera as such (i.e. of its
function), an opera would have to be written.
We have seen that opera is sold as evening entertainment, and that this
puts definite bounds to all attempts to transform it.”

19. “The Instructive Theatre”
“Generally there is felt to be a very sharp distinction between learning
and amusing oneself. The first may be useful, but only the second is
pleasant. Well: all that can be said is that the contrast between learning
and amusing oneself is not laid down by divine rule; it is not one that
has always been and must continue to be. Undoubtedly there is much
that is tedious about the kind of learning familiar to us from school,
from our professional training, etc. But it must be remembered under
what conditions and to what end that takes place. It is really a
commercial transaction. Knowledge is just a commodity.”

20. “The Instructive Theatre”
“All those who have grown out of going to school have to do their
learning virtually in secret, for anyone who admits that he still has
something to learn devalues himself as a man whose knowledge is
inadequate.
Learning is often among the concerns of those whom no amount
of concern will get any forwarder. There is not much knowledge
that leads to power, but plenty of knowledge to which only power
can lead.”

21. “Theatre and Knowledge”
“Art and science work in quite different ways: agreed. But, bad as it may
sound, I have to admit that I cannot get along as an artist without the use of
one or two sciences. In my view the great and complicated things that go on
in the world cannot be adequately recognized by people who do not use
every possible aid to understanding.
I cannot without further ado conjure up an adequate picture of a murderer’s
mental state. Modern psychology acquaints me with facts that lead me to
judge the case quite differently, especially if I bear in mind the findings of
sociology and do not overlook economics and history.”

22. “Experimental Theatre”
“Piscator’s theatre was ‘the most radical’ of all such attempts… Piscator saw the
theatre as a parliament, the audience as a legislative body. Piscator’s stage was not
indifferent to applause, but it preferred a discussion. It didn’t want only to provide its
spectator with an experience but also to squeeze from him a practical decision to
intervene actively in life. Aesthetic considerations were entirely subject to political.
Piscator was even ready to do wholly without actors. A whole staff of playwrights
worked together on a single play, and their work was supported and checked by a
staff of experts, historians, economists, statisticians. Piscator’s experiments broke
nearly all the conventions. They were striving towards an entirely new social function
for the theatre.”

23. “Experimental Theatre: There are
three aids which may help to
alienate the actions and remarks of
the characters being portrayed: 1.
Transposition into the third person.
2. Transposition into the past. 3.
Speaking the stage directions out
loud.”

24. “Experimental Theatre”
“The solution here aimed at is only one of the
conceivable solutions to the problem, which can be
expressed so: How can the theatre be both
instructive and entertaining? How can it be
divorced from spiritual dope traffic and turned from
a home of illusions to a home of experiences?”

25. “Rational and Emotional”
“The rejection of empathy is not the result of a
rejection of the emotions, nor does it lead to such. The
crude aesthetic thesis that emotions can only be
stimulated by means of empathy is wrong.
The emotions always have a quite definite class basis;
the form they take at any time is historical, restricted
and limited in specific ways. The emotions are in no
sense universally human and timeless.”

26. “The modern theatre mustn’t be judged by its
success in satisfying the audience’s habits but by
its success in transforming them. It needs to be
questioned not about its degree of conformity with
the ‘eternal laws of the theatre’ but about its ability
to master the rules governing the great social
processes of our age; not about whether it
manages to interest the spectator in buying a ticket
- i.e. in the theatre itself - but about whether it
manages to interest him in the world.”

27. “The Radio as an Apparatus of Communication”
“In our society one can invent and perfect discoveries that still have to
conquer their market and justify their existence; in other words discoveries
that have not been called for.
The radio is one-sided when it should be two. It is purely an apparatus for
distribution, for mere sharing out. So here is a positive suggestion: change
this apparatus over from distribution to communication. The radio would be
the finest possible communication apparatus in public life, a vast network of
pipes. That is to say, it would be if it knew how to receive as well as to
transmit, how to let the listener speak as well as hear, how to bring him into a
relationship instead of isolating him.”

28. “Elements of Illusion”
“What counts in a realistic
portrayal is carefully worked
out details of costumes and
props, for here the
audience’s imagination can
add nothing.”