Bertolt Brecht was a German playwright and theatre practitioner who created Epic Theatre, which aimed to educate audiences and provoke social and political change through critical thinking. Epic Theatre breaks the fourth wall and uses distancing effects like songs, captions, and episodic formats to remind viewers they are watching a representation, not reality itself, in order to shape attitudes and society. Brecht believed theatre's greatest function was to educate rather than provide escapism.

1. EPIC
THEATRE

2. Bertolt Brecht
• 1898-1956
• Brecht was a German playwright, poet and
director as well as theatre practitioner.
• From his late 20’s Brecht remained a life-
long committed Marxist.
• Brecht is the creator of Epic Theatre.

3. Epic Theatre
• Brecht was convinced that theatre must
aim to bring about social and political
change.
• Epic Theatre aims to force the audience to
critically think and make judgements on
what they are seeing.
• It tries to show how things in society
could be different if attitudes could be
changed.
“Art is not a mirror held up to reality, but a
hammer with which to shape it.” -Brecht

4. The Form of Epic Theatre
• Emphasis is placed on the importance of a
social or political message before the
exploration of a character.
• A reaction again Naturalism, Epic Theatre
breaks through the ‘fourth wall’ of the
stage.
• Brecht believed Theatre’s greatest
function was to educate.

5. The Form of Epic Theatre
• Epic Theatre illuminates situations in the past to
teach about the present.
• Epic Theatre uses a variety of effects and
techniques to constantly remind the audience
that what they are watching is only a
representation of reality, not reality itself. These
techniques are called the Verfremdungseffekt
(the distancing effect or making something
strange).

6. Examples of the
Verfremdungseffekt
• Songs used as commentary on action,
• The use of captions/placards,
• Narrators,
• An episodic format,
• Masks,
• Gestus,
• Juxtapositioning,
• Props/set,
• Lighting