Do you feel amused when characters in a movie or television series stare straight into the camera or even talk to the viewer? This theatrical technique, like many others, originated from the work of the German playwright and writer Bertolt Brecht (1898– 1956).
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Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht, known professionally as Bertolt Brecht was born in Augsburg, Germany, on 10 February 1898. Brecht was one of the greatest playwrights and theorists of drama from the twentieth century. Brecht wore many hats around the stage as a director, playwright, manager, theorist, critic, and poet. Brecht challenged the Aristotelian theories and practices of theatre that were popular during his time.
Aristotle's theory of dramaturgy discussed in Poetics (c. 335 BCE) suggests that a play ideally should have a beginning, middle, and end. Depending on the subject and genre (comedy or tragedy), it should evoke specific reactions in the audience, ultimately leading to an emotional release or cleansing, known as catharsis.
Brechtian theatre refers to the theatrical tradition and style created and explored by Brecht. Brecht experimented with several methods of performance and engaging with the audience. These methods came to be known as features of Brechtian theatre.
The term 'Brechtian' is a referential term used to describe the theatrical tradition, theories, and techniques used by the German playwright and writer Bertolt Brecht.
Brecht was also a prolific writer and theorist of modern dramaturgy. Brecht’s work was influenced by the political and artistic backdrop of Germany in the early twentieth century.
During the aftermath of World War I and the subsequent rise of fascism, artistic production and daily life in Germany came to be controlled and censored by the forces of fascism. As a result, politically conscious artists and playwrights like Brecht were forced to address the new political and social realities in their productions.
Brecht opposed the theatre of realism and avoided creating illusions on stage. Brecht was influenced by Marxism and rejected the age-old conventions that made art separate and divorced from the realities around it.
After reading Marx in the 1920s, Brecht adopted the theory that history is open to interpretation and negotiable. Brecht saw the German theatre as bourgeois and divorced from the complex realities of Germany at the time.
Realism was a nineteenth-century movement in arts and literature that favoured authentic portrayals of life and objects without exaggeration or idealism.
Marxism is a political ideology that stemmed from the works of Karl Marx, who critiqued capitalism and its influence on society. Bourgeois is a term referring to the middle class, often characterised as materialistic and conservative. It is a commonly used term in the Marxist critique of capitalist society.
Instead of the Aristotelian notions of the tragic hero and fate, Brecht believed that life is characterised by a back and forth between basic human existence and the complexities of the world.
First comes eating, then morality.1
Bertolt Brecht
This famous quote by Brecht encapsulates his worldview, which became a recurrent theme in many of his works.
Tragic hero: a figure of grand stature and virtuosity who ultimately succumbs to his fate. Protagonists of the Greek tragedy were tragic heroes who rose up only to meet their downfall.
Brecht played a significant role in transforming modern theatre. He changed the nature of performance by taking power away from the sole hands of the playwright to be circulated among the playwright, actor, and spectator.
Fig. 1 - The Threepenny Opera is Brecht's most successful example of his style and techniques. The above image is from the 1961 play.
Brechtian theatre is a collaborative effort where meaning is created through techniques like Verfremdungseffekt, Gestus, the 'epic' structure, and the audience’s perception.
This is often confusing for people as Brechtian Epic theatre has no similarities to the Greek epics. Brecht uses the name to reject the Aristotelian theory that the end goal of the performance should be catharsis.
Instead, Brecht's Epic theatre made use of different techniques such as the estrangement effect and historicisation to hinder the passive consumption of the play as entertainment. The name 'Epic theatre' was coined by Brecht's collaborator and German theatre director, Erwin Piscator.
Catharsis: emotional cleansing that takes place in the audience as a result of witnessing a dramatic performance.
The themes of the Epic theatre were always socially and politically relevant, adding to its didactic nature. The practitioners of the Epic theatre considered it to be a sort of moral institution.
Didactic: educational or with a motive to instruct.
Bertolt Brecht is known for incorporating several theatrical techniques in his plays. Here is a list of these techniques:
| Brechtian technique list | Explanation of the style |
| Verfremdungseffekt (Alienation Effect) | A technique that creates a distance between the audience and the action on stage, making them more critical observers rather than passive spectators. |
| Music and Song | Brecht often used music and song in his plays to comment on the action and convey ideas. |
| Narrative Interruptions | Brecht's plays often feature interruptions to the narrative, such as:
|
| Historical and Political Parody | Brecht often used humour, irony, and parody to comment on historical and political events in his plays. |
| The Lehrstück (Learning Play) | A type of play that presents a moral lesson or political message to the audience. |
| Sprechstimme (Speech Song) | A form of delivery that combines speaking and singing, creating a heightened emotional effect. |
| Didactic Dialogues | Brecht's plays often feature dialogues that are designed to teach the audience something, rather than simply advance the plot. |
| Gestus | A clear gesture or other physical movements that the actors use to convey emotions, thoughts, or the attitude of the situation or the character. |
| Montage | A series of freeze frames or images put together in no particular order. |
Let's take a look in more detail at a few techniques commonly used in Brechtian theatre.
Interruptions of the storyline to directly communicate with the audience were among the many features of Brechtian theatre. Brecht and his collaborators actively experimented with the limits of the stage and performance.
The illusory boundary between the audience and the performers was first broken in the Brechtian theatre.
Brecht's concept of Verfremdungseffekt, often translated from German as the alienation effect or distancing effect, is a way to prevent the audience from identifying or empathising with the characters in the play. Brecht first discussed this concept in his essay on Chinese theatre published in 1936. The idea has close similarities to the Formalist concept of defamiliarisation proposed by Victor Shkolvsky.
Defamiliarisation is a literary technique where commonplace objects or actions are described in a strange manner to help us see them from a new perspective.
'Making strange' is a way to remind the audience that what they see on stage is fiction, with the objective to make them think rationally.
The estrangement effect is a Brechtian technique of acting in a manner that prevents the audience from passively identifying with the elements on the stage. Similar to the concept of defamiliarisation, this involved showing ordinary things in a different way to cause intrigue.
Brecht's concept of Gestus is an acting technique or a way of performance that combines attitude along with physical gestures. The term 'Gestus' first appeared in Brecht's writing as one of the cornerstones of Epic theatre.
It is often described as the totality of gestures, facial expressions, speech patterns, and interactions an actor displays while performing a character on stage. Gestus is related to the social status of the character being played, set in contrast to the other characters.
In the production of Brecht's Drums in the Night (1922), the acting was very stylised and showed the actors in grotesque or exaggerated poses. The actor's performances were described as expressionistic.
Most of Brecht's work carries a commentary on contemporary realities. Brecht manipulated the dramatic structure of his plays to function as a vehicle for those commentaries. Brecht weaved historical threads into social commentary in his plays.
Adding historical information relevant to events discussed in the play was Brecht's way of contextualising the narrative within the play. This also served to educate and morally instruct the audience, which, as mentioned above, was one of the features of Brechtian theatre.
Brecht wrote and produced many plays in his lifetime. However, the term Brechtian is not exclusive to the plays written by Brecht. Artists and playwrights like Augusto Boal, who were practitioners of socially engaged theatre, are also studied under the Brechtian tradition.
Some of the most celebrated plays in the Brechtian style include:
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What is the Brechtian style?
Brechtian theatre style involves using narratives and techniques that achieve an instructional or morally didactic performance that hinder emotional reactions and identification from the audience.
What is Brecht known for?
Brecht is most famous for developing the Epic theatre style, which uses techniques such as V-effect, historicisation, and Gestus to offer a social commentary.
What is Brechtian theatre?
Brechtian theatre refers to Bertolt Brecht’s theatrical style called ‘Epic theatre. Epic theatre is well known for its techniques in staging, storytelling and performance that encourage the audience to detach themselves from the story and think objectively about the issues that are presented.
What are some Brechtian techniques?
Brecht is famous for using techniques such as:
What are the qualities of Brechtian theatre?
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