ipl-logo

Bertolt Brecht Influence On Modern Theatre

1768 Words8 Pages

Modern theatre began around 1885 when people started to feel the inadequacy of theatre in justifiably representing societal problems and the tragic-comic lifestyle of people (Britannica). Theatre of Cruelty and Epic Theatre, humongous parts of said theatre, stem from a minor coup d’état against the Aristotelian theory behind theatre. Aristotle had devised the theatre of “illusion” aimed for the elite and the bourgeoisie. This theatre form aimed to be an imitation of the real society and followed the Freytag’s Pyramid which had a clear “inciting moment, climax and moment of last suspense” (Influence of Aristotle 's Theory and Relevance.) Most other forms of modern day theatre, like realism, naturalism and even works by Shakespeare also have …show more content…

The concept of alienation effect has evolved over the centuries but here, Brecht veers away from objectifying humans by putting on them masks and moves on to the situation. He does not start from knowledge but from a problem. Brecht describes and leaves space for possible conclusions of instead of allowing conscience to form through history, yet keeps away from the problem of self-involvement and the personal torments of conscience (Varopoulou and Rosenthal 62). In his theory, Bertolt Brecht, emphasizes on maintaining a certain distance between the audience and the actors known as the Vrefremdungseffekt or Alienation effect on which Benjamin expands: producing separation of theatrical production’s elements into an external separation structured by “the abyss which separates the actors from the audience like the dead from the living, the abyss whose silence heightens the sublime in drama and whose resonance heightens the intoxication of opera” (Jakovljević 104). The text is what produces alienation or rather, sets into motion the process of alienation which is tied cogently to the narrative. Behind the character must appear the actor in order for the audience to feel the primary effect of discourse which heralds the emergence of a new subject of enunciation who, taking charge of various speech acts, suddenly breaks out of the story in order to point it out to the audience (Féral and

Show More
Related

  • Stolen And Life Without Me: Theatre Analysis

    605 Words  | 3 Pages

    Theatre reflects the society in which it is in. Use of particular elements of drama and production in Harrison’s Stolen and Keene’s Life Without Me and evokes the audience’s engagement and understanding of the dramatic meaning that is created. By exploring the development of the character’s personal concerns the audience can effectively engage with and consider the cultural issues expressed in these two plays. By highlighting and exploring these key issues the audience is challenged and confronted with a representation and reflection on parts of Australian culture. The thematic issues and concerns of both plays include – Racism, Discrimination, Persecution, Lack of Respect, Identity, Belonging (or lack of), Discovery and the issues of Home.

    Read More

  • Oklahoma ! And Carousel: Theatre Analysis

    885 Words  | 4 Pages

    A lot of developments were being made in the 1942-1945 time period. The US started to really get involved with World War ll, and race wars were breaking out in a number of major cities. Even with all of this madness going on Richard Rodgers & Oscar Hammerstein ll were able to create two beautiful shows, Oklahoma! and Carousel. These two amazing pieces of theatre have some dynamic characters that shed light on the rural American economic, social, and sexual complexities of that time.

    Read More

  • Search For Identity In Patricia Leavy's Blue

    538 Words  | 3 Pages

    Observing each character, the book draws attention to the inner dialogue and struggles they

    Read More

  • Rise Of Isolationism: A Discussion Of Propaganda Into Film

    920 Words  | 4 Pages

    Prior, to the emergence of America entering World War I the era of Industrialization had finished and continuous conflicts between the ideals of the United States remaining in isolation were brought amongst by President Woodrow Wilson. However, this idea of Isolationism was challenged by the idea of expanding the nation 's borders, also known as Imperialism these two ideas conflicted greatly with each other. Towards the early 1900’s President Wilson was in office when Germany sank The Lusitania in which the United States had a decision to make by choosing to go into the war, around this time film was making an introduction into the world whether it being in the newly built film palaces or somewhere else. When the United States had announced

    Read More

  • Stereotypes In John Hughes's Film The Breakfast Club

    1745 Words  | 7 Pages

    The acting portrays the external struggle – maintaining a certain image in front of others – that the characters face as the roles of each person is revealed from the dialogue and facial expressions in particular. Sound reinforces

    Read More

  • American Theatre In The 1800s

    796 Words  | 4 Pages

    During the 1800’s in America, the population grew very rapidly. There was especially a large number of immigrants from Europe. As the population and cities grew bigger so did the middle class. As the middle class grew the people in the upper middle class wanted to be able to have more privileges. There was also a lot of advances during this time.

    Read More

  • Moral Ambiguity In The Assault

    1493 Words  | 6 Pages

    The aforementioned perspectives are explored through the limited omniscient third person narrator, who narrates in a factual tone and provides the lens from which events are viewed. Although the narrator is omniscient in the traditional sense, as he or she has access to the thoughts of all characters, the narrator is limited in that he or she solely follows Anton’s journey. Consequently, the events that transpired previous to and following the assault remain ambiguous and fluctuate as new information is introduced by supporting characters. Within the exposition, The Assault features Anton’s perspective on the events leading up to the incident.

    Read More

  • 10 Out Of 12 Analysis

    860 Words  | 4 Pages

    The cast of the play are unaware of the audience, however, the audience is able to listen to dialogue that occurs throughout the theater, whether it is in the headsets between technicians, on stage between the actors playing their characters in the play and between the director and actors who make adjustments when necessary. The third fourth wall was at its edge of breaking, where the audience is almost unable to tell whether what they are experiencing is real or not. As an observer of the rehearsal of this play, this wall was broken when I understood that what I was watching was a rehersal of a play, of a rehearsal of a play. It was difficult to describe or understand when the cast of 10 out of 12 were actually in or out of character. The complexity of this play lies in the use of metatheatre, which has been exploited to its fullest extent

    Read More

  • Ancient Greek Influence On American Culture

    512 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Greeks were the first to introduce the concept of theater. As a matter of fact, one performer, Thespis, created the idea of a chorus, which was a group of people that expressed opinions, gave advice, and had the author’s point of view. The chorus would be the equivalent to the “score” in modern theater. The International Thespian Society, an organization formed to honor student’s success in the theater, was named after Thespis. In Greek theater, the place that the actors performed was called the “paraskene,” while in modern theater it is called the stage.

    Read More

  • Mozart Marriage Of Figaro Analysis

    2001 Words  | 9 Pages

    6. Take a single act from the Marriage of Figaro and, using particular examples, show how Mozart structures the act in terms key, form and texture. How does the opera critique the social order of the time? This essay looks at the first act of Mozart’s opera buffa ‘Marriage of Figaro’ in detail, specifically focussing on the key, form and texture used within this act.

    Read More

  • Gender Roles In Greek Theatre

    1505 Words  | 7 Pages

    English theater was criticized in its early days, Christianity decrees ensured that theater was practically unheard of for hundreds of years. That all changed when the church itself resurrected theater for its own use in the middle ages. It started Miracle Plays that portrayed stories of the bible. This, however, started theater groups that started portraying their own plays for profit and entertainment. All of these early English plays were solely made, portrayed, played and viewed by males of the era.

    Read More

  • Selective Realism In American Theatre

    807 Words  | 4 Pages

    “The theatre, for all its artifices, depicts life in a sense more truly than history, because the medium has a kindred movement to that of real life, though an artificial setting and form.” George Santayana Drama is one of the genres of theatre where comedy, tragedy or actions may be other genres. While drama refers to the written texts, prose or verses composition, which become theatre only when it is performed on the stage with actors performing the role of characters in the text in front of the audience i.e. it is abstract and subjective, theatre is a live performance that meant to be seen, it is physical and concrete. The renaissance period was considered the rebirth of several inspirational

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Truman Capote's 'My Side Of The Matter'

    902 Words  | 4 Pages

    One of the most important qualities within a story is whether or not the narrator is reliable. In most cases, the reader never takes this “narrator” into question as it is some omniscient being who is easily forgotten. The cases, in which the narrator comes into play in the reader’s mind, are typically when the narrator is of homodiegetic narration. This is a common device in more narrative texts and can even be used as a tool to make the reader feel a more personal touch to the story. If this trust between the narrator and the reader is breached the whole story it can take a different look towards the reader.

    Read More

  • Reader-Response Criticism In Death Of A Salesman By Arthur Miller

    810 Words  | 4 Pages

    Introduction When reading a play, it is fundamental to pay attention to details within the play for a script envisioned in more than one way. Moreover, discovering those critical items found in the play is important in helping one criticize the play correctly since; a critic is able to see the quality and mistakes found in the play. Likewise, the critic is also able to see valuable and critical things missed by the reader since as critics they looked at different functions within the play. With that said, this paper is going to explore two critical approaches seen in “Death of a Salesman” a play written by Arthur Miller (1915 – 2005). Those critical approaches are Reader-Response Criticism and Psychological (psychoanalytic) criticism.

    Read More

  • Tom Sawyer And Huckleberry Finn Analysis

    1366 Words  | 6 Pages

    From everyday experience, readers know how things usually happen and how people react. A distortion of action or an understatement of effect gets a special response from readers, because they consider these changes improbable or the unexpected. The reader has to be alert to the actions of character because actions are the author’s way of showing, not telling, what the characters are like Appearance may be taken as a due to the nature of a character if the author leads the reader to attaché significance to it. Literary analysis is not pure description or a summary of the action, although it may include these elements.

    Read More

More about Bertolt Brecht Influence On Modern Theatre

Open Document