Bertolt Brecht Epic Theatre Analysis
“Art is not a mirror with which to reflect reality, but a hammer with which to shape it.” -Bertolt Brecht
This essay will endeavour to delve beneath the surface, and preform an in-depth exploration into the establishment of Bertolt Brecht’s ‘Epic Theatre’, with an examination of his theories, beliefs and practices. Brecht remains today to be one of, if not the most influential literary and theatrical figures of the 20th century, as he strove to revolutionise theatrical practice, through implementing his own individual political and societal views upon the art form. Born in 1898, Brecht grew up during a time of inconsequential political, historical and social unrest in Nazi Germany, with the first
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In chapter fourteen of Brecht on Art and Politics, entitled ‘On Art and Politics’, the author details the contents of an open letter published in the Berliner Börsen-Courier; “In it Brecht tried to see drama from a sociological rather than an aesthetic point of view, and outlined a new vision of ‘epic theatre’. Sociology, he suggested, ‘is the only branch of knowledge that enjoys sufficient freedom of thought; all the rest are too closely involved in perpetuating our period’s general level of civilisation.’” (Kuhn, Bradley, Giles, p. 52). The protagonist Mother Courage, in the play of the same name, forces the audience to question her moral character, and ask themselves whether similarities lie between her and themselves. This was the primary objective of Brecht’s work, to promote an examination of the self, using the alienation technique to provide the audience with a set of moral questions to ponder
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