Epic Theatre

Epic Theatre Defined

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A Theatrical Movement arising in the early-to-mid Twentieth Century. Based on the theories and practices of a number of writers and directors mostly from Germany. However, the movement was developed, unified and popularized by Bertolt Brecht.

Epic Theatre Defined

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Epic Theatre refers to a German Theatre movement that was distinctly different from the styles of playwriting, acting and staging that was popular at the turn-of-the-century.

Main Goal of Epic Theatre

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One of the main goals of Epic Theatre is that the audience is always aware that it is watching a play.

Origins

• Before the rise of Epic Theatre, the most dominant form of theatre was Naturalistic Theatre which originated in Russia with the Moscow Art Theatre
• Based on the teachings of Constantine Stanislavski and influenced by the plays of Anton Chekhov, this form of theatre focused on realism in all aspects for the purpose of drawing the audience into the characters lives.

Origins

• Bertolt Brecht wanted to his audience to THINK and not FEEL.
• The audience should critically analyze the events and relationships in the play.
• Where Stanislavski wanted the audience to empathize and connect with the characters and events, Brecht wanted to distance, even alienate his audience so they could think about the content and the message that it is trying to convey.

Epic Theatre: Playwriting

• Plays written as a series of episodes or scenes.
• Scenes can often be fundamentally different from others in the play.
• Characters, props, settings and even relationships can be presented very differently from one scene to the next for the purposes of making political or social statements within the narrative of the play.

Epic Theatre: Playwriting

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Comedy is often used in Epic Theatre with specific purpose. Comedy would work to further the goals of distancing the audience from the events of the play. This became especially true in plays involving war, the poor or any setting in which the audience may begin to feel empathy for the characters.

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Epic Theatre: The Fabel

• Not at all related to a fable.
• The Fabel is a document created by a dramaturge or a director which seeks to clarify the motivations and attitudes of the play for the company that is producing it.
• Brecht believed that The Fabel could be and should be created for any play.
• The Fabel covers three main aspects of a play

Epic Theatre: The Fabel

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• The Fabel begins with an analysis of the main plot of the play.
• The focus of this analysis is not about the sequence of events that occur but on the social interactions between characters and the causes of their behaviours.

Epic Theatre: The Fabel

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• Next, The Fabel focuses on how everything that is seen on stage can be used to further tell the story and reveal the messages that the playwright or the director intends to highlight.
• This can be achieved through the juxtaposition of realistic versus very unrealistic characterizations, props, sets and scenery.

Epic Theatre: The Fabel

• Finally, The Fabel focuses on the analysis of the attitude that the play appears to embody.
• This analysis seeks to reveal the author’s, the individual character’s, the director’s and eventually, the entire company’s attitudes towards the play.
• Brecht would come to call this level of analysis the GESTUS of the play.

Epic Theatre: Acting

• An acting performance in Epic Theatre is all about the GESTUS.
• The Gestus is the combination of physical gesture and attitude.
• Acting in this way is not meant to be cliché or stereotypical.

Epic Theatre: The Gestus

Gestus reveals to the audience a certain aspect of character depending upon the specific motivations within the individual scene or episode. This may appear that the point is to present one-dimensional characters, but these characters are completely changeable from one episode to the next, depending upon the motivations and attitudes of the particular scene or episode.

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Epic Theatre: Staging

• The fun part about staging an Epic Theatre Production is that there are very few rules that MUST be followed.
• Being true to the story or the intention of the characters is out the window, staging choices revolve around what you want the audience to be thinking about when they watch.
• Bertolt Brecht was very politically motivated and always had a message behind his plays.

Epic Theatre: Staging

• The interesting part is that with creative staging the same play can be used to present a completely different message which is why many of Brecht’s plays are still presented quite regularly.
• Staging was specific that it did not want to draw the audience into a realistic depiction or a slice of life. Often elements were intentionally made unrealistic to alienate the audience.

Epic Theatre: Staging

• At the same time that Epic Theatre was partly based on a reaction against the realism of Russian Naturalistic Theatre, it was also influenced by other artistic movements in Germany that would come to have a significant effect on staging.
• One such movement was German Expressionism

Epic Theatre: Staging

• German Expressionism became very popular in films dating to before the 1920’s.
• German Expressionistic films often showed a skewed reality. Especially in terms of settings, costuming and props.
• Epic Theatre was very influenced by these films and often made use of these techniques in staging.

Epic Theatre: Staging

Epic Theatre: Staging�Other Techniques

• Effective use of contrast and contradictions
• Interruptions
• Breaking of the Fourth Wall
• Playing of multiple roles
• Juxtaposition of realism and absurdism in terms of sets, props, costume and lighting
• Posters and placards
• Slide and now video projections
• Excessive white lighting
• Use of Montage and Fragmentation

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Epic Theatre

• Two of the most famous and important playwrights and directors of Epic Theatre were Bertolt Brecht and an Italian named Luigi Pirandello.