Epic Theatre : The Alienation Effect In Epic Theater

The audience is able to instantly understand what is happening in a scene and how it impacts on what has happened and what is occurring in present time. The play uses its style perfectly with its use of extended dialogue to convey meaning and tell the story. The audience can get lost in its story as there are no confusing abstract themes to throw them, everything the story is about is laid out before them and this helps with understanding the dramatic meaning as the dramatic meaning is very serious and realistic, just like the storytelling style.

Though Brecht shows great engagement in the audience in another, perhaps as effective way. By making the theatre relatable in a real, logical sense. Through creating a “naturalistic illusion”( Brecht, 98), Brecht is capable of having a scene acted as though it was in reality, though there are few to no props/ images of reality to back him up. He is capable of doing this through creating scenes that address politics of the day. Placards are used as a devise to contextualise, rather than acting out a scene, this devise is used in his play “Mother

The author talks about stasis and intrusion, the major differences about the elements. Ball states that stasis is when everything is balanced and in control. On the other hand, Ball explains Intrusion as something that has been intruded. In the example, I used was in the play WTC View the main character Eric is in stasis the day before 9/11 happens but intrusion interrupts Eric’s stasis when 9/11 occurs. Chapter 5 is about conflict, the different forms of conflict and how it is used in theater. Ball believes that conflict is the first order of business in theater. The most used form of conflict in the theater is dramatic conflict. Dramatic conflict is a kind of interaction, which makes it seem like human behavior. Ball also explains what an obstacle is. The author states that an obstacle is any resistance to getting what someone wants. The final two chapters of the book 6 and 7 talk about ignorance in the audience and about change in theater. Ignorance is bliss; it is the ignorance that drives the suspense of the audience. On the other hand, change is theatrical; change brings more life to the

However, the experience of the spectators was different at this play. The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui was written to produce an experience known as the alienation effect. The alienation effect, in the words of Brecht himself, is “to make the spectator adopt an attitude of inquiry and criticism in his approach to the incident” (Brecht, 136). In other words, Brecht aimed to “separate” the viewer from the plot and sensation of the play in order to allow them to truly understand and analyze the message. In Arturo Ui, Brecht instigated the alienation effect in multiple ways, the first of which was introducing the play. An announcer at the beginning makes it clear to the audience what they are about to see and what the ending will be. The use of an actor within the play teaching Arturo Ui how to act and the theatricality of the words was meant to further alienate the audience. The cast and crew of the SMTD also

The set used for Vernon God Little was highly symbolic and simplistic; when we walked into the theatre we could visually see that there were flowers, cards and memorable items attached on the audiences seats above our heads, which already created a sombre atmosphere around the theatre.

Brecht’s political theatre stems from his political views towards communism and the upper class society. Theatre that comments on political issues within society. Brecht began to have a dislike for the capitalist society he was brought up in and wanted more of an equal approach to the world and the people around him. With epic theatre, Brecht wanted it to be both didactic (able to teach others) and dialectic (able to create discussions and ideas). The audience at no time during an epic play can be seen to be in a trance or take what they see on stage for granted. Our performance is reflective of Brecht and his Epic and Political theatre as we address many political topics such as Marxism and the divides between classes and the corruption of the government. We have props such as protest signs and banners to communicate Brecht’s political theatre to the audience. In the first episode, Brown’s Boys, there is a scene where MPs choke and die after ignoring the recession and protesters emerge into the audience chanting that ‘politics is dead’ and ‘they don’t really care about us’ while holding banners saying, ‘politics is dead’ and ‘Gordon Clown’. This was done as it represented politics and the fact the seriousness of the situation was ignored; showing how quickly the issues with the recession spiralled out of control and became something that even the higher up in society were unable

How Brecht achieves producing this state of consciousness is more subtle and elegant than the previous technique of having actors walk out with blatant placards to remind the audience that they are watching a play. One of the marks of Brecht’s epic theater is his alienation effect, or “a representation which allows [the audience] to recognize its subject, but at the same time makes it seem unfamiliar” (Brecht 1948, 8).

Brechts work is based on the concept that theatre is a means of political persuasion for the masses. He sees the theatre as a tool to manipulate the audience, and to influence their day-to-day living once that have thought about issues raised during the performance.

As regards the delineation of the characters on stage and outside, the spectator is invited to pay attention to what is said and what is left unsaid, to what is revealed consciously or what is betrayed by the delivery of each of them, their gestures whether coordinately or impulsively performed.

This device changes the atmosphere in the audience. The audience realise that the play starts off with a jolly introduction, talking about a normal upper-class family who were just celebrating their daughter’s engagement, to a serious place. The audience’s body language changes from attracting to the play to retracting from the play.

The ideas of Bertolt Brecht (1898-1965) changed the theatre in many ways. Brecht along with Erwin Piscator developed the style of Epic theatre style contrasting to previous accepted styles. Presentational in form, Epic theatre is a vehicle for social comment through techniques such as: alienation, historification, eclectic influences (highly Asian), constructivism in scenery, disjointed and illogical scene placement, ordinary clothing and lighting, the use of music to detach the audience from emotion, placards and signs and projected images. Didactic in nature Brecht’s works aim to challenge the

In the words of Gay McAuley, “for an activity to be regarded as a performance, it must involve the live presence of the performers and those witnessing it…” (McAuley, 2009, cited in Schechner, 2013, pp.38). This statement recognises the importance of both the actor and the audience for something to truly function as a performance. In addition, Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones highlights the significance of the theatrical space and how it can influence an audience stating that “on entering a theatre of any kind, a spectator walks into a specific space, one that is designed to produce a certain reaction or series of responses” (Llewellyn-Jones, 2002, pp.3). The relationship between actor, audience and theatrical space is no less important today than it was at the time of theatre during the Spanish Golden Age and the creation of Commedia dell’arte in Italy. Despite being very close geographically with theatre thriving for both in the same era, sources that explore the social, cultural and historical context of these countries and the theatre styles will bring to light the similarities and differences. This essay will analyse the staging, the behaviour of the audience as well as the challenges the actors faced, and how this directly influenced the relationship between actor, audience and theatrical space.

The above example illustrates not only how the theatrical performance affects the audience, but also how the audience influences its dynamics, development and the characters within it. The actors feel a certain level of acceptance from the viewer, who demands a certain way of depicting the character. Theatre is not just entertainment, itís something much more than that ñ itís education. Theatre should always represent things, rather than

I will look at Brecht’s theory of Epic theatre, tracing the beginnings

Rituals and theater, which are both cultural performances, have similarities such as serving the purpose of entertaining teaching the audience, belief from audiencce, use of props, use of space, and repesentaion. Since during this time period many commoners did not know how to read, the church had to present these rituals in order to teach them about events in the bible like the Crucification of Jesus Christ. Similaritly, a play will serve the purpose to teach the audience a certain idea that the playwright believes is necessary for the audience members, the audience vary depending on the time this play was written, to learn or understand. Unlike a play, which has no certain time frame to be perform, a ritual is perform during certain time of the liturgical year; for example, the passion of the cross