Non Aristotelian Drama Essay

The triviality of melodrama is so often the theatrical scapegoat that boils the blood of the modern-day critic: the sentimental monologues, the martyred young lovers, the triumphant hero, and the self-indulgent imagery. Melodrama would seem the ultimate taboo; another failed Shakespearean staging or even worse, an opera minus the pretty music. Ironically, Bertolt Brecht, dramatic revolutionary and cynic of all things contrived found promise in the melodramatic presentation. Brecht examined and manipulated the various superficial and spectacular aspects of theatre, establishing a synthesis of entertainment and social criticism as his fundamental goal. Bertolt Brecht employs various facets of melodramatic technique in The Jewish Wife,

In The Visit by Friedrich Dürrenmatt you feel unattached and are constantly reminded that you are in fact watching a play, nothing else. Dürrenmatt constructs this play using Bertolt Brecht’s epic theatre, a twentieth-century theatrical movement that was a reaction against popular forms of theatre, Dürrenmatt uses epic theatre in his work, The Visit, because he wants his audience to analysis what is being said and done instead of what they see and hear. An intellectual audience member will make connections when watching an epic play.

Bertolt Brecht was the pioneer of a new style of theatre, epic theatre. Epic theatre differentiates itself from Bertolt’s previous influences by presenting a series of loosely connected scenes that avoid illusion and often interrupt the story line to address the audience directly with analysis, argument, or documentation. He sought to remind the spectator that the play is an illustration of the playwright’s point of view rather than a slice from reality. This made audiences react with curiousity and participate in a dialogical argument criticising their own life and what they could do to change it rather than an emotional and empathic response that accepts events in the play as a slice of reality, accepted as the norm. He wanted his audiences to adopt a critical perspective in order to recognise social injustice and to go forth and transform the reality.

Bertolt Brecht and Constantin Stanislavski are regarded as two of the most influential practitioners of the twentieth century, both with strong opinions and ideas about the function of the theatre and the actors within it. Both theories are considered useful and are used throughout the world as a means to achieve a good piece of theatre. The fact that both are so well respected is probably the only obvious similarity as their work is almost of complete opposites.

The 1920s is recognized as a time of citizen imbalance, from the various industrialization, the Prohibition Era, and the fight for women’s rights. It was essentially rural versus urban as America was divided into two categories, Fundamentalists, and Modernists. Modernists, who lived mainly in cities, would strive for a future in knowledge and being technologically advanced. As for the Fundamentalists, they based themselves off old ideals, and considered any other race allied with the more “superior” race to be degrading. More often than not, each association would either approve a supremacy, or fight to discontinue it.

Bertolt Brecht and Constantin Stanislavski are regarded as two of the most influential practitioners of the twentieth century, both with strong opinions and ideas about the function of the theatre and the actors within it. Both theories are considered useful and are used throughout the world as a means to achieve a good piece of theatre. The fact that both are so well respected is probably the only obvious similarity as their work is almost of complete opposites.

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

This meant that the old high culture, with its idealism and élitism, would have to be replaced with a specifically modern culture. Brecht demanded ‘the radical transformation of the theater’ which would ‘correspond to the whole radical transformation of the mentality of our time’. In the 1920s, he, along with Erwin Piscator, created an ‘epic’ theatre different from ‘dramatic’ or ‘Aristotelian’ theatre. Whereas the premise for dramatic theatre was that human nature could not be changed, ‘epic’ theatre assumed that it both could change and was already

Literary modernism was a reaction against realism, which was developed to depict real rural life (Campbell, 2017). As people began to relocate to city areas, many writers and artist took to redefining the meaning of a realistic life. It was believed that one way of life no longer fit for everyone and modernism introduced literature and art that began to question and show various perspectives of life. Peter Childs explains that “modernist writing “plunges” the reader into a confusing and difficult mental landscape which cannot be immediately understood…” (Childs 15). Uncommon poetry and prose stemmed from this modernist development. A popular one being Nella Larsen’s Passing, which encompasses two African American women who are particularly fair skinned and can both “pass” a white. The novel follows the troubles faced when denying one’s race and embracing it during the early twentieth century. Passing embraces the modernist ideas provided by Peter Childs by revealing the uncertain landscape of life through identity, sexuality, and family of mixed women and challenges it through the style of prose.

“I’ve been absolutely terrified every moment of my life- and I’ve never let it keep me from doing a single thing I wanted to do.” Georgia O’Keeffe, also known as the mother of American Modernism, stands a magnificent example of courage and determination. She pushed aside gender roles and created brilliant paintings that exhibited a feminine touch, but somehow she also depicted a strong woman. Harper lee’s novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, written in the 1930s, displayed multiple common gender roles at the time. Lee’s novel also addresses the issue of racism, which tied into the main idea of the novel. American Modernism is an American art form that focuses on music, literature and visual arts. American Modernism has improved the social issues present in the 1930s such as gender roles and racism, by allowing for a way for people to widely express their opinion on the matter.

In this lecture we were introduced to Bertolt Brecht, a German poet, playwright and theatre director.

However, Brecht (1898-1956) Incorporating Piscator's concept of Epic Theatre, Brecht suggested that plays set in different historical or cultural settings would establish some distance between the experiences of the audience. and experiences of the characters in a story. He hoped that this safe distance would enable spectators to critically appraise the circumstances and attitudes in the story and encourage them to compare those in their own

Modernism is just another word for 20th century. It was a movement which started in the beginning of the 20th century and carried on until about the 1960’s.

Epic theatre refers to a form of drama that attracts spectator’s mind more than his feelings. The term was developed and adopted by Bertolt Brecht in Germany in 1920’s. Epic theatre presents a narrative which turns the observer into spectator. The main aim of epic theatre is to arouse the spectator’s capacity to take action by provoking rational self reflection. “Brecht has followed the epic theatre because he realised that the traditional theatre of his time is inadequate for his purposes.” Epic theatre serves the purpose of social function. Through its narrative, Brecht presents social, political and economic problems. His main aim is to invoke the audience into analysing the play rather than getting attached with the characters or the plot. This form was empolyed by Brecht in his play Mother Courage and Her Children which was performed in 1941. The play consists of twelve scenes that tackles the thirty year war (1618-1648) between Sweden and Poland. The

“Modern painting, breaking through old conversation, has released countless suggestions which are still waiting to be used by the practical world.”(Gropius) The birth of modernism and modern art goes back to the Industrial Revolution, a period that lasted from the 18th to the 19th century, in which rapid changes in manufacturing, transportation, and technology profoundly affected the social, economic, and cultural conditions of life in Western Europe, North America, and eventually the world. Before the 19th century, artists created art pieces for wealthy people and institution places like the church where they can create art works about storytelling of religious or mythological scenes . These arts were there to instruct the viewers.However, this changed when during the 19th century many artists began to create works that were about people, places, or ideas that interested them, and of which they had direct experience. With the popularization of the idea of a subconscious mind, many artists began exploring dreams, symbolism, and personal iconography as avenues for the depiction of their subjective experiences.Challenging the notion that art must realistically depict the world, some artists experimented with the expressive use of color, non-traditional materials, and new techniques and mediums.