General Introduction to Bertolt Brecht.

Most important dramatic theorist and director in the early to 
mid-20th century, and author of a half-dozen classic plays, 
along with others of significant interest. 

Became a Marxist in the 1920s, fled Germany in 1933, lived 
abroad (including in America) until 1947, was hounded out of the 
USA by HUAC, returned to Eastern Germany and, lionized by the 
Communist government, founded the Berliner Ensemble, which 
exists to this day.  Faced censorship problems under the GDR 
regime during the last phase of Stalinist purges.

Brecht's theatrical techniques have become almost synonymous 
with modern or avante garde theatrical practice.


Marxism Briefly:

     -- materialistic understanding of history and culture

     -- re-conceptualization of personality into a socio-
        economic construction 

     -- ideology and false consciousness

     -- class conflict

     -- analysis of capitalism (based in greed, riven by 
        contradicitons) 

     -- revolutionary agenda


Brecht's Marxism:

     -- plots take place within a social context

     -- society is viewed as an economic phenomenon

     -- character is viewed in economic, impersonal, constructed 
        terms 

     -- moral questions are situated now within economic reality 
        (hence morality may or may not be relevant or helpful 
        to real human beings)

     -- revolutionary agenda:  characters may not escape their 
        bondage or gain awareness of their situation, but the 
        audience can gain insight (i.e., class consciousness) 


Epic Theater vs. Aristotelian Theater

     Aristotle:

          -- the universe is governed by gods/fate

          -- human character is a matter of fate, hence fixed

          -- drama relies on plausibility and the illusion of 
             realism

          -- in tragedy, the main character must be a person of 
             high status who suffers a fall due to a character 
             flaw ("hamartia"), generally a version of "hubris";
             in the end, the hero experiences enlightenment 
             ("anagnoresis")

          -- audience members must "identify" with the tragic 
             hero, that is, feel an emotional bond based on pity 
             and fear at his fate; these emotions, thus 
             artificially roused, are then purged ("catharsis")


     Brecht's Epic Theater:  

          -- gods and fate are illusions; history is made by 
             human beings

          -- human (and theatrical) character is highly 
             malleable, a social construct

          -- drama is a set of conventions, and is not 
             fundamentally realistic 

          -- tragedy consists of characters who remain unaware 
             of their true condition and hence unable to change it 

          -- thus drama should address the intellect, not the 
             emotions, since emotions perpetuate the status quo, 
             while intellect critiques it

          -- to discourage emotional identification and 
             encourage intellectual apprehension, the audioence 
             must be systematically alienated (at least in 
             part) from the central figures in the play 

          -- alienation ("Verfremdung") techniques:  mixed or 
             unsympathetic portrayal of characters; 
             foregrounding of anti-naturalistic stage 
             conventions, such as masks, narrators, titles, 
             minimalist set design, etc. 

          -- actors do not strive to "become" characters, but to 
             "demonstrate" roles (cf. Stanislawski acting, 
             which is founded in emotional realism)