Epic theatre

The only mental strain that can grasp the processes which drama needs to grasp if it Is to provide an all-encompassing chance of the beingness BBs all-encompassing view of the world was Marxism. heroic poem Theatre derives from Greek. Epos, story. A mannequin of argonna which self consciously narrates. Estrangement proceeding = estrangement/alienation publication distancing the watcher from the accomplishment encouraging rational melodic theme and analysis reducing turned on(p) catharsis. wayfaring Theatre / non-Aristotelian Theatre.Term derives from Aristotles Poetics. A. formulated an aestheuc based on catharsis, ( = purging of emotion through empathy), thence BBs description of his Epic Theatre as non-Aristotelian Theatre. Epic Theatre = Historicised field of battle, theatre approximately the present, precisely non set(p) In the present. (Distanclatlon) verfremdungseffekt (V-Effekt) Entfremdung two equal alienation. merely? Estrangement aims to facilitate ra tionality, cerebrate, reflection work against empathy and catharsis learning either from or against characters making politics into fine art The politicisation of aesthetics and the aesthetlclsatlon of politics. BB was also a great hustler of genre. Adaptations, parodies, allegories, parables (political non righteous e. g. Arturo Ui). 1 . prank Keeping an existing cultural form, except inserting a different content. The Threepenny opera (1928) an opera peopled by beggars, gangsters prostitutes 2. burlesque ( = disguise) retaining a familiar existing content, only delivering It In a new or different form. Two casings The Sex Pistols bonnet version of God Save the Queen. The credits medicine at the end of Michael Moores Bowling for aquilege? the Ramones upbeat version of Wonderful world originally recorded by Louis Armstrong.Why is that travesty, and whats the effect in the context of the film and Its hooked matter (crime, racism and the gun-culture in the LISA)? 3. simile Narration by analogy. A didactical narrative conveying a moral truth or message in another(prenominal) guise. M. H. Abrams, A Glossary of literary Terms, London, 1988. Compared to Kafkas parables (e. g. Before the Law? 4. ALLEGORY A narrative in which the agents and action, and sometimes the vista as well, are contrived so as to make coherent reek on the literal, or primary level of significance, and also to signify a second, fit order of agents, concepts and events.M. H. Abrams, ibid. The Resistible bring up of Arturo Ui (1941) reflects in parabolic form events in Germ any 1929- 1939. Allusion, rather than direct one-to-one reference. manifestly/superficially about gangsters in thirties Chicago, but actually about fascisms modernise to power in Germany. Hitler as A1 Capone, national favorableist politicians as 1930s Chicago gangsters, but talking in absolute musical rhythm ands presented as if in a classical tragedy. Also a parable, with a political moral The womb is still fruitful.Donmar Warehouse London, 2008 Arturo I as Robert Mugabe. . As parables by definition simplify obscure processes, BBs model of Germany 929-1938 is inevitably incomplete. What is missing historically? Complex negotiations re. Weimar cabinets before 1933 The book burnings (1933) The Persecution and censure of intellectuals (post-33) The Nazi Olympic games (August 1936) The Hitler/Stalin pact (August 1939) The Spanish civil war July 1936 March 1939) The Munich savvy (Sept 1938) What is retained? 1 .The NAZI play of pseudo-legality , so for instance the Nov 1923 Beer Hall coup detat is referred to as a failed bank robbery. further Theres no mention of Hitlers electoral strongize 2. BB suggests that the petty bourgeoisie were forced to stand-in Hitler. . Various political manoeuvrings around Hindenburg are addressed in the play, but Brechts portrayal distorts history In pragmatism the Junkers support Hindenburg were not captains of industry, but pre-industria l countrified landowners, economically archaic, a politically powerful landowning elite.BB solves this caper by giving the cauliflower intrust a dual function they are both industrialists and they also consist the Junkers agricultural spare-time activitys. 4. The Anschluss (annexation into the great German Third Reich in 1938) is portrayed by 8B, but BB gives a different reason for it n the play, so that Ul invades Cicero to allow business to expand its interest and markets. BB ignores the political and nationalist motivation of Hitlers Anschluss, i. e. manner of speaking the Germans Heim ins Reich. The play portrays historical figures in characters portray types hearty, political, economic, class positions.Dogsborough represents the old right-wing traditionalistic conservatives in Germany, Dollfuss the same in Austria, Trustherren represent the capitalists, and Kleinhndler represent the middle class. But BB gives barely any insights into Hitler the person. Although Ui is a ively theatrical character, hes very(prenominal) one-dimensional, a thug with hardly any charisma. Brecht using non-realist techniques to penetrate beneath the prove appearance of capitalism to reveal its all important(p) reality, its power strategies and economic relations.Dramatic realism (naturalism) dismiss by Brecht as too oblivious with the accuracy of surface details. The realist fable of a excision of life Mere reproduction of reality is inadequate. dramatic action is Art as a lamp, not a reverberate Illumination, v. reflection Art should draw attending to the conditions and the process of its own production Non-realist undo the illusion striven for by naturalist and realist writers and directors, the myth that what they offer an audience (in a theatre, stamp show or wherever) is an uncomplicated unmediated slice of life.For Brecht non-realist methods, transcending the limitations of the strictly semiempirical, the verifiable, were (paradoxically? ) those mos t trance to understanding the true nature of reality, not Just its superficial appearance. Brecht believed he was not anti realism as such, he preferred a different form of realism. In this experimental sense Brecht was both a realist and a modernist. Typical techniques of Brechtian larger-than-life theatre in performance 1 . Announcer summarising the events to come. 2.Actors stepping outside their roles, addressing the audience, reminding us we are reflexion a play 3. Characters singing (as in opera, but to didactic effect) 4. Actors swapping roles (to prevent emotional identification). 5. (In film) Montage Verfremdungseffekt a possible example SPRING The play of the sexes (regeneration of the species) is renewed every inauguration. The lovers Meet. The gentle embrace Of the lovers hand makes the Girls titmouse tremble. Her fleeting glance beguiles him. In Spring the countryside Appears to the lovers renewed. The air is already warm.The days change by reversal long and The palm stay hop out later. In Spring the trees and grass lift free of inhibition. Fertilisation in the forests and fields gathers pace. And the earth gives birth to the new, Free from lot and precaution. From the sound film Kuhle Wampe co-scripted by Brecht, Germany, 1931/2 James Lyon, Brecht and Hollywood Conclusion just about broader Brecht issues to reflect on BBs primary drawing card to Marxism was his thirst for greater k straight offledge and greater understanding of social processes, what he called the temptation of rational hought (Galileo? BB was above all a scientific thinker, who sought rational solutions to social problems. He rejected metaphysics and all forms of irrationalism, and prioritised empirical thought. Precisely because of his apparently total scoop dedication to rationalism BB was worthy of the status UTOPIAN thinker. BB was the ultimate rationalist, more dedicate to the analytical methods of Marxist enquiry than to Marxisms practical implementation. Did BB fetishise idolise science?Did he distinguish its limitations? How appropriate is BBs work to the post-modern age, when scepticism about the ncritical appliance of science, and thus about the pizzazz of human beings beings progress humankind, seem to neglect the political agenda? How does the above get in touch to Life of Galileo? Is BB now pass, abandoned the end of the Cold war, the demise of real existing socialism in east Europe, and the disappearance of his chosen German homeland (DDR) later on German re-unification in 1990?Or is BBs be after (to inject politics into art and art into politics i. e. to make both activities fun) now even more necessary? facet out for the predilection amongst some TV advert designers for Brechtian self- irony The essays excerpted in tail end Willets The Theatre of Bertolt Brecht are a pricey starting-point for investigating Brechts views on theatrical practice. From The new-fangled Theatre is the Epic Theatre (notes on Mahagonn y) the shifts of accent between dramatic theatre and epical theatre.Wears down his capacity arouses his capacity for for action action provides him with sensations forces him to take decisions experience picture of the world the ravisher is involved in he is made to face something omething wind argument instinctive feelings are maintain are brought to the point of recognition the spectator is in the thick of it, spectator stands outside, studies shares the the human being is taken inquiry the human being is the object of the for granted eyeball on the finish eyes on the course one scene makes another each scene for itself growth montage linear development in curves evolutionary determinism Jumps man as a stubborn point man as a process thought determines being social being determines thought feeling reason Brecht on Theatre.