4/4/13- Epic Theatre & Bertolt Brecht

EPIC THEATRE
(opposite of Vaughner)
(intentional theatricalism)
(Most important person in 20th Century Theatre: Bertolt Brecht)

Erwin Piscator (German Theatre)
-Schiller's "The Robbers" (1957 design)
-design for "Hoppla, Such is Life!" in 1927 (poles & platforms, projection surfaces)
-Piscator's Regiebuch
-obsessed with projections (schema for projections: "K2")

BERTOLT BRECHT
Brecht and Kurt Weill
Paul Dessau
verfremdungsprinzip
verfremdungs effect- critical distancing rather than "alienation" of audience
epic theatre- rather than "dramatic" (Aristotelian)
didactic theatre- to teach, propagandize, incite to action
proletariat theatre- for the common person/the worker
Marxist- economic reasons for humanities' maladies
Antiscenery- visually provocative way of undoing traditional theatre set

Brecht

DRAMATIC FORM
active
involves spectator in stage action
consumes his capacity to act
allows him to have feelings
spectator drawn into something
spectator experiences w/characters
one scene exists for another
suspense in awaiting outcome

EPIC FORM
narrative
spectator as observer
awakens his capacity to act
demands decisions from him
spectator confronted with something
spectator confronts/studies what he sees
each scene for itself
suspense at the process

"Critical Distance" created by....

• theatricalism- always aware you're in the theatre
• expose lights/technical workings; don't use curtain
• actors "become" characters; stage crew visible
• self-referencing/direct address to audience
• "In this scene I play a soldier who is caught ....."
• includes songs and entertainment that break the action
• like commercials in movies on TV or during TV shows
• historification
• displace time or place to be unfamiliar to the audience
• use different races/ethnicities
• Man Equals Man: British soldiers in India c1900
• Good Person of Setzuan in China
• Galileo
• like a parable

"Mother Courage"

Robert Wilson's 2000 production with the Berliner Ensemble

Robert Wilson- most proficient American director in Europe (similar to Expressionism)

Robert Wilson

Brechtian Design- set/design is more of a collage or montage or pastiche
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Bertolt Brecht really changed the view of theatre. His insight into critically distancing the audience during performances for an entirely new theatrical experience was innovative and groundbreaking. His play The Threepenny Opera is still one of the most widely-produced plays of all time, all over the world. Elsewhere, one Robert Wilson is one of the most proficient American directors working in European theatre. He loves using Brechtian design devices in his productions. I saw one video of his version of Cabaret, in which he purposefully distances the audience from the performers, and it works seamlessly with the show Cabaret.