PERF104 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Bertolt Brecht, Vsevolod Meyerhold, Erwin Piscator
PERF104 Lecture Notes Wednesday 5th April 2017
Brecht and Epic Theatre
Epic theatre is the style – also known as Brechtian – developed by Bertolt Brecht.
Brecht has had a phenomenal impact to modern theatre
Origins and Influences
Karl Marx (1818-1883)
- Wrote the communist Manifesto. Looks at the role of the different classes and the
issues that arise from this structure.
- Underlining idea of Marxixm– human beings should be equal. Everybody should have
access to everything.
- Capitalists say if you ear the oey you’re etitled to the eefits it oes ith. If
you’re or ito a rih faily, you’ll hae a etter eduatio. Capitalis asially
says suck it up.
- Communists say everybody should have equal right. Wealth should be distributed
equally. Everybody should have access to everything regardless of origins. Is quite
idealistic. A utopian society.
- Brecht was trying to say that class structure should be done away with.
- Marx believed that capitalism was unfair.
- Brecht believed that realism was masking the issues conveyed in their stories.
- Brecht was interested in stripping the realism away. He reasoned that capitalism and
realism both created an illusion.
- Breht did’t oeal the orkigs of the stage. He stripped the illusio aay so the
audiee a see hat is goig o so they o’t e fooled.
- Didactic – instructive.
- Brecht wanted his audience to think to possibly stimulate social change.
Vsevolod Meyerhold (1874-1940)
- Was executed by Starlin.
- He was a Russian Constructivist – theatre should have form and function.
- Developed a form of theatre training called Biomechanics – if you physicalize the
action with the body, the emotion will come.
- This interested Brecht. Art was represented as mechanical rather than psychological.
- Believed the actor is the work
- Promoted a form of theatre Agitational propaganda
Max Reinhardt (1873-1943)
- Worked with Brecht.
- Was a dramaturge – researcher. Researched a topic to put into a play to underpin a
performance. Sometimes does translations of plays.
- Provided Brecht with knowledge of realism and naturalism so he could break those
rules.
Erwin Piscator (1893-1996)
- Borrowed many of his techniques in creation of his theatre.
- He saw theatre as political and didactic
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
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