Bertolt Brecht

BRECHT & EPIC THEATRE.
Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956) was a famous German playwright and poet. He began his career writing political poetry and plays about social issues, he was seen as a troublemaker and was expelled from school for writing anti war poems at a very young age. 
He was influenced by Karl Marx'theories of socialism. His theories were about social justice and based on topics such as money and power, and status within society. He explored Industrialization and how this affected workers and the power and status of society, 
EPIC THEATRE came about when MELO DRAMA, REALISM AND NATURALISM were very popular art forms. Epic was created to make the audience question and think about what they were watching, this came around in the 1920s.
Brecht achieved epic theatre by keeping the audiences attention by using lighting effects, known as Alienation effects, which would direct the audiences attention to something new. This would constantly disrupt scenes to ensure the audience would not get lost in the emotions of the characters and story line. Brecht described this method as " being slapped in the face with a wet fish" It would wake the audience up and constantly remind them that they were watching a piece of theatre, and that the characters and story were not real life. He did not want the audience being absorbed into the characters, Brecht felt that an actors job was to merely show what happened. His theory is the complete opposite of STANISLAVSKI'S theory. Brecht rejected naturalism, and felt actors should not be seen as real people.
He felt there should be NO fourth wall, and always make sure the audience do not feel it is real. 
Brecht died at the age of 54, he suffered a heart attack. In the 1940's he left Nazi Germany and fled to Hollywood where he resided writing scripts. When he died he requested to be buried with a stiletto heel through his heart!