Epic Drama v Naturalism

BTEC National Award in Performing Arts (Acting)

BTEC National Certificate in Performing Arts (Acting)
 Your Lesson Objectives
• To identify key characteristics of Epic and
naturalistic writing styles in relation to scripts

• To explore Epic Drama styles of writing

practically

• To justify the key concepts of writing for

Epic Drama through performance decisions
 Bertolt Brecht
• Born in Augsburg Bavaria to middle class
parents.
• Bright quiet student in grade school
• As a child, Brecht visited folk festivals and
saw extremely detailed dioramas of
historical events. These simple, expressive
images captured his imagination and had a
strong influence on his artistic style later in
life.
• Went to Medical School where he
was drafted into the German army
near the end of the First World War.
• Brecht was stationed in a VD clinic,
but was still affected by the images
he was exposed to.
• This experience would greatly
influence his writing throughout his
life and lead him to adopting a
pacifist philosophy.
 Berlin
• In September 1924, Brecht was hired as a
dramaturge at Max Reinhardt’s Deutsches
Theater in Berlin, one of the top theaters in the
world at the time.
• Around this time he met Elisabeth Hauptmann
who he remained romantically and professionally
involved with for the rest of his life.
• Also during this time, he married Helene Weigel,
a successful actress with whom he remained
with for the rest of his life, albeit not faithfully.
• At around this time he began establishing
the “Brecht Collective.”
• First play produced by the “collective” was
Mann ist Mann.
• Marks the beginning of his “epic theatre.
• Began studying Marxist theory, and from
this point on remained an avid communist
in life and art.
 Epic Theatre
• Created in response to the melodrama of
the nineteenth century, and the
Naturalistic style promoted by
Stanislavski.
• Composed of ideas and conventions that
existed for hundreds or even thousands of
years before hand, from many different
cultures around the world.
 Melodrama
• Easily digestible
schlock.
• Protagonist is
archetypical “good
guy” and Antagonist
is archetypical
“dastardly villain.”
• Endings all wrapped
up and everyone
goes home happy.
What are the key characteristics of a naturalistic
script writing style?

Overall style
Character
Dialogue
Stage/Shooting directions
Story
 Naturalism in Theatre
• Stanislavsky attempted to overcome the
shallow, static style of melodrama with an
in-depth reflection of real life.
• Subject is Man and his relation to Himself.
• Great emphasis on characters “internal life.”
• Aimed at pulling the audience into the world
of the play by suspending their disbelief to
the utmost extent.
 Aims of Epic Theatre
• Brecht felt that theatre should be used as
a vehicle for social change, a forum for
social issues to be examined and
discussed.
• Subject is Man and his relation to Society.
• He felt that the audience should retain
their critical thinking skills, and should
therefore be pulled from the world of the
play at all costs.
 Conventions of Epic Writing
• Concerns a serious subject containing details of
heroic deeds and events significant to a culture
or nation.
• Begins with an invocation to a muse.
• Starts with a statement of the theme.
• Use of epithets.
• Features long and formal speeches.
• Shows divine intervention on human affairs.
• “Star" heroes that embody the values of the
civilization.
 Conventions of Epic Theatre
• Play construction is “epic” in that it spans large
periods of time.
• Scenes are not dependant one another and
can be added, removed or reordered with little
overall effect to the plot.
• Sparse, non-realistic stage and lighting design.
• Placards and projections.
What kind of design elements
might a script written in a
naturalistic style use during
performance?
Hedda Gabler (Box Set)
 Verfremdungseffekt
• “Alienation effect”
• Presentational as opposed to Representational.
• Actors and audience are encouraged to not, at
any point, feel that they are the character they
are portraying.
• Characters are not representative of individuals,
but of social groups or types.
• Attempts to create a space between audience
and actors.
The dramatic theatre’s spectator says: Yes, I have felt like
that too – Just like me – It’s only natural – It’ll never
change – The sufferings of this man appal me, because
they are inescapable- That’s great art; it all seems the
most obvious thing in the world – I weep when they weep,
I laugh when they laugh.
- Brecht on Theatre
The epic theatre’s spectator says:
I’d never have thought of it – That’s
not the way – That’s extraordinary,
hardly believable – It’s got to stop –
The sufferings of that man appal
me, because they are unnecessary
– That’s great art; nothing obvious
in it – I laugh when they weep, I
weep when they laugh.
- Brecht on Theatre
 Sources
• Mews, Siegfried (1989) Critical Essays on Bertolt Brecht. Princeton
University Press,

• Esslin, Martin Brecht: (1960) The Man and His Work. Double Day
and Company, 1960

• Bentley, Eric (1961) Seven Plays by Bertolt Brecht. Grove Press

1961

• http://german.lss.wisc.edu/brecht/
Points from Brecht’s ‘A Short Organum for the Theatre’ (published in 1949)

DRAMATIC THEATRE EPIC THEATRE

plot narrative
implicates the spectator in a stage situation turns the spectator into an observer

wears down his capacity for action arouses his capacity for action

provides him with sensations forces him to take decisions

experience picture of the world

the spectator is involved in something he is made to face something

suggestion argument
the spectator is in the thick of it, shares the experience the spectator stands outside, studies

the human being is taken for granted the human being is the object of the enquiry

he is unalterable he is alterable and able to alter

eyes on the finish eyes on the course

one scene makes another each scene for itself

growth montage

linear development in curves

man as a fixed point man as a process
thought determines being social being determines thought
feeling reason