Discussion #13 - Discuss Epic Theatre, the key players, and its significance

Discussion #13

Discuss EPIC THEATRE, the key players, and its significance. 

 Epic Theatre
• More “militant approach”
• Erwin Piscator (1893-1966)- the first major practitioner.
• sought to create a “proletarian drama”
• Bertolt Brecht (1891-1956) was The movement’s major theoretician and dramatist.
• The Three-Penny Opera (1928) Music by Kurt Weill
• Went into exile in 1933, while there, he wrote many of his major works
• Mother Courage and her Children (1938-1939)
• Caucasian Chalk Circle (1944-1945)
• Called “Epic” in order to indicate the broad sweep of the theatrical production
• Wished to assign audiences an active role in the theatre by making them watch critically rather than passively.
• Arrived at the concept of “alienation,” making stage events strange enough that the audience will ask about them.
• Make theatrical means visible, divide the scenes into episodes with songs and captions, and narrative passages.
• Wanted audiences to relate what they saw with socioeconomic conditions outside the theatre.
• Work to change their own world.