Bertolt Brecht was a poet. a dramatist. and an influential leader of theater in the twentieth century. Berthold Brecht was born in East Germany in 1898. His first drama. Baal. was written while Brecht was a medical pupil in Munich. His first success. ‘Drums in the Night’ was written while functioning as a medical orderly in World War I. It earned him Germany’s highest award for dramatic authorship. the Kleist Prize. That was the beginning of Brecht’s list of achievements and parts to the universe of theatre. Brecht’s largest parts and accomplishments in theater came with the creative activity of Epic Theatre. Bertolt was a Marxist ; “he sought to do audiences measure the socioeconomic deductions of what they saw in the theater. Making them desire to change the economic system and work to convey about changes” ( Brockett 117 ) . His positions disagreed with Aristotelean rule that the audience should suspend their incredulity during the public presentation. Brecht believed the theater should non seek to do its audience believe in the presence of the characters on the phase. but should instead do the audience ticker with critical withdrawal.
He achieved that withdrawal with the usage of a construct called Verfremdungseffekt or “alienation effect” . Brecht’s manner of production was mostly that of his “alienation effect” . In order to make the necessary critical withdrawal. techniques were devised such as exposing the theatrical agencies. holding a waste set. puting the action in another clip or topographic point. and utilizing captions or posters before or in between scenes. Another manner he sought his disaffection was through the usage of disparity between assorted theatrical elements. Brecht besides instructed his histrions to ne’er to the full immerge themselves into their character. ever doing certain to be critically cognizant. Brecht explains. “His feelings must non at bottom be those of the character. so that the audience’s may non at bottom be those of the character either. The audience must hold complete freedom” ( Brecht 17 ) . In the same twelvemonth he developed “epic theatre” ( 1928 ) he besides worked with composer Kurt Weill and created the successful satirical lay opera. The Threepenny Opera. He wrote most of his great dramas during the old ages he was exiled and cut off from German theater between 1938 and 1945.
He collected his major theoretical essays and duologues. and many of the verse forms as Svendborger Gedichte. During that clip he wrote Mother Courage and Her Children. a drama during the Thirty Year War ; and The Good Woman of Setzuan. set in prewar China about a miss utilizing a separate personality to assist her with her jobs. Finally. The Caucasic Chalk Circle. a narrative about battles over detention of a kid between the rich female parent who abandoned it and the servant miss who cares for it. Bertolt Brecht moved back to Berlin and created his ain company called the Berliner Ensemble. In 1955 he won the Stalin Peace Prize and died from a bosom attack the undermentioned twelvemonth while working on a response to Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot. Bertolt Brecht was a poet. a dramatist. and an influential leader of theater in the twentieth century. Many theatrical conventions today derive from Brecht’s techniques. Brecht created Epic Theatre with the thought that the audience retains a critical withdrawal throughout. “The intent of the theatre therefore was non to copy life but to educate the audience” ( About 5 ) . Brecht wrote that there was “no more baronial purpose for any theatre. ”
Plants Cited
“About Epic Theatre. ” Mother Courage and Her Children Study Guide: About “Epic Theater” Grade Saver. n. d. Web. 02 Dec. 2012. & lt ; hypertext transfer protocol: //www. gradesaver. com/mother-courage-and-her-children/study-guide/section13/ & gt ; .
“Bertolt Brecht. ” Bertolt Brecht ( 1898-1956 ) . Theatre Database. n. d. Web. 02 Dec. 2012. & lt ; hypertext transfer protocol: //www. theatredatabase. com/20th_century/bertolt_brecht_001. hypertext markup language & gt ; .
Brockett. Oscar G. . and Robert J. Ball. “Chapter 7: Modernism and It’s Effect. ” The Essential Theatre. Tenth ed. New York: Holt. Rinehart and Winston. 1976. 177+ . Print.
