Unit 3: Epic Theatre (Bertolt Brecht) Study RESEARCH INVESTIGATION

Unit 3: Epic Theatre (Bertolt Brecht) Study RESEARCH INVESTIGATION

Using the resources below (or other creditable ones you find on your own) create a blog entry answering the following prompts about Bertolt Brecht and EPIC THEATRE.

Part 1: Historical Context of Brecht's life (Major Events, Geography, etc.) & simple Biography 
Part 2: Brecht's Major Influences & Beliefs 
Part 3: Major Tenets/Characteristics of EPIC THEATRE 
Part 4: Major differences of EPIC THEATRE vs. dramatic theatre of the time 
Part 5: Impact of Brecht's work in contemporary theatre

Part 1: -

Bertolt Brecht was born on 10^th February 1898. He was born in Augsburg.  Brecht’s father was Catholic and his mother was a Protestant. Bertolt Brecht was the first-born and later came his brother, Walter Brecht. Bertolt was mostly sick during his child hood, he had heart conditions through out his childhood. While he was in school, he began to write for his school magazine. He started to be recognized and soon started writing for the newspaper. Later, he wrote his first play. It was called “The Bible”. Through out Brecht’s adult life he married 3 women and had multiple children. Brecht won National Prize in 1951 and later in 1954 won International Lenin Peace Prize. Brecht passed away from a heart attack in August 1956.

Part 2: -

Bertolt Brecht was influenced by Charlie Chaplin. He respected Charlie Chaplin’s twisted humor and therefore, he inserted that into his pieces. He also inserted the political beliefs, just like Charlie Chaplin did. Brecht believed that theatre was the best way to express social and political criticism. “Brecht developed a style known as “Epic Theatre.” In this medium, actors did not strive to make their characters realistic. Instead, each character represented a different side of an argument. Brecht’s “Epic Theatre” presented multiple viewpoints and then let the audience decide for themselves.” (Wade Bradford)

Part 3: -

Epic theatre is a term; the term is very much known to describe the style and techniques that were used in Germany after World War I. These are done by directors, such as, Maz Reinhardt, Erwin Piscator but most particularly Bertolt Brecht. “For Brecht, the radical transformation was from a nineteenth century bourgeois world view to a twentieth century scientific one, from which perspective the artifacts and philosophical tenets of the past appeared old and in decline. The belief in the progress of history, fuelled by the Marxist notion of the march of history, is evident throughout Brecht’s writing. He is in this sense a man of his times. The modernist belief in progress went something like this” (Biomechanics) The characterization of the play was to portray the affluent societies. “His play argues that capitalism's increased productive capacity over the past thirty years has led to the development of consumption as a major social process.” (Alan Lovell)

Part 4: -

Table URL- https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://academic.evergreen.edu/curricular/ppandp/PDFs/Brecht-a%20brief%20overview.pdf

Part 5: -

His theatre has a major impact on theatre now. He is known to be the best play writer, ever. Epic theatre is still used by a thousand people and is still known the best form of theatre. “His view of theatre as an educational tool for social change, his collaborative approaches, and his theories of epic theatre are only some of his many contributions to the development of theatre.” (The Academy)

 Bibliography: -

"Biography of Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956)." Biography of Bertolt Brecht. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Feb. 2014. <http://www.gradesaver.com/author/bertolt-brecht/>.

Bradford, Wade. "The Life and Work of Playwright Berthold Brecht." About.com Plays / Drama. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Feb. 2014. <http://plays.about.com/od/playwrights/a/brecht.htm>.

Lovell, Alan. "JUMP CUTA         REVIEW OF CONTEMPORARY MEDIA." Epic theater and the principles of counter-cinema by Alan Lovell. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Feb. 2014. <http://www.ejumpcut.org/archive/onlinessays/JC27folder/EpicThCounterCinema.html>.

"The Academy." The Academy . N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Feb. 2014. <http://dlibrary.acu.edu.au/staffhome/siryan/academy/theatres/..%5Ctheatres%5Cbrecht,%20bertolt.htm>.

"brecht - epic theatre." brecht - epic theatre. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Feb. 2014. <http://biomechanics.vtheatre.net/doc/epic.html>.

A Memory of Lizzie- End of Unit Reflection

Part 1: -

Trough out this unit I have learnt a lot about the role of a designer in theatre productions. This was something completely new that I have done and something we hadn’t ever done in drama before. It was challenging for me because it was hard for me to understand the concept. I was having challenges with the stage design. I did a lot of tries with my stage design; I also had to do a lot of research. I have provided the research on my blog.  I learnt that the role of a designer is very important and challenging because you have to be very thoughtful and intelligent of how you set everything up and you have to consider everything by seeing how comfortable it will be for the audience to see and whether or not they will find the show amusing. We also have to consider the conformability of our actors, as they are the ones that will be running the show. I learnt that in set designing you have to know how to “Communicate your ideas to costume, make- up, props and lighting designers.” (Creative Choices) Also, another thing I found out from my research was “Studying scripts and discussing ideas with the director” (Creative Choices) Also, the directors need to have very good knowledge about the cost and what they can spend their money on and to be on their budget.

Part 2: -

There are many steps to designing a stage. The firs step is to read the script very carefully and efficiently. It’s important to read the script because from the script we get a very good idea of how the story is and we get an idea of how the stage should be. After reading the script we must have sketches of the stage because it’s very important and it may take a long time to set up. We must have a thumbnail sketch, floor sketch, birds eye view sketch and a very descriptive sketch. After that we should get into some research and look at how things were back then, for example, how the dressing was back in 1970. We must do a  lot of research so we can give a really good example to the tailors. After that we need to get out and buy the props and everything we may need. The set designing should be clear, for example, if we want to show a church it must be clear that it’s a church. If not, the audience will be confused and it really have them any interest for the show.  Sketch design is very important because every part of it will interest the audience and that is the main goal of a theatre.

Part 3: -

This unit was very different and something very new to me. I had never done the sketch part of drama. However, because it was new I learnt a lot trough the unit. I struggled a lot too because it was something new and it was hard for me to grasp it. I had a hard time doing the stage design because it was hard to explain everything but after Ms. Kimberly showed us some designs it helped a lot. The designs were very descriptive and impressive. Later on the unit I chose to focus on stage design because I enjoyed doing it. I liked the directing aspect of this unit and it was something I always wanted to try. Trough out the unit I had to do a lot of trials with my designs because I made mistakes but I think I improved every time I tried again. Also, it was very difficult to stay with the work load because trough out the unit we had a lot of work and all the work were very long. I lost my focus and I was left behind with my work. However, I think I managed to catch up at the end I am satisfied with my work. From next time I plan to work along so I don’t have to do the triple amount of work together at the same time.

Sources: - 

http://www.creative-choices.co.uk/develop-your-career/template/stage-designer

http://www.aact.org/people/setdesigner.html