Brecht

Bertolt Brecht lived from 1898 to 1956, and developed his own style of Epic, episodic, political theatre, and was a playwright and theatre director who is now one of the most famous and powerful practitioners of theatre to this day. He influenced political theatre forever, as well as Augusto Boal, Peter Brook, Pina Bausch and links to the Paper Birds - Brecht himself took inspiration from many different figures. In particular, he hugely admired Stanislavski, and his own work is built off of his system of acting - he uses his methods to create believable characters before manipulating them in order to convey a socio-political message. Furthermore he was also influenced by Karl Marx and forms of Chinese theatre.

Epic theatre as a term was first coined by Erwin Piscator, director of Berlin's Volksbuhne (People's Stage) in 1925. He encouraged people to address issues of contemporary existence. Brecht was also hugely inspired by Richard Wagner, despite opposing his views on form (material, media, techniques to communicate ideas) and content (the meaning of the art), believing they had a close relationship, unlike Wagner's complete separation of form and content in his idea of total artwork or gesamtkunstwerk (collected artwork), where all art forms are used. Brecht's aim was 'to develop the means of entertainment into an object of instruction, and to change certain institutions from places of amusement into organs of public communication' - using theatre to change opinions. Although some epic theatre techniques are centuries old, Brecht was the first to collect them and define a system, giving his name to this style of theatre.

Brecht's own personal background is very important to understanding his style. Growing up in Germany, he witnessed World War 1 and the Treaty of Versailles, before the reparation years and then the rise of fascism, even working as a medical orderly in WW1. This was a time of complete political and social turmoil, where political theatre could have been an powerful tool to change opinions. Brecht himself said that 'Art is not a mirror with which to reflect reality but a hammer with which to shape it,' showing his own belief in the power of life to imitate art, juxtaposing to Stanislavski's view of theatre as a mirror. His theatre departed from the idea of illusion but made the fact it was a play clear during this post war period.

Brecht himself held left-leaning political views and was concerned for the social welfare of others. He was influenced by the views of Karl Marx too for this reason, and was strongly anti-fascist after having had his German citizenship revoked under the Nazis and living through both World Wars.

By the end of his life, Brecht had set up the Berliner Ensemble, written his 'A Short Organum for the Theatre,' on his approach to epic theatre, and revolutionised political theatre forever.