Expound On The Creation Of Bertolt Brecht’s “Epic Theatre”

Undoubtedly, Bertolt Brecht is one of the most recognized drama theorists and playwrights with great originality and disruption in 20 th century. The theoretical hypothesis and play writing practice embodied in his “Epic Theatre” focused on “Alienation effect” are extremely revolutionary. Brecht’s work breaks the so called “the fourth wall”. Moreover, the stereotype masked and controlled by mainstream ideology is also disintegrated due to his effort. Brecht ushers European and global drama art in a new era.The German society was flooded with sharp confliction of class struggle in 20 th century. Brecht was especially concerned with the decadent art performance in bourgeois theaters. He placed his hope on revolutionizing the form of drama to reflect the contemporary societal conflicts and zeitgeist. By resorting to arousing rational thinking, Brecht expected to break people’s unrealistic fantasy towards life. Therefore, Brecht proposes an “Alienation effect” focused play writing style introduced with narrative and critical factors. Using Marx’s ideology as a guidance to present the world as constantly in motion, in changing and affectable, the true relationship between human beings and society is revealed. The nature of things and direction of development can then be grasped. A desire of rational introspection and self-criticism will be aroused to eventually achieve the goal of spreading ideas and the social function of changing the world.The study is attempting to integrate textual analysis into specific plays, sorting out and summarizing the theoretical and creative features of Brecht’s “Epic Theatre” from various perspectives. Furthermore, aesthetics and methodological meaning, as well as the practice of “Alienation effect” in “Epic Theatre” inspired by his work, are analyzed and summarized under the guidance of Marxist epistemology.The study consists of four chapters. In Chapter One, the ideological content, forming basis and methodological meaning included in the art theory of Brecht’s “Epic Theatre” are interpreted and analyzed objectively to grasp the advance of the ideology. The social function and historical value resulted from artistic features are concluded. In Chapter Two, the concept, theoretical origin, dialectical relations and value appeal of “Alienation effect” – the core theory of “Epic Theatre” – are then probed and reviewed. Examples are cited to exhibit how the “Alienation effect”, as an artistic method, accuses and estranges the mainstream ideology that was generated from dominant and mandatory basis, then promote the hypothesis of drama from the domain of unconsciousness to consciousness. The study also discusses how the “Alienation effect” expresses an attitude of criticism, which brings audience’s emotion from heaven down to harsh truth and bare fact. Chapter three and Chapter four devote to systematically analyze the serial techniques and skills, as well as presenting strategy, of Brecht’s “Epic Theatre” from the perspectives of narrative structure and artistic expression, respectively. Cases of play work are incorporated into the analysis to illustrate how creatively Brecht applies the scientific methods of ideologists such as Marx to the specific art creation. Brecht’s “Epic Theatre” pays attention to creativity of form, while committed to exposing and criticizing the ideology overshadowed by lies. Its emergence enriched the expression of drama performance, brought fresh forces into the worldwide development of drama writing. Drama artists from all over the world are liberated from the outdated tradition, stepping up to a road of reform in drama innovation.