Bertolt Brecht Flashcards
What is his full name?
Born Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht.
When and where was he born?
When:
10th February 1898.
Where:
Augsburg, Bavaria, German Empire.
When and where did he die?
When:
14th August 1958.
Where:
East Berlin, East Germany.
What did he do?
He was a German poet, playwright and theatre director of the 21st century.
He extended the what?
He extended the experiments of Erwin Piscator and Vsevolod Meyerhold to explore the theatre as a form for political ideas.
How did he die?
Brecht died of a heart attack at age 58.
He employed the use of what?
He employed the use of techniques that remind the spectator that the play is a representation of reality and not reality itself. (Epic theatre.)
What was one of his most important principles?
The ‘distancing’ or ‘defamiliarisation’ effect.
What did the distancing/defamiliarisation effect involve?
It involved the ‘stripping the event of its self-evident, familiar, obvious quality and creating a sense of astonishment and curiosity about them.’ (Brecht quotes)
What did some of his techniques involve? (For the distancing effect?)
- harsh and bright stage lighting
- the use of songs to interrupt the action
- explanatory placards
- the transposition of text to the third person
- speaking the stage directions out loud
