According to Aristotle, all good writing about tragedy involves mimesis, which employs:
Source: Socialist Aesthetics: A Tribute to Bill Bland, Conway Hall, September 9, 2001, reprinted from unpublished notes, c. 2001
Transcription/Markup: Marxism-Leninism Currents Today, 2022
Public Domain: Marxists Internet Archive (2022). You may freely copy, distribute, display and perform this work; as well as make derivative and commercial works. Please credit “Marxists Internet Archive” as your source.
[Editor: This is only an initial fragment from his incomplete notes entrusted to Alliance for general editing and ordering as well as completing and amplifying.-HK ]
In order to follow the significance of Brecht's theory of the stage, it is necessary to understand that the prevailing paradigm of the theatrical theory was derived from Aristotle.
What did Aristotle say therefore?
According to Aristotle, all good writing about tragedy involves mimesis, which employs:
... the mode of enactment, not narrative; and through pity and fear accomplishing the catharsis of such emotions".
(Aristotle: 'Poetics', Chapter 6, in: Aristotle: 'Poetics': Longinus: 'On the Sublime': Demetrius: 'On Style'; Cambridge (USA); 1995; p. 47-49).
Catharsis is defined as:
"... the purification of the emotions by vicarious experience, especially through the drama".
('Oxford English Dictionary', Volume 2; Oxford; 1989; p. 985).
'Mimesis', is a fundamental attribute of Aristotelian dramatic theory. For Aristotle it is this attribute that marks humans out from other animal species.
"It is an instinct of human beings from childhood to engage in mimesis (indeed, this distinguishes them from other animals". (Aristotle" 'Poetics', Chapter 4;, in: ibid.; p. 37).
Of the two main forms of theater then extant under Aristotle, there are two forms of theatrical exposition, one is termed epics; and the other is termed tragedy.
Their intent is the same - to engage in mimesis in order to give the audience a cathartic experience - but the form in which they are expressed differs. Tragedy is in metered 'verse, and is shorter, lasting less than a 'single revolution of the sun':
"Epic matches tragedy to the extent of being mimesis of elevated matters but they differ in that epic ... is in narrative form".
(Aristotle" 'Poetics', Chapter 6;, in: ibid.; p. 47).
"They also differ in length: tragedy tends so far as possible to stay within a single revolution of the sun'. (Aristotle" 'Poetics', Chapter 6; in: ibid.; p. 47).
In the theatre, in an analogous manner to the reaction then taking place against realism in painting, Brecht began to formulate his own theory of aesthetics in the late 1920s.
In the centre-piece was his objection to what he called the "theatre of illusion. Prior to Brecht, the foremost German dramatists - Goethe and Schiller had based their own works and theory on Aristotle's 'Poetics', the drama of catharsis by terror and pity. But Brecht objected to identification with characters.
"The audience, in his view, should not be made to feel emotions - It should be made to think".
(Martin Esslin: 'Brecht: A Choice of Evils: A Critical Study of the Man, His Work and his Opinions'; London; 1980; p. 114).
Brecht disagreed with the Aristotelian ethos regarding aesthetics. However, he accepted the Aristotelian distinction between epics and dramas:
"The epic and dramatic ways of telling a story are held, following Aristotle, to be basically distinct".
(Bertolt Brecht:" 'Theatre for Pleasure or Theatre for Instruction' (cl 936), p. 70).
Brecht evolved an aesthetic theory which he called the 'Verfremdungs Effekt'. Literally, this means 'a distancing effect', but more usually the word is translated as 'alienation'). This theory was set against the Aristotelian principles noted above.
"The formula itself is a translation of the Russian critic Viktor Shklovsky's phrase 'Priem Ostrannenija' or 'device making strange'".
(John Willett: Note to: John Willett (Ed.): 'Brecht on Theatre: The Development of aesthetic'; London; 1987; p. 99).
Alienation has been described as :
"the key concept"; of Brecht's aesthetics.
(Reinhold Grimm: 'Bertolt Brecht: Die Struktur Seines Werkes';
Nuremberg; 1950; p. 14).
In opposition to both Aristotelian dramatic principles, and to the Marxist-Leninist aesthetics of 'socialist realism', Brecht postulates in his dramatic theory of alienation that the aim of the dramatist should be:
"... to make the audience realise that what it sees on the stage is merely an account of past events that it should watch with critical detachment. Hence, the 'epic' (narrative, non-dramatic) theatre is based on ... devices that remind the spectator that he is being presented with a demonstration of human behaviour in scientific spirit rather than with an illusion of reality, in short, that the theatre is only a theatre and not the world itself'.
('New Encyclopaedia Britannica,' p. 493).
The term: "An Alienation effect" - entered Brecht's theoretical vocabulary in 1936 with the publication in English of the essay 'Alienation Effects in Chinese acting'. This followed Brecht's visit to a performance in May 1935 by Mei Lan-fang and his company.
"... playing in such a way that the audience was hindered from simply identifying itself with the
characters in the play".
('Bertolt Brecht: 'Alienation Effects in Chinese Acting', in: John Willett (Ed.): 'Brecht on Theatre: The Development of an Aesthetic'; London; 1987; p. 91).
The aim of alienation was:
'... to puncture the complacent acceptance of either character, motive, narrative, incident or
resolution".
BT:p.
and to install, beyond surprise and astonishment:
"... an attitude of inquiry and criticism".
(B T o, 136).
As befits Brecht's opposition to Aristotelian drama, he started to use the term 'Non-Aristotelian drama' from 1939, in order to describe his work, rather than the term dialectical, because according to Brecht, it was:
"a better description of his theatre at this stage, referring as it does to the elimination of empathy and imiratrion (or mimesis)".
John Willett: 'Brecht on Theatre: The Development of an Aesthetic'; London; 1990; p. 47).
However, Brecht's concept of the drama continued to change throughout his life. But there was one consistent feature. Although Brecht always presented himself as a "rebel", his anti-realist philosophy of the theatre was in accordance with norms of society in that he developed the thesis that 'Naturalism is a superficial realism'.
He tried to present this as being necessary since "Life must be observed through a missing "fourth wall". The meaning of this is made clear as follows:
"It is of course necessary to drop the assumption that there is a fourth wall cutting the audience off from the stage and the consequent illusion that the stage action is taking place in reality and without an audience".
(Bertolt Brecht: 'Short Description of a New Technique of Acting which produces an Alienation Effect'(1940), p. 136).
The goal of all this was to destroy illusion of reality':
"The theatre must do its best to destroy in the bud any illusion of reality".
(Martin Esslin: p. 115).
"The producer must strive to produce by all the means at his disposal effects which will keep the audience separate, estranged, alienated from the action". (Martin Esslin: p. 115).
"At first, it... the Brechtian stage approximates to the lecture hall". (Martin Esslin: p. 116).
This was the early period of the "didactic plays".
By 1948, he had changed his views and rather than seeing the stage as a 'lecture hall' he now asked artists to:
"Let us treat the theatre as a place of entertainment'. (Brecht: 'Klieines Organum fuer das Theater', in 'Versuche 12;', p. 109).
But Brecht still remained opposed to Aristotelian norms, and firmly rejects the idea of entertainment through emotional catharsis:
"The epic theatre is free from the need to create suspense.... Instead of mounting to a dramatic climax, the story unfolds in a number of separate situations, each complete in itself. The total effect of the play will be built up through the juxtaposition and 'montage' of contrasting episodes. Musical numbers may be introduced not to reinforce the theme of a play, but to interrupt its flow, break the illusion and thereby render the action strange".
(Klieines Organum', para 65, Versuche 12'; p. 135).
To reduce any tendency of the audience of believing in events unfolding on the stage, the stage must be bathed in light:
"Give us light on the stage, lighting engineer! How can we, playwrights and actors, present the images of the world in semi-darkness?"
(Brecht: 'Die Beleuchtung', from: 'Der Messuingkauf, 'Schriften zum Theater', p. 250-61).
Other staging devices were noted to achieve the same effect of 'distancing', i.e.;
- Lighting effects should not be used to create atmosphere;
- The coming of night should be indicated by such things as the appearance of a moon disc;
- Sources of light should be unconcealed;
- The source of music should be visible - e.g., an orchestra on the stage.
The A-effect (ie. Alienation effect):1
"... ruled out any attempt to make the stage convey the flavour of a particular place (a room at evening, a road in the autumn) ... No attempt was made to ... give it the illusion of watching an ordinary unrehearsed event. The audience's tendency to plunge into such illusions has to be checked by specific artistic means".
(Bertolt Brecht: 'Short Description of a New Technique of Acting which produces an Alienation Effect' (1940), p. 136).
The actors of course play their parts in a manner that heightens the A-effect, or 'distance'. In order to best achieve this the actors must never become the part, but be 'narrating' the actions of someone else:
"The actor must not regard himself as impersonating the character, but as narrating the actions of another person. Attitudes are expressed through 'Gestus', a term which means not merely gesture, but covers the whole range of the outward signs of social relationships, including deportment, intonation and facial expression". (Klieines Organum', para 65, Versuche 12'; p. 135).
Although normal expectations in theatre had been to develop an empathy between the actors and the audience, Brecht repudiated this:
"Contact between audience and stage is normally made on the basis of empathy. Conventional actors devote their efforts so exclusively to bringing about this psychological operation that they may be said to see it as the principal aim of their art... The technique which produces an A-effect is the exact opposite of that which aims at empathy". (Bertolt Brecht: 'Short Description of a New Technique of Acting which produces an Alienation Effect' (1940), p. 136
The actor must be explicitly "an actor" - which means she/he must be aware that there is an audience watching her/him:
"... expresses his awareness of being watched. This immediately removes one of the European stage's characteristic illusions. The audience can no longer have the illusion of being the unseen spectator at an event which is really taking place".
('Bertolt Brecht: 'Alienation Effects in Chinese Acting', in: John Willett (Ed.): 'Brecht on Theatre: The Development of an Aesthetic'; London; 1987; p. 92).
The net effect of all this is naturally, a "coldness" and "remoteness":
"The Chinese artists performance often strikes the Western actor as cold... The coldness comes from the actor's holding himself remote from the character portrayed".
('Bertolt Brecht: 'Alienation Effects in Chinese Acting', in: John Willett (Ed.): 'Brecht on Theatre: The Development of an Aesthetic'; London; 1987; p. 93).
Brecht's theory of drama was admittedly quite novel. From Greek tragedy through to Ibsen, the audience was supposed to be moved by what was presented on the stage.
Brecht believed that his epic theatre was destined to become the theatre of the scientific age.
However, there is no evidence that Brecht's methods ever roused the audience to active militancy. 'The Threepenny Opera' ran for years in New York without turning the thousands of people who saw it into Communists.
It is a theatre suited to parody, and to caricature, and is therefore essentially a negative theatre.
1. More commonly referred to in English as the "v effect" (Verfremdungseffekt). - MIA Transcriber.