EPIC THEATER AS A SPECIAL TYPE OF COMMUNICATION

Abstract

Reviewing Brecht's theatrical system as communication reveals the symbolic nature of the process of transferring a message through theatrical language (code). Combining a significant number of arts, the theatrical code contains various artistic languages that together form a theatrical text. The coding of the idea of a work of fiction in epic theater is done through a gaming strategy of distancing, reminiscent of a demonstratively rational manner of storytelling. Like Lessing and Schiller, Brecht wants not only to entertain the audience, but also to educate them in the spirit of the Enlightenment, to stimulate learning processes, and to develop critical thinking.
 The transformation of The Beggar's Opera into The Threepenny Opera is a model that demonstrates mastery of applying the material, an exemplary set of rules, and a technique of modification. The "old material" remains visible, but at the same time, the new in it allows us to "perceive things differently." Recognizability of the craft is crucial, because only transparency of approach brings the aesthetics and logic of the performance to the main denominator that makes repeatability possible: communication based on observation. Brecht conceives of observation on the basis of the visibility of a pointing gesture that functions as spectacles that the wearer does not even realize they are wearing. Everyday events are recreated in the manner of an eyewitness, repeated through demonstration, which implies the process of showing itself. The performance shows characters and scenes in an emphatically epic manner. The declared intention to avoid merging of the actor and the character as much as possible, and to demonstrate this as well, alienates the naturalness of the "street scene" and shows it as an artificially created repetition of the stage.
 The staging of the play as an "opera" generates unexpected visual and acoustic effects. The viewer sees and hears twice: an opera about an opera, as well as a denial of the attempt to imitate an opera as an opera. This performance shows that the Threepenny Opera is no longer a traditional "old opera" and at the same time not the final version of the "new opera." Trivial ideas about groups such as beggars or romantic events such as weddings, stereotypical thinking are dramatized, thus exposing them and encouraging reflection.