Epic Theatre Research Articles

Cruelty and Tragedy: Cathartic Journey in Peter Shaffer's Equus

The concept of catharsis has evolved much since Aristotle defined it in Poetics as the purgation of feelings such as pity and fear caused by an imitation of a tragic action. As Antonin Artaud argued in Theatre and Its Double, the theatre of cruelty aims to arouse a therapeutic effect in order to discharge the negative feelings of the audience. Although Peter Shaffer's Equus (1973) is widely acknowledged as an example of epic theatre, it also evokes the characteristics of theatre of cruelty with its portrayal of overt violence and its affective/emotional reflections on the main characters. This includes both the purification of feelings and psychological clarification of these characters as represented in the play. The relationship between the psychiatrist Martin Dysart and his patient Alan Strang can be regarded as a mutual play within the play, which makes them each other's audience as well. Relying on Freudian and Artaudian frameworks, this paper aims to illustrate how the play reveals the modern facet of the concept of catharsis by claiming that both Dysart and Alan discharge their negative feelings in a therapeutic relationship.

K filosofii zbitého myšlení. Dialektika citovatelného gesta podle Waltera Benjamina

In the 1930s, the playwright Bertolt Brecht had a marked impact on Walter Benjamin’s life and thinking. Brecht’s epic theatre inspired Benjamin to write several texts in which the philosopher explores the concept of the “quotable gesture”. This article aims to offer an interpretation of the quotable gesture as a methodological tool for the critique of the modern alienation of tradition and the crisis of thinking. Drawing on selected essays, I analyse the principle of gestural citation as a critical-hermeneutical principle in which common pre-understanding is to be suspended in favour of particular attention towards the phenomenal and to one’s own thinking.

Reclaiming Cross-Dressing: Masculinity Construction in the All-Female Yue Opera’s Shakespearean Adaptations

Because it offers the stage such scope for polyerotic interpretation, crossdressing has held an irresistible appeal to theatre practitioners across times and cultures, including Shakespeare in early modern England. The Shakespearean cross-dressing theatre, however, has long excited critical disapprobation as a cultural form which excluded women. However, can cross-dressing as a theatrical device be reclaimed by women as an alternative mode of Shakespearean performance? What academic and practical significance can a reversed, all-female casting of Shakespearean production offer? This paper will argue that the Chinese Yue opera’s Shakespeare adaptations may shed light on how gender impersonation can be used to express women’s wishes and desires. As the second largest Chinese opera genre, Yue opera is a theatreform in which all roles are played by actresses for a predominantly female audience. Interestingly, Shakespeare is also Yue opera’s most adapted foreign playwright. General Ma Long (2001, an adaptation of Macbeth) and Coriolanus and Duliniang (2016, an adaptation of Coriolanus) are two representative specimens of Yue opera Shakespearean adaptations with all-female casting. The male protagonists of both are played by cross-dressed actresses. How do Yue opera female performers, whose style is generally perceived as soft and feminine, stage the Shakespearean war heroes famous for their bloodthirsty masculinity? Deploying a theoretical framework based on Judith Butler’s gender performativity theory and Bertolt Brecht’s account of the epic theatre, this essay aims to examine the masculinity construction in the all-female Yue opera Shakespearean adaptations, in order to open a discussion of how cross-dressing can be used to deconstruct and reassemble gender norms.

Between Representation and Reality: Zhao Chuan’s World Factory as Social Theatre

ABSTRACT Zhao Chuan’s play World Factory continuously introduces reality into the theatre by resorting to the creative techniques of documentary theatre, epic theatre, and theatre of the oppressed in left-wing theatre, thus constituting a blurred boundary between the reality and the representation, and also forming a mode of discussion of social issues in theatre. The tension between reality and representation allows Zhao Chuan’s theatrical production to be understood not only as aesthetic theatre but also as social theatre. With the help of sociological methods, Zhao Chuan’s social theatre creates a “theatrical public sphere,” and the reality of this sphere constitutes a Habermasian place of prudent and equal public opinion. At the same time, the representation of the theatrical public sphere creates the emotional space of physical presence. It imaginatively constructs another reality, and its representation quality can avoid the direct criticism of the reality, which makes the relatively free public sphere speech possible.

The Alienation Effect as a Communication Tool: Analyzing "The French Dispatch" Film

Bertolt Brecht's aesthetic theories, including the alienation effect, have been effective in shaping communication with the audience in the realm of cinema. This effect prevents the audience from identifying with the characters, fostering an objective and critical perspective. This study addresses how Brecht's alienation effect from his epic theater theory is utilized in modern cinema. In this context, the functionality of the alienation effect as a communication tool is examined through the film The French Dispatch. The study is structured according to the phenomenological design among qualitative analysis methods. According to the findings, Brecht's alienation effect is effective in determining the dramatic structures of films. The French Dispatch contains elements that evoke this effect. In the film, the direct address of characters to the camera, color changes, editing techniques, and the presence of narrators bring to mind the Brechtian approach. Considering the three separate stories told in the film and their visual and formal characteristics, it has been concluded that the alienation effect, through the communication established with the audience, facilitates the development of a critical approach.

German epic theater and the floating theater in Iraq / Abdul Jabbar Hassan’s experience as an example

في هذا البحث الموسوم (النقاط المشتركة بين المسرح الملحمي وتجربة عبد الجبار حسن في أهوار العراق)، هو دراسة مقارن لجربة المسرح العائم في أهوار العراق ومقارنة هذه التجربة مع المسرح الملحمي الألماني الذي أسسه الكاتب الألماني الكبير برتولت برشت. وخلال البحث نجد الكثير من النقاط المشتركة بين المسرحين المذكورين. وفي جانب من البحث يتم التركيز على مشهدين من أحدى المسرحيات التي مثلها عبد الجبار حسن في أهوار العراق. وكذلك في الاستنتاجات نجد الترابط الوثيق بين المسرحين. وتعتبر تجربة الفنان عبد الجبار حسن من التجارب الرائدة على مستوى العراق والعالم في المسرح. كما يتضمن البحث نبذة عن المسرح الملحمي وكذلك عن الكاتبين عبد الجبار حسن وبرتولت برشت.

Folklore motifs in the stage interpretation of Zainab Biisheva's novel "The Humiliated"

The subject of the study is the play "Humiliated" based on the novel of the same name by Z. Biisheva. Staging a literary work always requires a specific approach of the playwright and director to the artistic material. In this regard, the potential of the National Youth Theater of the Republic of Bashkortostan named after Mustaya Karim exactly meets these requirements for the production of the novel "The Humiliated" by Zainab Biisheva (director M.Kulbaev, 2019). The purpose of the study is to analyze the preservation of folklore motifs abounding in the author's work in its stage transformation. Methods used: ideological-thematic, ideological-aesthetic, comparative-historical. The work "The Humiliated" (1956-1959) by Z. Biisheva is part of a trilogy, the rest of which are called "At the Big Ica" (1965-1967) and "Emesh" (1967-1969). The play is staged according to the first part of the trilogy and captures the life story of Emesh during the Civil War with abundant depiction, artistic use of folklore material. The production director managed to reflect in two actions the main ideological and thematic, ideological and aesthetic peculiarities of the novel, to solve the main problem of the work by using the possibilities of theatrical art. The results of the conducted research can be used when writing a monograph on the history of scenic reinterpretation of the works of Bashkir writers of different years, the problem of staging an epic canvas to embody the national "epic theater" (the term Skorokhodova N.S.). The article concludes that the folklore traditions that permeate the body of the performance become that connecting thread with a bygone era, phrases in the Bashkir language used by the characters add authenticity to the theater performance.

MULTIMEDIA FRAMING OF BRECHTIAN CHIMERISM

Brecht's epic theater in its artistic diversity includes works that, having received multimedia interpretation, not only do not lose their artistic and aesthetic significance but also enhance it. This refers to B. Brecht's use of photo-epigrams from "Kriegsfibel", which became emblems of war. "Kriegsfibel" is the title of the second part of the great oratorio "Deutsches Miserere", which emerged as a result of Bertolt Brecht's creative collaboration with the composer Paul Dessau. Twenty-nine photo-epigrams formed the basis of the concert, which Brecht called "Deutsches Miserere" – "the great repentance of the German people". In this article, we examine the basic principles of the construction of "Deutsches Miserere", focusing on the functional features of the alienation effect in the work through multimedia and intermedia means. The focus lies on the interconnection and combination of different types of art: fiction, photography, cinematography, and music aimed at creating an original author's language. The article claims that the unifying principle that connects them is chimerism, which contributes to the effect of alienation and serves to provocatively and paradoxically comprehend and embody a certain theme or idea. In the triad of "principle – technique – medium", the leading artistic principle is the effect of alienation, one of the techniques of artistic transformation of reality is chimerism, and the medium is multimedia. The introduction of multimedia amplifies the alienation effect, and this allows us to consider the interaction of chimerism with intermedial means of expression, namely, it makes intramediality the sphere of existence of chimerism.

Queer Street Scenes: Interruption, Exception, Orientation

How might we think queerly about the politics of performance in public space? Inspired by ‘queer’ as a straying from the straight-and-narrow and by the street as a site of chance meetings and awkward run-ins, I stage in this essay an encounter between two different approaches to thinking the politics of performance in public space. The first approach follows a familiar path: Bertolt Brecht's ‘street scene’ and Walter Benjamin's account of epic theatre. The second approach follows the walking performances of two queer migrant artists – South Korean-born Jisoo Yoo, now based in France, and Mozambican-born Jupiter Child, now based in Denmark – who interrogate the disorientation of the queer migrant body in Western European public space. Exploring the surprisingly busy intersection between the Brechtian street scene and the work of these two artists reveals a politics of performance in public space that favours orientation over rupture.

The Shifting Faces of Epic Heroes: Unity and Diversity in Seventeenth-Century English Literary Criticism

Seventeenth-century England, renowned for its epic poems, stands as one of the most fruitful periods in the history of English literary criticism in terms of epic theory. One of the most significant topics of literary criticism during this era is the evolution of epic heroes. The critics at the time had comprehensive knowledge of the existing pagan and Christian traditions of epic heroes which were varied and interwoven. Moreover, the critics of the period were well acquainted with the literary criticisms of late Renaissance Italy and seventeenth-century France. However, they did not simply absorb influences from Greek, Roman, French, and Italian sources. Instead, English critics engaged in an active dialogue with these traditions, interpreting and adapting their ideas in light of their own cultural, historical, and theological context. This enabled critics to create individual approaches towards epic heroes, thereby making English literary criticism diverse but also too fragmented to form a cohesive group. This aspect of the period makes drawing the contours of the epic heroes immensely challenging. However, despite the overriding eclecticism inherent in the literary criticism of the period, this article indicates that there is a surprising degree of consensus on certain characteristics of epic heroes. Accordingly, this article examines the concept of epic heroes in seventeenth-century English literary criticism, focusing on four key aspects: the didactic role of epic heroes, their depiction as paragons of virtue, the significance of their lineage, and the intricate process of Christianising them.

Epic Sock Puppet Theater : artistic tactics for mitigating online disinformation

This case study presents the artistic research and production process for an interactive installation, Epic Sock Puppet Theater (ESPT), that uses artivist tactics to engage with the divisive socio-political content of online disinformation campaigns. The project allows viewers to interact with a dataset of social media posts made by “sock puppets” or imposter accounts used as part of state-sponsored disinformation campaigns so the viewer can become better equipped to recognize disinformation in their own social media feeds, less susceptible to its negative effects and less likely to unwittingly share it. The project is based on inoculation theory, a biological metaphor for building resistance against future disinformation through careful preemptive exposure to disinformation messages, as well as research that found that the revelation of a sock puppet account helped social media users identify other sock puppets spreading disinformation. In this case study, we summarize our research, user testing, and artistic process as a resource for others who may be interested in combining research, art and activism. Through our research and experimentation, we carefully selected artistic tactics, focusing on techniques from Brechtian epic theater to present emotionally and politically charged content that is designed to polarize viewers in a way that allows for critical reflection. The result is an artistic solution to a socio-technical problem: an animatronic sock puppet theater that simultaneously helps to familiarize and distance the public from online sock puppet disinformation, to creatively mitigate its negative effects.

From Epic Tragedy to Tragic Epic: Marina Carr’s Hecuba, Girl on an Altar, and iGirl

This article examines the genre of “epic tragedy” in two of the most recent adaptations of Greek tragedy by Marina Carr, Hecuba (2015) and Girl on an Altar (2022), as well as its reversal to produce a “tragic epic” in iGirl (2021). In the Poetics, Aristotle establishes a stark distinction between the genres of epic and tragedy. Yet, this distinction has been challenged throughout history in dramatic practices – in Euripides and Shakespeare’s tragic plays for instance – and theories – most notably by the emergence of epic theatre coined by Bertolt Brecht. Drawing from all these traditions, this article highlights Carr’s process of “epicisation” of tragedy through the implementation of a new form of dramatic speech and dramatisation of a narrative rather than a plot in Hecuba and Girl on an Altar. These strategies have influenced the creation of iGirl, which is a postmodern epic brought on stage through the lens of tragedy.

B. BRECHT: PROBLEMS OF TRANSFORMING A LITERARY TEXT IN THE SPACE OF PERFORMING ART

The article is devoted to the problem of transformation of Bertolt Brecht's drama into the stage space, technical and ideological accents of his work and analysis of the key problems of artistic interpretation of the text of plays. The problem of reproducing Brecht's works is closely related to the peculiarities of the "epic theatre" and the concepts introduced by the playwright. The article identifies the peculiarities of the created theatre, defines the accents that are important in the process of staging plays, in particular: preserving Brechtian conflict in translation, introducing the necessary artistic elements (scenery, music, costumes, etc.), understanding the technique of "alienation", etc. The effect of "alienation" is a key requirement of epic theatre and aims to portray a familiar phenomenon from an unexpected perspective. In addition, the actor becomes a part of the conventional world, does not transform into his character. In this case, the viewer becomes an actor himself, tries on the role of each character and is able to draw independent conclusions, not those dictated by the author and the plot.
 "The Threepenny Opera" is the most famous of the artist's other works. It is a synthesis of Brechtian innovations and complex interweaving of social themes that complement each other. When recreating this play on stage and on screen, directors must take into account the social and historical contexts, as well as the appropriateness of depicting theatrical scenes. A striking example of a misunderstanding of Brecht's work is the film by H. Pabst, in which the director pays more attention to artistic elements that shift the emphasis to visual rather than intellectual perception of the play.

EPIC THEATER AS A SPECIAL TYPE OF COMMUNICATION

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.

BERTOLT BRECHT AND THE TRANSNATIONAL THEATRE

Transnationality and transculturality, which have been attracting increasing attention within the scientific community in recent decades, have become an integral part of modern literature. Decolonization and globalization, as well as the mobility and migration caused by them, have become triggers for the blurring of ethnic, national, and cultural boundaries. These processes have also found their embodiment in literature. The transnational turn observed in literature since the 1990s shows that the understanding of literary works within national frameworks no longer corresponds to modern reality, and nations, cultures, and identities are featured with convention, fragmentation, and hybridity. And although consideration of transnationality is mostly focused on lyric and epic works, its manifestations take place in drama and theatre as well.
 This article examines the influence of Bertolt Brecht on contemporary transnational and/or transcultural theatre. It is noted that the manifestation of transnational elements in the playwright's work occurs both at the level of his plays and performances. In particular, the effects of alienation used by B. Brecht to depict the strange, foreign and unusual in one's own self have a significant impact on the formation of transnational theatre. Another manifestation of the transnational is the playwright's departure from the idea of closed nations and cultures in favour of open, conditional and fluid ones. An important aspect is also the intertextual references of his plays, which are artistic interpretive models of famous works of the past and thus enable their existence through space and time. Focusing on the processes of alienation, B. Brecht's epic theatre shows the hybridity and fragmentation not only of cultures and nations, but also of identities, therefore encouraging readers and viewers to search for the strange in themselves. At the same time, topics and problems raised in his plays and performances are not limited to local or national contexts, but are transnational in their nature.

Pembuatan Katalog Produk Menggunakan Canva Sebagai Media Promosi Pada Warkop R. Basman Malang

Warkop R.Basman promotes with word of mouth brochures and through whatsapp. The purpose of this research is to create promotional media in the form of a product catalog using Canva which displays a design according to the criteria for a good catalog at Warkop R.Basman Malang, to improve promotional media to consumers.
 This research uses the type of action research involving 15 respondents consisting of 1 owner, 2 marketing experts, 2 design experts, and 10 consumers. This action research was conducted up to cycle II.
 Based on the EPIC theory (Emphaty, Persuasion, Impact, and Communication) and from the results of distributing questionnaires, the average score is very effective. 
 From the details of the EPIC average score, it can be concluded that the creation of promotional media through product catalogs made using Canva, can be declared very effective as promotional media.

The Shifting Faces of Epic Heroes: Unity and Diversity in Seventeenth-Century English Literary Criticism

Seventeenth-century England, renowned for its epic poems, stands as one of the most fruitful periods in the history of English literary criticism in terms of epic theory. One of the most significant topics of literary criticism during this era is the evolution of epic heroes. The critics at the time had comprehensive knowledge of the existing pagan and Christian traditions of epic heroes which were varied and interwoven. Moreover, the critics of the period were well acquainted with the literary criticisms of late Renaissance Italy and seventeenth-century France. However, they did not simply absorb influences from Greek, Roman, French, and Italian sources. Instead, English critics engaged in an active dialogue with these traditions, interpreting and adapting their ideas in light of their own cultural, historical, and theological context. This enabled critics to create individual approaches towards epic heroes, thereby making English literary criticism diverse but also too fragmented to form a cohesive group. This aspect of the period makes drawing the contours of the epic heroes immensely challenging. However, despite the overriding eclecticism inherent in the literary criticism of the period, this article indicates that there is a surprising degree of consensus on certain characteristics of epic heroes. Accordingly, this article examines the concept of epic heroes in seventeenth-century English literary criticism, focusing on four key aspects: the didactic role of epic heroes, their depiction as paragons of virtue, the significance of their lineage, and the intricate process of Christianising them.

Theatre as a place of experimentation with space

The space of the city and the space of the theater stage have a lot in common. Transformations of urban spaces have much more limitations than experiments with stage space. The article presents a comparative analysis of two avant-garde trends of the early twentieth century in the theater and, in parallel, in architecture. It is shown that Brecht’s epic theater and Bauhaus architecture were strongly influenced by Spengler’s pessimistic ideas. The Meyerhold Theater and the constructivist movement, on the contrary, are based on the ideas of social optimism. Using the example of the modern city of Amman (the capital of Jordan) and the Al-Shams Theater, it is shown that the choice between depressive and optimistic development paths remains relevant today.

Theatre-for-Development as Information Panacea for Rural Dwellers in Nigeria during a Pandemic: Lessons from COVID-19

The subject of COVID-19 (coronavirus) in Nigeria emerged with various misrepresentations and conspiracy theories, such as the notion of COVID-19 as a forerunner of the Anti-Christ or the commencement of a 'New World Order' occasioned by the 5G network. COVID-19 information in Nigeria was managed by the Presidential Task Force through daily media briefings. This paper examined the PTF's information dissemination structure and its impact on four indigenous communities in south-eastern Nigeria: Ikwo in Ebonyi State, Iva-Valley Forestry Hill Camp 1 in Enugu State, Umualumu Old Road in Imo State, and Ogbagu Obukpa in Enugu State. TfD was used during lockdown to inform indigenous communities and promote necessary health precautions. The project used TfD and Brecht's Epic Theatre Theory in 4 Nigerian communities to show how TfD can complement other media in informing rural residents about COVID-19. TfD mobilized indigenous communities in southeastern Nigeria to understand Igbo and take COVID-19 precautions despite PTF's robust information dissemination structure. TfD could have helped the PTF share vital COVID-19 info with rural communities in Nigeria. The Nigerian government should establish a robust infrastructure for raising awareness and combating COVID-19 and other pandemics in rural areas through TfD

Research on the Theater of Absurd

This essay aims to do research on one of the most important modern drama movements in Europe — the Theater of Absurd, through doing the background research at first and then comparing works of the same type and period including Nobel Prize work. The authors want more people to get to appreciate the art form of Absurd Drama which precisely reveals very serious social issues fundamentally but through vivid and very comic form. That’s quite novel and classic! After researching on the wide ranges of drama movements in the same period like Environmental Theater, Theater of the Oppressed (TO), Epic Theater, and even Music theater like Off-Off Broadway, the authors finally chose to conduct in-depth research on the Absurd Theater. The background research includes but not limited to the period from1950s to the late 1980s in Europe, and elaborates the development of absurd theory in detail. This paper is represented by Ionesco’s famous drama — Rhinoceros, conducting research from the perspectives of forms, themes, literature technologies and moral to show readers what absurd drama is and its characteristics. Different histories can lead to different forms of literary works including drama. We should always constantly explore new forms of Drama which is extremely interesting and challenging!