An Epic Theatre Catechism

Extract

By this time many of us have heard of the controversial doctrines of Epic Theatre. Some of us have been intrigued by Epic theory; others have lost no time expressing their annoyance. In his lifetime Bertolt Brecht, Epic's chief architect, encountered a full measure of both reactions. He accepted enthusiasms calmly and took rejections in the same spirit. In spite of all box-office accountants he insisted that the validity of a theatrical credo was not to be determined by a counting of heads. “Einstein's theory was understood at first by half a dozen people,” he once told me. “Whether I am accepted by six people or six million is beside the point. The point is whether I am justified.“

It must be admitted that the meaning of Epic Theatre is not quickly grasped.