EPIC THEATRE - Caucasian Chalk circle

Bertolt Brecht aimed to use theatre to show his audience what was wrong with society and then convince them to go out and change it. (Burton:158) Brecht believed that theatre should appeal not to the spectator's feelings but to his reason. While still providing entertainment, it should be educational and capable of provoking social change. One major work of Brecht was The Caucasian Chalk Circle. This was written whilst Brecht was in exile in the United States during the Second World War. The issues raised in this work were social inequalities, government power, social standards and poverty. These issues were very apparent in scene two of The Caucasian Chalk Circle. However Brecht not only presented these issues to his audience, he aimed to convince them to go out and address the problems. Brecht utilised alienation techniques as a vehicle to educate his audience.

In order to show his audience what was wrong with society, Brecht used the form of ‘Epic Theatre’. This is...