Bertolt Brecht is known for his work as a playwright and theater practitioner and for his investment in the genre of "epic theater." Epic theater, in contrast to the more naturalistic impulses of psychological realism, sought to have a point of view and champion rhetorical ideas over narrative ambiguities. The political project of epic theater can best be summated in the Brecht quote, "Art is not a mirror with which to reflect reality but a hammer with which to shape it."
Epic theater often included elements of direct address, overt theatricality (such as minimal costuming, or actors playing multiple characters), fragmentation, and interruption. In contrast to movements that privileged psychological realism, such as the method acting championed by Konstantin Stanislavski, epic theater sought to have a point of view, and privileged "function" over "form." The aim of epic theater was to incite an introspective experience in the viewer such that they had to orient themselves in relation to the play, to consider its message in relation to their own beliefs. In this way, epic theater was and is an inherently political theatrical practice. In eliminating the goal of imaginative suspension, epic theater created more space for an audience member's individual perspective.
Brecht's interest in epic theater was inspired by his investment in Chinese theater, as well as the work of Karl Marx, author of The Communist Manifesto. From these and other predecessors, Brecht learned the importance of distancing the audience from the action onstage—otherwise known as "alienation"—as opposed to imposing some kind of cathartic alignment between performer and audience member. He once said, "The theater-goer in conventional dramatic theater says: Yes, I've felt that way, too. That's the way I am. That's life. That's the way it will always be. The suffering of this or that person grips me because there is no escape for him. That's great art—everything is self-evident. I am made to cry with those who cry, and laugh with those who laugh. But the theater-goer in the epic theater says: I would never have thought that. You can't do that. That's very strange, practically unbelievable. That has to stop. The suffering of this or that person grips me because there is an escape for him. That's great art—nothing is self-evident. I am made to laugh about those who cry, and cry about those who laugh."
