- Brecht displaced many of his plays into an imagined world to distance his audience from actual human conflicts that were taking place around them. For example, Brecht set the Threepenny Opera in Soho, but the metaphorical message of the play was about Nazi Germany and the injustice of the third Reich.
- Epic theatre also made use of the arrangement of scenes and titles which then led to a montage effect.
Is Fear and Misery of the 3rd Reich Epic theatre?
We can see how much F and M is epic by looking at the points above.
- Firstly, is the play anti naturalistic? Yes. Its structure has a vague chronological order, however does not follow the conventional 3 act formation. Instead it is composed of a series of 24 short scenes which do not have a constant plot or key characters.
- This also depends on how the director chooses to show the play. If it is decided that the actors are to use gestus then the play will be very anti-naturalistic and therefore epic.
- However, if the director wants the play to be acted in a realistic style, then the play will be naturalistic and therefore not epic.
- Even if the play is done in a realistic style, there will still be the aspect of epic theatre within the titles and the poems. The poems will require actors to use alienation (Verfrumdenseffekt) which is a very anti naturalistic technique. It requires actors to step out of their characters and talk directly to the audience.
- The key theme in this play is looking at a series of different people from different backgrounds and from different classes and how they cope with the everyday life of the Nazi regime. We see many different social environments from the comfort of the judges (Judicial process) to the poverty and injustice against the communists (Job creation.)
- Brecht also shows this play is epic by subtly displaying his own political views within the scenes.
- This play does not fulfil the criteria of epic theatre in that it is not removed from the actual situation and setting the audience find themselves in. i.e. it is not a metaphor like Threepenny Opera. It is set in Nazi Germany, and is one of the few if not the only one of Brecht’s plays to be so explicit in its opposition to Nazis.
- Fear and misery does use the effect of montage strongly throughout the play. Brecht uses this technique either between the scenes as he juxtaposes subject matter in a new and dramatic way. For example, placing “the spy” next to “the Jewish wife.” In the spy we see suspicion; in the Jewish wife we see solidarity and love.
Is Fear and Misery of the 3rd Reich a Lehrstuck?
A Lehrstuck literally translated means “learning play.” In other words, a play that in forms and educates the audience about a topic, in this case of a political basis. Fear and misery is considered very much a Lehrstuck as it teaches the audience about a great number of things.
Firstly, on a basic level, it teaches people about life in Nazi Germany. When performed at the time it was written, it informed people outside of Germany what life was like, and also provided hope for those living in Germany. Today, it has become an important document which provides educational material for those learning about the holocaust and the Second World War
It teaches people that every aspect of German society was affected by the Nazi regime, and also personalises the effect of this. This is important as it is easy to distance yourself from the reality of the holocaust by only looking at statistics.
Audiences are also implicitly educated about Brecht’s communist views. Although the information is explicitly anti-Nazi, the persuasion to support communism is expertly subtle, to the extent that an audience member may be oblivious to it.
