Brecht's Techniques: Alienation Effect

An introduction to Brecht’s techniques, the alienation effect. Suitable for Key Stages 4, 5. Drama Practitioners Series - Brecht. Brecht's Techniques. Verfremdungseffekt, Alienation or distancing effect is Bertolt Brecht’s way of reminding the audience that they are watching a piece of theatre. Brecht has many techniques to achieve this such as narration, using the third person and past tense, illuminating the auditorium etc. The idea is that if the audience appreciate they are watching a piece of theatre they will not ask what is going to happen and get caught up in the catharsis, but they will ask WHY did that happen and what can be done about it? The aim was to make political statements and empower the audience with this Epic style theatre. There’s more on Bertolt Brecht here on BBC Bitesize: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides...