Terms of Interest

Epic Theatre:
A form of didactic theatre intended to provoke rational thought rather than to create illusion through loosely connected scenes which are interrupted by alienating or distancing effects to block the emotional responses of the audience members and force them to think objectively about the play. This form of theatre is most often associated with Bertolt Brecht but can also be traced back in roots to German playwright Frank Wedekind, and the German directors Erwin Piscator and Leopold Jessner.

Socialism:
In Marxist theory, the stage of social organization following Capitalism in a society's journey into the inevitable stage of Communism. This theory advocates the vesting of ownership and control of the means of production and distribution, of capital, land, etc., to the community as a whole.

Marxism:
The system of economic and political thought developed by Karl Marx, along with Friedrich Engels, stating that throughout history has been a device for the exploitation of the masses by a dominant class, that class struggle has been the main agency of historical change, and that the capitalist system, containing from the first the seeds of its own decay, will inevitably, after the period of the dictatorship of the proletariat, be superseded by a socialist order before finally manifesting as a classless society.

Didacticism:
The instruction or teaching of a moral lesson. Brecht's plays are often didactic and use contradictions within the characters themselves to showcase a specific point. The term is often used to describe a text which is over-ridden with moral instruction, and can also be used to describe something which is destructive rather than informative.

Dialecticism:
The belief that everything has two sides, and that the way to truth and social peace is through the exploration of values belonging both sides of the social ladder.

Economic Determinism:
The idea that economic structure and changes determine social differentiation and class conflict and therefor shape history. Economic determinism can be translated into man's effort to survive, and succeed.

Sources:
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