Alienation Effect in Churchill’s Mad Forest: A Brechtian Analysis

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Bertolt Brecht‘s epic theory consists of formal and ideological elements. These two elements are indivisible because Epic Theatre represents the changing social and political circumstances with the help of changing dramatic conventions. Both formal and ideological elements are used in Brecht‘s Alienation Effect to minimize the emotional involvement of the audience. Brecht demanded the audience be intellectually involved with the play so as to receive the social and political messages in the play. Bertolt Brecht was not the first to use the Epic tradition, and to be sure he was not the last. Caryl Churchill, one of the most successful woman playwrights in Britain, is one of the practitioners of Epic Theatre. Churchill is mostly known for her feminist plays, but in her plays -just like Brecht‘s- she combines her ideological commitment with theatrical experimentation. In 1990, only months after Ceauşescu had been deposed, Churchill visited Romania with some students from a London theatre school. Their experiences there resulted in her play, Mad Forest. This paper will be an analysis of Churchill‘s use of the Alienation Effect through Epic conventions in her Mad Forest. Churchill, to avoid the emotional involvement of the audience and to make them aware of the theatricality of what they see, creates the Alienation Effect through her use of setting, plot structure, characterization, and theatrical instruments.

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Alienation Effect , Epic Theatre , Caryl Churchill , Bertolt Brecht

Mediterranean Journal Of Humanities

269

Mediterranean Journal Of Humanities