A highly politicized, Marxism-oriented form of theatre developed in Germany in the early part of the twentieth century by Erwin Piscator. It is, however, Piscatorâs one-time collaborator Brecht, Bertolt who is the better known exponent of Epic Theatre. Indeed Brechtâs name is virtually synonymous with Epic Theatre, despite the fact that it had a number of other quite prominent adherents including both Mayakovsky and Meyerhold. Doubtless this is due to Brechtâs fame as well as his extensive writings on the subject. Epic Theatre is typified by its deliberately anti-realist and anti-naturalist approach. It aims to shatter the sometimes stupefying âspellâ theatre can cast over its audience by constantly reminding the audience that what they are seeing is both artificial and contrived and something that should be evaluated and judged. Brecht rejected theatre that was spectacular or melodramatic; he wanted theatre that made people think. For example, actors move in and out of character and comment on what their character is doing, perhaps expressing distaste; the dialogue and the narrative play havoc with continuity and temporality, so characters say things like âIâm just off to the thirty years warâ; and intertitles, like they use in silent cinema, are used to create a counterview to what is occurring on stage. Brecht often said theatre should be like a car crash with the audience called on to bear witness to what happened and determine for themselves how the event should be assessed. See also theatre of cruelty; theatre of the absurd.