Theatre of the Oppressed

The “Epic” Concept

In this chapter, Boal breaks down different interpretations of the word “epic” throughout history. When Marxism began to change the landscape of art and theater, epic theater took on a new meaning. However, the new use of an old term created confusion.

Aristotle created strict definitions for epic poetry, tragedies, and comedies. For the Greek philosopher, the difference between epic poetry and tragedy lies in the tense of the action. The tense of epic poetry occurs in the past, while tragedies take place in the present. As Boal explains, “Aristotle adds that all the elements of epic poetry are found in tragedy, but not all the elements of tragedy are present in poetry” (83). Over time, however, Aristotle’s definitions were abandoned, and modern interpretations of the word have been expanded to include films that exhibit mass murders and violence.

German director Erwin Piscator developed a new meaning of “epic” for his performances. Piscator used multimedia tools such as slides and graphics to break the traditional form. Director Bertolt Brecht took this a step further, developing a type of epic theater that acts as a response to Hegel’s definition of epic poetry.