Thoughts on Brecht

Brecht was very much a modernist, acknowledging that scientific advance had forever changed the world and the ways in which our society functions; the way we relate to each other, and our aesthetic appreciations. The new theatre must be theatre for the scientific age.
Brecht’s scientific theatre is a theatre of reason, and experimental method. The characters represented are not created as representations of abstract concepts; the good, the innocent, the tragic etc. Neither do characters  directly mirror  what is observed in life. Rather they represent the contradiction present in every character, which is observed in our everyday life experience.Brecht writes that the representation of the contradictory nature of the character is important because:
“nobody can be identically the same at two unidentical moments.  A man is an atom that perpetually breaks us and forms anew. We have to show things the way they are.”
The Brechtian character displays the way things are for all to see, not allowing any one thing to dominate and so leaving any judgements to the spectator’s intellect and reason, rather than forcing it upon him or her through empathy. This is realism, but not simply a replication of reality. It is rather an interpretation of reality, revealing not just the action, but some suggestions, opinions and description surrounding the conditions leading to it. Of course there is a huge deal in this representation, but this was only revealed that it is also there in the dramatic portrayal. The difference with the epic character, is that it is to the audience for their consideration.