Few have had such a deep effect on modern theatre as Bertolt Brecht did. His value as a theatre maker and theoretician is embodied not only in the 'positive' aspects of his doctrine – his innovative approach to dramatic writing, theatre directing, and acting – but in its 'negative' aspects as well. Brecht not only offered a new (yet not totally original) thesis on the art of theatre, but also placed his own activity as an antithesis to the theatre conventions of his era - based on the assumption that dramatic, 'Aristotelian' theatre (i.e., the kind of theatre which is based on the principles phrased by Aristotle in his Poetics) is cut off from the problems of human existence in modernity. Believing that theatre should establish a new, critical approach to life, Brecht rejected the core principles of 'Aristotelian' aesthetics, above all the notion of Catharsis, which he saw as a theatrical mechanism meant to provide the audience with pleasure, yet not with a real experience of learning. Brecht himself strove to create a kind of theatre which will uncover the true nature of society and encourage his audience to take part in the struggle to change it.

In the course, we will examine the key aspects of Brecht's doctrine by studying some of his poetry, plays, and theoretical writings.