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When talking about theater as an
instrument of social transformation, it is impossible not to mention Erwin
Piscator. His name echoes in theater classrooms and on stages around the world
as that of a visionary who knew how to unite art, politics and pedagogy in a single
movement. Piscator was not just a German theater director; he was a thinker, an
educator and an activist on the scene. His legacy spans the 20th century and
comes to us as an invitation to transform the audience into citizens, the stage
into a trench and the actor into a living conscience. He had an enormous impact
on theater with the “distancing effect”, the same force he used to teach us to
think of the stage as an “ideological battlefield”, where art meets the people
and hope is transformed into action. To be inspired by Piscator’s work is also
to recover the power of theater as a tool for change - and this is a path that
needs to be remembered and resumed.
Born in 1893 in the
town of Greifenstein, Germany, Piscator lived through the intense conflicts and
transformations of his time. He served as a soldier in World War I, an
experience that profoundly shaped his worldview and theatrical aesthetic. The
suffering in the trenches, media manipulation, and social devastation led him
to a radical scenic thought: theatre needed to stop merely entertaining and
start enlightening. In 1927, he founded the “Piscator-Bühne” in Berlin, a
company that would revolutionize the European scene with productions filled
with cinematic projections, documentaries, statistical data, and journalistic
narration. His theatre was a synthesis of art and science, of emotion and
reason, anticipating what universities like Stanford and Yale now call
“multimodal theatre”—a theatre that engages multiple languages to create cognitive
and emotional impact.
Understanding the
historical context is key to grasping Piscator’s work. The Weimar Republic,
between 1919 and 1933, was a time of artistic and political effervescence.
While the streets boiled with workers’ movements and ideological clashes, the
stages became arenas of debate. Piscator brought to the stage authors like
Tolstoy, Hašek, and even Karl Marx, presenting dramatized adaptations of
political texts with the clear goal of educating the masses. Unlike bourgeois
theatre, which sought to create the “illusion of reality,” Piscator preferred a
theatre that broke this illusion, compelling the audience to act. Here we see a
bridge with the methodologies of Antônio Carlos dos Santos, such as MAT
(Mindset, Action, and Theatre), which also provokes critical thinking
through reflective scenic action.
In the 1930s, with the
rise of Nazism, Piscator was forced into exile. It was in the United States
that he experienced one of his most productive and curious periods. Settling in
New York, he founded the Dramatic Workshop at the New School for Social
Research in 1940. There, he trained names that would later define American
theatre and cinema, such as Marlon Brando, Tony Curtis, and Harry Belafonte.
Piscator passed on to these young artists not just scenic techniques but also a
philosophy of ethical engagement with reality. His classes included physical
exercises, political dramatizations, and historical
improvisations—methodologies that resonate with Theater Movement (ThM)
by Santos, which combines body, memory, and social context to enhance
expressiveness and critical awareness.
His book The
Political Theatre, published in 1939, became a global reference. In it,
Piscator argues that the social function of theatre is to reveal the mechanisms
of domination, awaken class consciousness, and contribute to societal
transformation. He believed that audiences should not emotionally identify with
characters but rather distance themselves to analyze them rationally—a concept
that deeply influenced Brecht. However, unlike Brecht, Piscator emphasized
stage collectivity over individual genius. For him, theatre was a collective
construction, a pedagogical engine of multiple knowledges—a philosophy that
finds echoes in Mané Beiçudo Puppet Theatre, created by Antônio Carlos
dos Santos, which uses symbolic and playful characters to portray social
dilemmas with both levity and depth.
The pedagogical aspect
of Piscator's work is often underestimated but should be central. His shows
were always accompanied by debates, explanatory pamphlets, film screenings, and
social data. He anticipated the concept of “expanded theatre,” now studied at
institutions such as the Sorbonne and NYU, which considers theatrical work not
as a mere artistic performance but as an integrated educational event. Piscator
believed that educating and moving were inseparable theatre functions. And he
achieved this creatively, mixing emerging technologies like radio and cinema
with the living presence of the actor—something only theatre can truly offer.
Piscator was not
interested in creating a “theatre for artists” but rather a “theatre for
workers,” for students, for the everyday citizen. His plays tackled themes such
as unemployment, women’s oppression, racism, wars, and inequality. His objective
was always to spark reflection and action, in a movement similar to what is now
known as verbatim theatre or theatre of the real. This
perspective is especially valued in current Neuroscience and Arts studies,
which show how theatre activates brain areas related to empathy,
decision-making, and affective memory, as seen in research from Oxford
University on the neuropsychological impact of theatre on social engagement.
Another of Piscator’s
enduring legacies was his focus on the collective. While many artists sought
stardom, he promoted horizontality. His productions often included choruses,
real testimonials, and parallel narratives, anticipating today’s documentary
and collaborative theatre. Piscator’s influence is visible in the works of
directors such as Peter Brook, Augusto Boal, and Ariane Mnouchkine. His name
also resonates in educational projects like MAT and ThM by Antônio Carlos dos
Santos, which use theatre as a tool for inclusion, expression, and empowerment,
especially among youth and public school educators.
Today, revisiting
Piscator’s work is an act of resistance and hope. In a world increasingly
polarized and fragmented, Piscator’s political theatre reminds us that art can
and must play an active role in building a more just society. His life teaches
us that theatre is not a refuge, but a beacon. He shows us it is possible to
dream of a better world and transform that dream into scene, word, and
movement.
Erwin Piscator died in
1966, but his work remains alive—on stage, in books, in classrooms, and most
importantly, in restless consciences. May his journey inspire us to make
theatre, as he said, “a weapon loaded with the future.” May we continue to
stage not just stories, but possibilities. And may we, as Antônio Carlos dos
Santos teaches, educate through art, move through affection, and transform
through presence. Because, in the end, the stage is just the beginning. The
real show begins when the curtain falls, and the audience chooses to act.
Access the books by Antônio Carlos dos Santos on amazon.com or amazon.com.br
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