Elements of The Epic Theatre in Edward Albee's The Sandbox

Abstract

The theory of the epic theatre was promoted in the first half of the twentieth century by the German playwright Bertolt Brecht. He believed that the new events of the twentieth century dictate the necessity for new modes of presentation. Being primarily politically and socially concerned, he wanted to make his audience think about the socio-political problems shown on stage, rather than feeling it; thus, he called for the notion of estrangement/alienation or what is often termed the A-effect. The present paper is an attempt to show how Edward Albee employs some of the techniques of the epic theatre in his play The Sandbox. The paper is more technically, than thematically, oriented. In many places in this short play, Albee makes the audience feel that they are watching a play=game, not a slice of life as it is claimed by the realist dramatists. Some of the elements of the epic theatre which are employed in this play are: the actors do not identify with the characters that they play; the author deals with some serious situations in a cartoon-like way; some characters play the role of the author and/or the director; the characters address the audience directly; and mixing tragic and comic events at the same moment.