On Brecht and Eisenstein

In the antithetical tables ‘dramatic versus epic theatre’ from the notes to Mahagonny, the translator used the felicitous term montage (epic) as opposition to growth (dramatic). ‘Montage’ is often used by Brecht to contrast modern with traditional art; moreover, this term brings out clearly the close affinity of Brecht's epic theatre to film and points in particular to the cinematographic construction of his dramatic actions: “As we have seen, the Augsburger cuts his plays up into a series of little independent playlets, so that the action progresses by jumps. He doesn't like scenes to slide imperceptibly into one another.” This opposition of ‘growth’ and ‘montage’ is of more general significance

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