Editing Distancing effect (section)

== Techniques ==
The distancing effect is achieved by the way the "artist never acts as if there were a [[fourth wall]] besides the three surrounding him ... The audience can no longer have the illusion of being the unseen spectator at an event which is really taking place".<ref>Willett 91</ref> The use of direct audience-address is one way of disrupting stage illusion and generating the distancing effect. In performance, as the performer "observes himself", his objective is "to appear strange and even surprising to the audience. He achieves this by looking strangely at himself and his work".<ref>Willett 92</ref> Whether Brecht intended the distancing effect to refer to the audience or to the actor or to both audience and actor is still controversial among teachers and scholars of "[[Epic Theatre|Epic Acting]]" and Brechtian theatre.

By disclosing and making obvious the manipulative contrivances and "fictive" qualities of the medium, the actors attempt to alienate the viewer from any passive acceptance and enjoyment of the play as mere "entertainment". Instead, the goal is to force viewers into a critical, analytical frame of mind that serves to disabuse them of the notion that what they are watching is necessarily an inviolable, self-contained narrative. This effect of making the familiar strange serves a didactic function insofar as it aims to teach the viewer not to take the style and content for granted, since (proponents argue) the theatrical medium itself is highly constructed and contingent upon many cultural and economic conditions.

It may be noted that Brecht's use of distancing effects in order to prevent audience members from what he characterizes as ''bathing'' themselves in empathetic emotions and to draw them into an attitude of critical judgment may lead to reactions other than intellectual coolness.  Brecht's popularization of these effects has come to dominate the understanding of its dynamics. But the particulars of a spectator's psyche and of the tension aroused by a specific alienating device may actually ''increase'' emotional impact.<ref>Frau Weigel’s famous Gestus of the ''stummer Schrei'' or "silent scream," following the death of Courage's son Swiss Cheese, moved some to experience deep empathy—based on a vicarious feeling of what it is to so restrain oneself that the full expression of grief is prevented.</ref> Audience reactions are rarely uniform, and there are many diverse, sometimes unpredictable, responses that may be achieved through distancing.

Actors, directors, and playwrights may draw on alienating effects in creating a production. The playwright may describe them in the script's stage directions, in effect requiring them in the staging of the work. A director may take a script that has not been written to alienate and introduce certain techniques, such as playing dialogue forward to remind the audience that there is no fourth wall, or guiding the cast to act "in quotation marks". The actor (usually with the director's permission) may play scenes with an ironic subtext. These techniques and many more are available for artists in different aspects of the show. For the playwright, reference to [[vaudeville]] or musical [[revue]]s will often allow rapid segues from empathy to a judgmental attitude through comic distancing. A notable example of such estrangement in an English-language script can be found in [[Brendan Behan]]'s ''The Hostage'' (1958).