This appealed to be natural and spontaneous expressions, rather than driven by material interests or the result of historical forces. He used overtly theatrical means to make the familiar strange " otherwise known as ˜the Verfremdungseffekt' or ˜V-effect', to challenge the habituated and supposedly normal. By doing this it allowed the imagination of alternative political realities and possibilities to happen. Brecht's use of the V-effect, the adoption of an episodic type of writing, and his promotion of gestic writing and acting "whereby underlying social attitudes and transactions should be brought out in the scripting and playing of scenes "had an influence on many subsequent writers, directors, and performers well beyond his native Germany. (Sacks, 2006) .
Verfremdungseffekt, otherwise called ˜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" (Willett 91). 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" (Willett 92). 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 Acting" and Brechtian theatre.
Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956) offered a challenge to Aristotle's ancient approach to theatre as a spectator activity. He sought to stimulate the minds of his audience, integrating economics and politics into his plays, in hopes that those watching would respond with intellect, not emotion.
