Erwin Piscator

Erwin Piscator (December 17th, 1893 - March 30th, 1966), communist in the Germany of the beginning of the 20th century.

Theater and policy

Erwin Piscator is a communist director who makes use of the Théâtre like political tool. It created the proletarian theater. The theater was extremely popular at its time. It raises questions. He liked to say that the generation 1914 had died during the war, even if she had not perished under the shells. The men and the theater cannot be the same ones any more. He thus uses the theater to rebuild the history. Later, it engaged in dadaism. Piscator thinks that the life of people is marked by economic and social conditioning. It is thus the history which is important in the theater.

Piscator seeks to inform its public by its plays. He does not hesitate to diffuse the documentary ones and photographs which add extra information. In fact, the important thing is not the part in itself but the informative result. The theater is used as media to convey a proletarian propaganda. For this purpose Piscator with founded the RRR (Revue Roter Rummel) which is the meeting between an informative review and a play.

The documentary drama is a speciality of Piscator. Peter Weiss for example took again the protocol of the lawsuit of the killers of Auschwitz and in made a play that Piscator put in scene.

Piscator has an negative image to put in scene the social reality of the company of its time.