In Shakespeare’s tragedy we find a great use of anti-illusionist theatre, through which he creates a very realistic and concrete landscape and he manages to set up interesting scene effects. The best example is Gloucester’s suicide, put in place on the wake of typical English theatre, that surprisingly produces the delusion of the audience. This scene isn’t reproducible in a different kind of theatre, such as a naturalistic or a stylized theatre, because in that way Shakespeare’s expression would be annihilated. We have a similar technique more than three centuries after, with a extraordinary poet, playwright and theatre director: Bertolt Brecht. Brecht's theory of theatre known as 'Epic Theatre' is an anti-illusionist theatre that runs counter to the Aristotelian 'Theatre of Illusion', obtained by using long pauses, harsh lightening, empty stages, episodic plot, placards announcing the change of scenes, concept of anti-hero, alienation effect or estrangement, narrative form and violation imposed by traditional dramatic form. Brecht's dramatic technique is intended to create an effect of estrangement among the audience by making the characters declare boldly that whatever the audience is watching is only play-an illusion not reality. The audience is urged to remain intellectually vigilant and not identify with the characters of the play. The audience will have to maintain a critical stance. The long pauses in the play obstruct the smooth flow of the plot. We can notice numerous similarities with the work of Shakespeare, in this particular case with the complex plot of the re lear. So we can observe the freshness and the modern spirit of our English author, that lived in a period that is far just one century from the
beginning of the Modern Age.