here from the fact that ,in order to arrive at correct forms of revolution- HEATRE ary social behaviour, it is necessary not duly to be active - in the social context as well as in the context of theatre -, but also to observe in order to be able to assess a given situation theoretically.3 By combining action with discussion, the didactic theatre offers the players a framework within which they can learn - through practical examples - the correct applications of the dialectical unity between theory and praxis, Linked up with this is a further aspect of the didactic theatre which deals with the spheres of production and consumption. In traditional theatre these two activities are taken over by two different groups of people - the actors and the audience - without any interlinking or interchanging of roles. In the didactic theatre on the other hand, these two activities are alternated by onegroup of persons who are at times actors and at times spectators. In this manner the didactic theatre emphasizes the dialectical nature of the relationship between the spheres of production and consumption, as is illustrated by Marx in the 'Introduction to the Critique of Political Economy \ As experiments in forms of revolutionary social behaviour, the didactic plays establish a closer link between an art form and day-today life than was possible in any other form of theatre. By establishing this link theatre was not only given a constructive and socially relevant function, but it also had an important role to play in the organization of society. Among the organizational functions of Brecht^s didactic plays is the training in collectivism. With reference to Badener Lehr-stueck vom EmverstaendnisSrec^t writes that as a kind of collective art experiment the play creates the necessary preconditions for the organization of a social collective. Brecht saw in the collective a new social formation which to his mind would replace the outdated bourgeois concept of the "great individual', and which alone would be in a position to bring about any changes in society. By emphasizing in practice the collective nature of action and analysis, the didactic plays attempt to instil in the actors a collective consciousness. In the model of the didactic theatre Brecht therefore attempts to initiate the social organization of the collective through the means of theatre.4 The revolutionary character of the social experiments in the didactic theatre make it evident that it is directed towards revolutionary theatre groups which as a rule are made up of class conscious workers who are also active on the cultural front. Indeed Hanns Eisler, a close associate of Brecht, reiterates at one place that the model of the didactic theatre is conceived of, first and foremost, as amateur theatre, as Journal of Arts and Ideas 25