Bertolt Brecht's technique of setting events in another place and/or time to distance the emotional impact, yet enhance the intellectual impact for the audience is called <u>the alienation effect, or the distancing effect, or the estrangement effect or simply the V-effect</u>.
Explanation:
Bertolt Brecht, a German theatre playwright and poet, is known for his epic/dialectical theatre as well as his 'V-effect'. He was not a supporter of the conventional, commercial theatre during his times.
Emotional manipulation was not acceptable to him, which was happening during those times in Nazi rule. This apparently led him to develop his V-effect or alienation effect.
According to this, the audiences should be primarily entertained or surprised, instead of being too involved emotionally with the characters in front of them. This enhanced the intellectual impact for the audience, at the same time making them step a little away from the intricacies of the characters.
