The distinctive philosophies of Bertolt Brecht and Jean-Paul Sartre concerning man's existence directly influence their attitudes toward character, action, and the total drama. Both playwrights reveal that drama is an inseparable and reciprocal molding of content and form. The relationship between their ideas and their expressions of them is so definite that a thorough understanding of their theses is a necessary prerequisite to a genuine appreciation of their creative impulse and their plays. A committed playwright's ideas so permeate his creativity and purpose that the ideas and the creation become one. (EE)