English translation: not so much illusion as affirmation/more affirmation than illusion
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GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
German term or phrase:
Weniger Illusion als Affirmation
English translation:
not so much illusion as affirmation/more affirmation than illusion
A theater that perpetuates existing moral values will affirm the (political/social) status quo rather than transcend/rise above it (i.e. be a vehicle for social change)
@Eggert1 - the sentence mentioning machine was just an example from the dictionary of how wirkungsweise is used! Obviously in the context of theatre that means the music, lights, script whatever as you say - Wirkung means effect, wirkungsweise means the way you achieve that effect ... maybe not always necessary to explain for sure, depends on the context ;-)
being theatre in itself. Why should there be machines involved? Ein Ergebnis wird also irgendwie erziehlt, durch Theater, durch Musik, Lichter usw. und evtl. duch Technik. Wirkungsweisen in my eyes means: effects (point blank)
What concerns the morality, I am 'überfragt'.
Wirkungsweise - die Art, wie etwas Ergebnisse erzielt oder funktioniert // jemandem die Wirkungsweise einer Maschine erklären - the way the theatre achieves effects/results, not suggesting that as a translation, too clumsy, just agreeing that it refers to the way/the methods/devices used etc
One thing that I noticed is that people were saying the "morality that it reproduces" it standing for theatre - whereas I understood it to mean more a self-perpetuating morality, a morality that reproduces itself, as Johanna says... does that make sense? ;)
The translation workplace 
peer agreement (net): +4
