The Emergence of Realism in Modern Theater
Classified in Arts and Humanities
Written at on 
English with a size of 7.96 KB.
The Modern Theater
THE MODERN THEATER.
REALISM: An attempt to faithfully reproduce the surface appearance of life, especially that of ordinary people in every day situations.
CHARACTERISTICS: 1. Eliminates traditional conventions; utilizes realistic conventions.
2. Presents controversial and/or unpleasant themes.
3. A box set (3 walled room -- realistic instead of proscenium)
4. Actors and actresses must behave as if they lived in a room; speak and act naturally, which means that they don't declaim in oratorical passion, nor talk to the audience.
5. No soliloquies nor asides.
HENRIK IBSEN (1828-1906): Is considered the father of modern realistic drama, His plays attacked society's values and dealt with unconventional subjects within the form of the well-made play. He discarded soliloquies, asides, etc. Inner psychological motivation was emphasized. Some of his themes are: euthanasia, the role of women, war and business and syphilis.
Plays: Ghosts(1881)- Pillars of society (1877) - Hedda Gabbler (1890) - A doll's house (1979).
BEGINNINGS OF THE MOVEMENT:
Realism came about partly as a response to these new social/artistic conditions. The "movement" began in France and by 1860 had some general precepts:
1. truth resides in material objects we perceived to all five senses; truth is verifies through science.
2. the scientific method - observation - would solve everything
3. human problems were the highest home of science.
ART-according to the realistic view-had as its purpose to better mankind.
Drama's was to involve the observation of human behavior; the use contemporary settings, to deal with a temporary life problems.
THE EMERGENCE OF REALISM
3 major developments helped lead to the emergence of realism:
1. August Comte (1798-1857), "father of sociology", developed a theory known as Positivism. Among the Comte's ideas was an encouragement for understanding the cause and effect of nature through precise observations.
2. Charles Darwin (1809-1882). His essential series suggested that life developed gradually from common ancestry and that life favored "survival of the fittest." The implications of Darwin's Theories were threefold:
1. people were controlled by heredity and environment
2. behaviors were beyond our control
3. humanity is natural object, rather than being above all else.
3. Karl Marx (1818-1883) in the late 1840's espoused a political philosophy arguing against urbanization and in favor of more equal distribution of wealth.
WRITERS OF REALISM:
Alexandre Dumas fils (the fils stands for "son", and designated the "illegitimate son of Alexandre Dumas")-(1824-1895). His novel, Camille, was dramatized in 1849. About a "kept woman", the play was written in prose, and dealt with contemporary life. Eventually, he wrote "thesis plays", about contemporary social problems.
Emile Augier (1820-1889) also wrote plays about contemporary conditions.
OTHER WRITERS OF REALISM
George Bernard Shaw (1859-1950) Uncommon for his witty humor. Made fun of societies notion for the purpose of educating and changing. Arms and the man(1894) - Mrs. Warren's Profession - Major Barbara (1905) - Pygmalion (1913)
Anton Chekhov (1862-1904) Known more for poetic expiration and symbolism, people trapped in social situations, hope in hopeless situations. His plays have an illusion of plotlessness.
NON-REALISTIC PLAYS.
Can have many realistic elements. The purpose is to break the illusion of reality; to present some essential feature of character and society through the techniques that do not try to copy reality and life as it is; to give a more vivid expression of things as they are. The distinction between the real world and the play is blurred.
CHARACTERISTICS:
1. Have no chronology 2. use flashbacks 3. employs any convention the playwright feels is useful 4. have special lightning effect 5. use music 6. expressionistic settings 7. have words and images projected on screen or wall 8. have action of play going into the auditorium 9. use poetry
10. have characters who are nameless figures 11. have the characters' motivation change as the playwright desires 12. have characters assume different roles 13. have a playwright use any linguistic device he wants 14. have language which is nonsense, verse, cliches, or different styles of speech 15. have characters speaking to the audience 16. use a minimal setting or not setting at all.
ELIZABETHAN DRAMA (XVI century)
TheGlobe: The most celebrated of Elizabethan theaters in the Thames River. A fire destroyed it.
Characteristics: 1. Plays performed by daylight/open space 2. simple scenery 3. Buildings (round or octagonal buildings/ Shakespeare called it a "Wooden O")Audience sat in the high-priced gallery seats or would pay a penny to stand in the yard 4. Stage (rectangular platform in a yard) 5. Playgoers had to use their imagination 6. Only male actors 7.Elaborate costumes 8. Audience could see the emotions of the actors (no masks) 9. The actors' movements were easier than during Greek times 10. There was music and sound effects 11. Around 1,500 people could attend each presentation.
12. Plays were mostly written in blank verse (unrhymed iambic pentameter) It was easier for actors to memorize lines of fixed length 13. Time and place was announced by characters 14. A playwright had to please both the educated and the uneducated 15. A theater company might offer as many as 30 plays in a season 16. The material for the plays did not have to be original (Plagiarism didn't exist)
DRAMATIC CONVENTIONS OF THE TIME:
Only male actors. Time and place were announced by characters. The audience would accept the different music and sound effects as if they were thunder, gunpowder explosions, etc.
REMEMBER:
Tragedy is an imitation of an action of high importance. Acted not narrated.
TRAGIC HERO: A person of high estate; brave and noble; falls from fallible, not a superman. His downfall is the result of: his hamartia (tragic flaw or weakness of character/0 or his hubris (pride, arrogance, overconfidence); hero is capable of making choices and accepting the consequences.
IMPORTANT TERMS:
Katharsis (purgation) feeling of relief, clean, better.
Reccognition (anagnorisis): discovery or revelation of some fact not known before or some person's true identity.
Reversal of fortunes (peripety): action turns to have opposite effect.
Acceptance: reconciliation with the forces of the universe.
SOLILOQUY: Ordinary but convenient way of imparting information to the audience or of developing the action of the play. It's function is self-analysis or self-revelation. To bring out the inner spring.
THEATRE OF THE ABSURD: Lack of plot. Setting is bizarre. Disconnected and incoherent dialogue. Characters without dimension. Can be comic and violent at the same time. Language is silly.
It's purpose is to show how meaningless and disconnected life is, that the world can't be understood, that nothing can be taken entirely seriously nor entirely lightly, that communication among people is impossible.