Download Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906)

Theatre History
Realism
&
Henrik Ibsen
•The 19th century began a period characterized by
naturalism and realism
•Playwrights such as Ibsen, Chekhov, Shaw and Strindberg
led the way in this new type of theatre which reflected a
language and style more natural to real life – excess and
melodrama play a lesser role
•Actors began to use the “fourth wall”, imagining a wall
where the audience sits, keeping the belief entirely in the
scene and not speaking to the audience.
•Stanislavsky developed Method Acting for the new theatre.
The “Method” requires actors to approach their work from
a more personal response, identifying the psychological
and emotional life of a character.
•Playwrights were concerned with social and economical
problems of the day – rather than provide an escape,
theatre engaged in discussion and illumination.
•Playwrights gave characters specific stage directions;
characters are individuals – not stereotypes, heroes or
heroines; detail given to the physical appearance of
character.
•Theatrical Reactions to the Times
•Truth is derived through the Five senses
•Drama as a mirror of Real Life
•Dwells on heredity, Environment, Cause & Effect
•Attacked social evils
•Acting relies on Psychological analysis
World View Late 19th Century
•explosion of urban growth (cities) – Industrial Revolution
•electricity, combustible engines, telephones
•technological advances increased people’s faith in science
and engineering to solve human problems.
Tenets of Realism
•Art must depict truthfully the real, physical world
•Truth can be attained only through direct observation
•Only contemporary life and manners can be observed
directly
•The artist must be as impersonal as a scientist
The Emergence of Realism
3 major developments helped lead to the emergence of
realism:
August Comte (1798-1857), often considered to be the
"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 observation. Human nature is
explainable and predictable by science.
Charles Darwin published The Origin of Species in 1859, and
created a worldwide stir which exists to this day. Darwin’s
essential series suggested that life developed gradually from
a common ancestry and that life favored "survival of the
fittest." The implications of Darwin's Theories were
threefold:
- people were controlled by heredity and environment
- behaviors were beyond our control
- humanity is a natural object, rather than being above
all else
Karl Marx (1818-1883) in the late 1840’s espoused a political
philosophy arguing against urbanization and in favor of a
more equal distribution of wealth.
These three men stated ideas that helped open the door for a
type of theatre that would be different from any that had
come before.
Beginnings of the Movement:
Realism came about partly as a response to these new social /
artistic conditions. The "movement" began in France around
1853, and by 1860 had some general precepts:
- truth resides in material objects we perceived to all five
senses; truth is verified through science
- the scientific method—observation—would solve
everything
- human problems were the highest were home of science
Art—according to the realist view—had as its purpose to better
mankind.
Drama was to involve the direct observation of human behavior; to
use contemporary settings and time periods, and was to deal
with a temporary life and problems as subjects.
Realism first showed itself in staging and costuming.
Three-dimensional details had been added by 1800. By 1850,
theater productions used historically accurate settings and
details, partly as a result of romantic ideals. But it was
harder to get realism accepted widely.
Konstantin Stanislavsky (1863 – 1938)
- formed the Moscow Art Theatre
- formulated “the Method” technique of acting
Principles of “The Method”
- The actor’s body & voice should be thoroughly trained so
they may respond efficiently to all demands.
- The actor should be schooled in stage technique
- The actor should be a skilled observer of reality, out of
which he builds his roles
- The actor should seek an inner justification for everything
he does on stage.
- The actor must undertake a thorough analysis of the script
& its given circumstances. He must define his
character’s motivations in each scene, in the play as a
whole & his relationship to other characters.
- “Illusion of the first time” – focus attention upon the action
as it unfolds moment to moment.
- “Magic If ” – as if I was in that situation
- An actor must continue to work to perfect himself as an
instrument.
Writers of realism:
George Bernard Shaw(1856-1950) – in England
- Uncommon for his witty humor
- Made fun of societies notion using for the purpose of
educating and changing. His plays tended to show the
accepted attitude, then demolished that attitude while
showing his own solutions.
- Arms and the Man (1894) – about love and war and
honor.
- Mrs. Warren’s Profession – prostitution.
- Major Barbara (1905) – a munitions manufacturer gives
more to the world (jobs, etc.) while the Salvation Army
only prolongs of the status quo.
- Pygmalion (1913) – shows the transforming of a flower
girl into a society woman, and exposes the phoniness of
society. The musical My Fair Lady was based on this
play.
Anton Chekhov (1860-1904) – in Russia
- Chekhov is known more for poetic expiration and symbolism,
compelling psychological reality, people trapped in social
situations, hope in hopeless situations. He claimed that he
wrote comedies; others think they are sad and tragic.
Characters in Chekhov’s plays seem to have a fate that is a
direct result of what they are. His plays have an illusion of
plotlessness.
- The Seagull (1898).
- Three Sisters (1900) – we did the show here last year; about
three sisters who want to move to Moscow but never do.
- The Cherry Orchard (1902)
- Again, his realism has affected other Playwrights, as did his
symbolic meanings in the texts of his plays and in the titles
of his plays.
Henrik Ibsen (1828 – 1906)
In Norway: Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906) is considered to be the father
of modern realistic drama. His plays attacked society’s values and
dealt with unconventional subjects within the form of the wellmade play (causally related).
Basic Ibsen themes
the struggle for integrity
the conflict between duty to oneself and duty to others
Ibsen perfected the well-made play formula; and by using a familiar
formula made his plays, with a very shocking subject matter,
acceptable. He discarded soliloquies, asides, etc. Exposition in the
plays was motivated, there were causally related scenes, inner
psychological motivation was emphasized, the environment had an
influence on characters’ personalities, and all the things characters
did and all of things the characters used revealed their socioeconomic milieu. He became a model for later realistic writers.
Ibsen’s Contributions to Realism
- discarded asides & soliloquies
- motivated exposition (and lots of it!)
- internal psychological motivation
The principles of Ibsen's teaching, his moral ethic, was that
honesty in facing facts is the first requisite of a decent life.
Human nature has dark recesses which must be explored and
illuminated; life has pitfalls which must be recognized to be
avoided; and society has humbugs, hypocrisies, and obscure
diseases which must be revealed before they can be cured.
Furthermore -- and this is a vital point in understanding Ibsen
-- experience and life are a happiness in themselves, not merely
a means to happiness; and in the end good must prevail.
Later in life, Ibsen turned to more symbolic
and abstract dramas; but his "realism"
affected others, and helped lead to
realistic theatre, which has become,
despite variations and rejections against
it, the predominant form of theatre even
today.
Ibsen was reacting to the uncertain tempo of
the time; Europe was being reshaped with
revolutions. The Revolutionary spirit and
the emergence of modernism influenced
Ibsen’s choice to focus on an unlikely hero
– a housewife – in his attack on middleclass values. Quickly becoming the talk of
parlors across Europe, the play succeeded
in its attempt to provoke discussion.
Sources:
Northern Virginia Community College – History of the Theatre Online Course,
http://novaonline.nvcc.edu/eli/spd130et/TheaHist/realism.htm
The Theatre Database – Henrik Ibsne http://www.theatredatabase.com/19th_century/henrik_ibsen_001.html