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Transcript
Theater Chapter 9: The Rise of Modern Theatre: Time for a Movement Realism Groundbreaking 19th century theatre movement that took real, everyday people and the subjects these people dealt with in their day-to-day lives and placed them directly in the spotlight. The Father of Modern Drama: Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906) credited with ushering Realism into the theatre. Most well known play: A Doll’s House (1879); highly controversial in its time. It was considered “so scandalous” that many theaters refused to do it. It was also banned from being produced in England. Henrik Ibsen •Ibsen’s plays brought all of society’s unspoken of ills into the limelight. •Subject matter of his dramas covered marital infidelity, disease, pollution, political coverups, and divorce. •Many critics of the time accused him of turning the theatre into a sewer. •Structure of his plays follow a specific format known as the well made play. Well Made Play Originally used by Scribe and Sardou as an effective structure for comedies and farces, the well made play has a strong foundation in the neoclassical rules for the drama. Most well made plays follow the unities of time, place, and action. They are very heavily plot driven and rely heavily upon plot complications. Plot Complications Devices, such as secret letters or papers that accidentally fall into the wrong hands, used to further the plot and dramatic tension of the story. Realistic Playwrights: • • • • • Henrik Ibsen Anton Chekhov Oscar Wilde John Millington Synge August Strindberg Anton Chekov Oscar Wilde August Strindberg John Millington Synge Moscow Art Theatre • Groundbreaking Russian theatre founded in 1889 by Constantin Stanislavski that produced the works of Anton Chekhov and also formed a school and a method for training actors to be realistic performers. Theatrical Terms • The Fourth Wall: The idea that in a realistic drama, the audience was like a voyeur, peering through an invisible wall at the action within. • Box Set: Form of stage setting where 3 walls are built to contain the action. The invisible fourth wall is the proscenium arch of the stage through which the spectators observe the play. (See example in next slide) Naturalism (1873-1902) • Theatre movement that suggested dramatists approach their craft like scientists, accurately observing, recording, and examining people. Emile Zola (1840-1902): • Chief advocate of Naturalism Emile Zola • Believed that the dramatist should expose social ills so that their causes could be corrected. • Naturalists believed that many Realists were concerned with theatrical effectiveness than with truth. • Naturalists called for theater to be “a slice of Life” exposing everyday life in all of its ugly details. Emile Zola • Unlike realism, naturalism was not successful in the theatre, possibly due to its extreme demands. The Naturalism movement produced few plays of significance. • Best known of all Naturalism playwrights was Maxim Gorky (1868-1936). His most famous work was The Lower Depths (1902). Independent theatre • as a means of avoiding censorship, several companies in the late 1800s decided to start producing plays for only private, invited audiences. These theatres were vital to the early survival of realistic and naturalistic drama. Theatre Libre • The first independent theater, founded in Paris in 1887 by Andre Antoine. The Emergence of the Director • Prior to the 19th Century, staging plays was the last responsibility of the playwright, the head of the company, or the lead actor. • Growing need for someone to unify all production elements, which were becoming more numerous and more complex. 2 Key figures in the development and acceptance of the modern director: Richard Wagner (pronounced Vag-ner) (1813-1883) Georg II, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen (18261914) Richard Wagner Georg II Richard Wagner • Sought to create a “master artwork” through a fusion of the arts. • Opposed realism • Chose stories from German Myths • Set his drama to music. (Peter and the Wolf) • Wanted to audience to be transported from everyday existence into an idealized, communal, near religious experience. Richard Wagner • Seating as “classless”: a fan shaped pattern eliminating the box, pit, and gallery style. • First to darken auditorium during performances. • Strong “unity of production” = all elements of production filtered through a single consciousness to achieve a unified artistic effect. Georg II, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen • Considered the first director in modern sense. • Exerted complete control over all aspects of production: designed everything himself. • Long rehearsal periods • Convincing crowd scenes, staged with precision • Total stage picture worked out carefully from moment to moment. Symbolism • atmospheric, non-realistic theater movement. Symbolist believed truth was an abstract quality that could only be hinted at through symbols. Symbolism • First artistic movement to reject representationalism • Launched in 1855 • Truth – beyond objective examination – cannot be discovered through the 5 senses – can only be hinted at through a network of symbols. Theatrical Conventions - subjects taken from the past, the realm of the fancy (fairy tales), & the mysterious present. - tended to be vague and mysterious - most important aspect of production was the mood or atmosphere. - minimal scenery that lacked detail - scrim: gauze curtain hung between the audience and stage; represented the mist or a timeless void. Theatrical Conventions • • • • • chose color for mood text often chanted actors incorporated unnatural gestures productions often baffled audiences symbolist theatre movement ceased by 1900 Significance of Symbolism • Disrupted practice of using the same conventions to stage all plays during a particular period. • Prior to 20th century, artistic movement occurred linearly Significance of Symbolism • During the 20th century, several artistic movements occurred simultaneously. • New movements had its own premises about nature and truth also its own set of conventions. Futurism (1909) • short lived theatre trend that sought to replace conventional dramatic forms with variety theatre which challenged conventional notions of theatre going. Promoted the speed and energy of the new machine age; praised WWI. Dada (1916) • a bizarre theater form where logic and reason were replaced with random, chance events and illogical behavior. A typical Dada theatrical event might feature random, sometimes obscene poetry, sound poems (people chanting nonverbal sounds), music & dancing. Highly experimental; often designed to provoke the audience. Anti WWI. Expressionism • most dominant theater form to come to prominence during WWI. Expressionist felt that industry and materialism had warped human nature and was turning humankind into machines. Their goal was to reshape the world reemphasizing what is the best of the human spirit. Their plays often skewed reality in order to highlight certain key elements. Famous Theatres • Group Theatre (1931-1941): American theater and acting skill founded in 1931 by a group of artists inspired by the teachings of Stanislavski. The Group Theatre had the greatest impact on acting and theatre of any dramatic institute founded in the 20th century. • Epic Theatre: highly influential theater movement most closely associated with Bertolt Brecht. This form used theatre as a vehicle for social change by making audiences think more and feel less. Alienation Techniques • first employed in Epic Theatre productions, these techniques were designed to remind the audience they were watching a play and not real life. • Showing the lighting instruments rather than hid them from the audience. • Using screens to project words, maps, & images such as scene titles & locations. Alienation Techniques • Actors singing happy-sounding songs with depressing, serious lyrics • Actors announcing scenes like boxing matches and speaking/singing directly to the audience. • Keeping musicians in full view of audience sometimes putting them on stage with actors. Theatre of Cruelty • Surrealist-inspired theater movement created by Antonin Artaud that forced the audience, like it or not, to confront itself.