Introduction to theatre styles!!!!

2. Introduction to theatre styles!!!! The “isms”—romanticism, realism and naturalism

3. ROMANTICISM • Cultural movement during the 1800’s • Rejected neoclassical rules and suggested that genius creates its own rules • Focused on emotions, sentiment and imagination • Elaborately staged and used supernatural elements • Heroes were independent and defended individuality • Common theme was the gulf between human beings’ spiritual aspirations and their physical limitations

4. NATURALISM • Mid-19th Century • Based on views on contemporary scientific theory • Aimed to present ordinary life as accurately as possible – no theatrical sense– in the extreme “slice of life” and “real flies on real meat” • Showed how human beings act in response to forces of nature and society that are beyond their control • Subject matter emphasized the boredom, depression, and frustration of contemporary life

5. REALISM • Late-19th Century movement • Replaced the artificial romantic style with accurate depictions of people in plausible situations • Writers refused to make simple moral judgments or to resolve dramatic action neatly • Presents life as it actually is; characters talk, dress, and act as people in ordinary life do • Actors attempt to become their characters; living their lives in real room with the audience spying on them through the invisible fourth wall • Ushered in modern theatre and revolutionized contemporary theatre in every aspect, from scenery, to styles of acting, from dialogue to makeup

6. SYMBOLISM • Anti-realist movment between 1880-1910 • Writers belived that drama should present the mystery of being and the cosmos—the infinite qualities of the human spirit and inner meaning of life • Characters were figures representative of the human condition • Stage pictures had only the bare essentials necessary to evoke the dramatic universe • Themes were chosen from myth of fairy tales and used poetic language and a deliberately artificial style of staging

7. EXISTENTIALISM • Philosophical doctrine developed after World War I • Rejects traditional beliefs • Writers believe there is little meaning to existence, that God does not exist, and that humanity is therefore alone in an irrational universe • An individual must accept responsibility for his/her own actions • Emphasis is on freedom and the moral responsibility of the individual and shows a distrust of philosophical idealism • Disillusionment • Plays are based on traditional cause-and-effect logic, and the characters are recognizable, fully developed human beings

8. EPIC/THEATRICALISM • Began by Bertolt Brecht • Reactions in the 1920’s and 30’s to an over-emphasis on artistic illusion and aesthetic emotion in the theatre • Believes that theatre should serve a social purpose of educating audiences • Narrators are often used to comment on the dramatic action • Political drama intended to appeal to reason rather than emotions that uses a journalistic, non-emotional style that incorporates signs, projections, films, etc. • Attempts to distance the audience from the action and characters—”alienation effect”—in order to allow them to concentrate on a play’s message • Epic theater usually deals with history of foreign lands, covers a long time, shifts locale frequently, has intricate plots, and includes many characters

9. ABSURDISM • Genre of the 1950’s and 60’s • Stage conventions were abandoned in order to present a view of the world as meaningless and incomprehensible • Believe that much of what happens in life cannot be logically explained; it is ridiculous and absurd and presents human existence as futile • Plots do not have traditional structure • Characters are not realistic and they usually fail to communicate • Setting is frequently a strange, unrecognizable locale • Dialogue seems to make little sense and the language is unreliable • Writers are highly individualistic