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Began Theatre Libre (Free Theatre)
Had a realistic approach
Often furniture was placed along the curtain line and actors were directed to behave as though there were no audience
Discouraged conventionalized movement and declamatory speech, seeking natural behavior instead |
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Revolutionary in Lighting
Replaced flat painted scenery with 3-dimensional structures
"Rhythmic Space": Use of steps, platforms, ramps, walls, and pillars compositional variety allowing actor varied movements
Use lights in variety of combinations like orchestration musical instruments
Light is most flexible theatrical element – follow shifts in mood and emotion
Simplicity in scenery, costumes, lighting
Bare space with overhead lights
Musical Gymnastics: music & not words control actor's actions |
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Influenced surrealism largely through is play – The Breasts of Tiresias (in which Therese releases her breasts, balloons which float away, and is transformed into Tiresias and becomes a parent of more than forty thousand offspring by creating children with her sheer willpower (FUCKING WEIRD))
He rejected everyday logic and suggested that comedy, tragedy, burlesque, fantasy, acrobatics, and declamation should be mingled with music, dance, color, and light to create a new form of expression |
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Ballet created by Sergei Diaghilev in Russia
Didn't depend upon any new technical devices, for it relied upon painted wings and drops
Departed from illusionism – line, color, and decorative motifs were stylized to reflect moods and themes rather than specific periods or places
Created a sense of exoticism and fantasy through stylization |
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1919-1933
School started by Walter Gropius in arts and crafts
Aimed at:
Breaking down traditional barriers between artist & craftsman
Uniting architecture, painting, sculpture into communal expression
Shaping daily surroundings into master art work
Making the functional artistic & the artistic functional
Ending elitist status of art by making it part of daily life |
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| The place in which Wagner's new, revolutionary opera house was built. |
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Aim of biomechanic studies – master techniques to master your art
Externalize the text (replace words by movement, gesture, gaze) – physically explicit gestures summarize essence of scene
Emotion not as a choice we make, but as a reflex to physical positions and situations
Using idea of montage: put 2 diff things together one after the other and your psychological response creates a 3rd representation by means of association |
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Leader of the realist who issued movement's first "manifesto"
Was clearly influenced by Freud in his defining surrealism as "pure psychic automatism" – thus the subconscious mind in a dreamlike state represented for him the basis of artistic truth |
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Wrote The Sea Gull and put Russian Realism on the map
Each of Chekhov's four major plays is set in rural Russia and depicts the monotonous and frustrating life of the landowning class – all of the characters aspire to a better life, but none knows how, or has the initiative, to achieve his goals. |
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Influenced realism by coming up with the idea of "positivism" – classified the sciences according to their relative simplicity, placing sociology at the apex as the most complex and important of the sciences.
Argued that all sciences must contribute to sociology and sought to make art "scientific – out of which came realism. |
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Breaks completely away from representation of organic nature – not a whole, but broken down in bits & pieces– awareness that this is a play
Works for art – not mirror images of nature but create new facts – art of invention |
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Began as professional actor, interest shifted to theatrical design
Began with drawing and making woodcuts
Preferred visual symbolism over realism
Believed in importance of director
Thought light changed everything – footlights changed to multi-hanging lights to position
Made screens – mobile & could be changed during a production
Thought of the theatre as an independent art and argued that the true theatre artist welds action, words, line, color, and rhythm into a product as pure as that of the painter, sculptor, or composer
Really helped to revolutionize set design |
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Began with seven manifests by Tristan Tzara
Skepticism & disgust about a world that can produce a world war
Insanity seems world's true state – replace logic & reason w/ calculated madness & unity and harmony w/ discord & chaos
Create art programs/happiness w/ lectures dances, sound poems, visual art, short plays |
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| Started revolts against realism in Russia and eventually formed Ballets Russes. |
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Movement launched in Italy by Filippo Marinetti
Bringing more dynamism (simultaneity, multiple focus) in art & society
First step – destroying libraries and museums
Creating performances w/ concerts, poetry readings, performing mini plays, exhibiting visual art, proclaiming futurist manifestos
No classic plays anymore but music halls & night clubs as models
Glorified the energy and speed of the machine age and sought to em body them in artistic forms |
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| Wagner believed the author-composure should supervise every aspect of production in order to synthesize all the parts into "gesamtkunstwerk" or "master art work" From these ideas were to stem much of modern theory about the need for a strong director and unified production. |
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Wagner was into this and thought it was very important to keep things are accurate as possible – for example, having a dragon that was portrayed with moving eyes and real scales.
Duke George II supported him on his ideas and helped him the troupe. |
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Spiked Romanticism – violated "rules" of theatre set by neo-classicism
Showed violence on stage
Shifted mood frequently
Stopped with the strict verse structure of scripts |
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Early works were romantic verse-dramas about the Scandinavian past (1828-1906)
In 1870's made a sharp break with his past – abandoned verse because it was unsuited to creating an illusion of reality
Themes: Struggle for integrity, the conflict between duty to oneself and duty to others
Wrote A Doll's House, Ghosts, and An Enemy of the People that established his reputation as a radical thinker and controversial dramatist
Much of his work contributed to the development of realism
Believed art should create discussion and convey ideas – something more than mere entertainment
First to challenge moral values and social norms |
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| Theatre companies later that tended to perform lesser performed plays and that could play by their own rules in terms of theory and genre |
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| Laws of Heredity & Environment |
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Naturalists considered heredity and environment to be the major determinants of man's fate.
Doctrine grounded by Darwin
Main ideas:
1. All forms of life have developed gradually from a common ancestry
2. The evolution of species is explained by the "survival of the fittest"
Strengthened the idea of progress and that no individual can truly be held responsible for what he does |
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Worked with Jeri (wrote Ubu Rex)
Actor and stage manager
Converted to Idealist outlook
Believed the word creates the decor
Reduced scenery to simple compositions of lines and color painted on backdrops
Sought to create a unity of style and mood
Owned the theatre that played Ubu (first absurdist drama) |
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Wrote Pelleas and Melisande
King of Dramatic Symbolism
Contemporary acting style too realistic for poetic drama
Often no movement, no event, only psychological action
Shadowy characters
Repetitions in dialogue w/ long pauses
Reveal mysterious & invisible qualities of life |
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| Italian who launched futurism in Italy |
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| Permanent court of actors in Meiningen thanks to the Duke (George II) and Wagner that put on many performances and was very successful. |
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Came out of Romanticism
Simple stories for large audiences
Episodic story-line
Hero, haunted by villain, finally surmounts problems
Events involve elaborate spectacle
Song, dance, music – support mood
Comic relief by servant/companion of hero |
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1874-1940
Wrote Inspector General – mix of tragedy, comedy, circus, pantomime, farce & culmination of constructivist experiments and biomechanical acting – 15 episodes instead of 5 acts that had series of shocks or hints – each episode could be watched individually
Thought details were overwhelming & wanted audience members & actors to be equally involved and so went to stylization – minimal props & audience used their imagination
Hired by Stanislavski
Said trying to reproduce life on stage would be absurd and impossible
Believed script was meant to be molded as director saw fit
Placed everything to be used in production on stage and once and spotlighted each area as needed
Removed front curtain and footlights, extended the forestage into the auditorium, kept the house lights on throughout the performance, used stagehands to change properties and scenery, and set the actor's movements to music
Then began experimenting with circus techniques
Trapezes, platforms, ramps
Experiments in theatre influenced by symbolism, cubism and constructivism
Actor training by biomechanics – terminology of the body
Believed it took years and years of study and practice |
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One of the independent theaters – different in that it was a fully professional organization from the beginning and in emphasizing theatrical production rather than neglected plays.
Public interest waned until The Sea Gull |
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Arts movement based on scientific approach of life and mankind – man is product of heredity, environment & education
Emile Zola
Need for revolution against neoclassicism
Striving for Absolute Truth in the Arts
Theatre like medical science, writer as doctor
DETERMINISM: Human essence determined by the Inevitable Laws of Heredity and Environment (Pathological) – characters as products of history, society, milieu
Psychological – heavy mental problems – most of the time women |
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1450-1800 (1st)
Start of Horizontal Orientation – human vs. human rather than interaction with gods, Heaven, Earth and Hell
Imitation of Greeks & Romans in literature, painting, music, and performing arts
Set standard for rules of order, restraint, balance and control in performing arts
Words (poetic text)
Reason, Logic
Rules
Romans and Greeks
Acting: Rhetoric, declamation, opera-like
Language: poetical
Form: tragedy |
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Influence on Naturalism & Realism
Use sociology and all other sciences to predict behavior, control society and improve human life |
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| Brought on by Freud's theories – trying to attribute "the mystery of fate" and "intuition" or other equally vague and subjective concepts in realistic plays – portraying behavior previously considered nonrealistic and irrational |
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Body of ideas thought up by Freud.
Emphasis upon the unconscious mind, dreams as key to understanding suppressed desires |
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1850-1900 (3rd)
Arts movement aiming at representation of life and nature by means of highest possible resemblance to it
Effects writing, acting, directing and stage design
Represents life outside theatre as truthful as possible inside – illusion of reality with 3D sets, detailed props, costumes, movements, facial expressions ex. real meat or chicken
Writing in prose – everyday like language
No kings and knights but bourgeois people (like audience)
Acting on psychological level – natural movements and multilayered characters
Character (psychology)
Analysis, experimental science
Here & now
Acting and speaking: more natural
Multi-layered, psychological characters
Look around and show truth objectively wherever it leads you – life and mankind as it is with good and bad sides |
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1800-1870(2nd)
Started after French Revolution (originated in France) – broke hold of Neo-classicism.
Violation of "rules"
Broke unity of time and place
Show death and violence on stage
Frequent shifts of mood and mix of comedy and tragedy
Action
Passion, emotion
More freedom: no unities, mix of genres
Middle Ages
Acting: More passionate, but still rhetorical
Language: poetical
Form: Melodrama
Show that good will always triumph – idealistic approach reconfirms accepted values |
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| Duke of Saxe-Meiningen (George II) |
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Had received extensive art training and interest in the theatre
Managed the comedy troupe of Meiningen Players
Receives credit for company's accomplishments |
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Painter that lead stage workshop at Bauhaus
Researched w/ color, structure, form & movement which involves painters, sculptors, architects and dancers in Triadic ballet
Focused on:
Unifying human body w/ abstract stage space
Alter human shape w/ 3D costumes transforming actor into "ambulant architecture"
Control movement w/ mathematical precision
Analyze each visual element both in isolation & in combination – develop grammar of theatrical elements: space, body, movement, light, color |
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Founder of the Moscow Art Theatre
Stanislavski is now remembered above all for his attempts to perfect a method of acting – 7 step system
1. train voice
2. schooled in stage techniques
3. skilled observer of reality
4. seek inner justification for everything done on stage
5. define character's motifs in each scene
6. focus attention on things as unfold as if for the first time
7. continue to strive to perfect understanding and proficiency |
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Followed in path of Ibsen – Works aroused many scandals
Began as realist Dramatist – wrote Miss Julie
Then moved into more dreamy things
Time and place shift frequently and without regard for logical sequence
Envisioned man as tortured and alienated
Influenced by Freud's explanation of human behavior, with its emphasis upon the unconscious mind, dreams as a key to understanding surprised desires, and the human propensity for telescoping experience
His interest in aggression and sexual drives as keys to human behavior also did much to break down taboos about suitable subjects for drama |
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Influences of Freud psychoanalysis & subconscious
Importance of dreams, fantasies, hallucinations
Artistic anarchy w/ words & images from free association
Experiments w/ automatic writing – no preconceived ideas but immediate unbroken chain of thoughts and associations "on the spot"
Shock and provoke by means of subconscious, dreamlike, anarchist elements
No one liked it but the artists themselves |
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Started as poetic movement in France
First non-realistic movement – against belief that art represents human behavior and physical world
Truth is beyond objective imagination – they believed this deeper significance could not be represented directly but only be evoked through symbols, legends, myths and moods
Suggests universal truth independent of time and place – vagueness & mysteriousness in drama
Subjectivity, spirituality, and mysterious internal and external forces represented a higher form of truth than that to be derived from the mere observance of outward appearance
Less is more idea |
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Started by Frederick Taylor (1856-1915) American inventor who studied scientific management and working processes in large factories
Workers physical movements among least efficient in units of production line
Worker engages in superfluous movements causing muscle strains and lower work output
Analyze executions of tasks, time and regulate movements and then make them as efficient as possible
Taylor finally develops system of work cycles – network of movements and pauses allowing worker to produce largest work output with least amount of strain |
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| Started by Antoine (Free Theatre) naturalistic staging and writing were united for the first time. |
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Headed by Lugne Poe
French, symbolist theatre |
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Term used by Craig saying that actors needed to a puppet for directors
Perfect control of disciplined body & abstract, stylized acting by depersonalized actor who obeys director |
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Rejected trend toward realism of the time – believed music was essential
Started orchestra pits and opened opera houses
His own productions aimed at complete illusion |
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Zola was a realist – compared the writer with a doctor
Believed dramatist should seek out social ills and reveal them so they may be corrected
A play should merely be a "slice of life" transferred to stage – sought to obliterate all distinction between art and life |
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