Scandinavia Realism Ibsen Zola and Strindberg Background of Realism 1 Positivism a Auguste Comte i Sociologist and said that was most complex b Organized sciences according to complexity i Most complex were those that benefitted people the most c Helped talk about taboos of sociology and society i Can we fix problems ii Can we abolish homelessness addiction etc d Can t assume that everything will have a happy ending 2 Rise of the working class a Labor unions b Gains economic and political power c Lash of government against union workers 3 Scientific advances a Scientific and moral questions 4 Business monopolies a The Robber Barons 5 Realism was weird at the time a Pushed back against romanticism Realism 1 Seen in France a 1853 b After revolutions like in Les Mes 2 Seen in every production element a Characters b Design c Writing 3 Characters were complex a Separated realism from melodramas b Environment i Where they were raised c Heredity i Who raised them d They re so complex that there aren t usually happy endings 4 Scandalous a Endings of unhappiness b How could you talk about an unhappy marriage out loud c So scandalous they were banned in some countries d Or performed and endings would be changed to a happy one without writer s approval e Scandalous for all critics audiences nobility etc Henrik Ibsen Norwegian 1 25 plays a All scandalous b Didn t back down from saying what he wanted c Asked hard questions within his plays i Duty to self and others 2 Ideology is the problem a Not the solution 3 Constant theme throughout plays 4 Exposition 5 Causation a Every scene is cause and effect 6 Internal motivations a Internal conflict drives the play 7 Complex characters 8 Hedda Gabler a His most well known b Protagonist is a woman c Pushes to the extreme d Unhappy marriage If she had left would have been on the street and never saw children again i ii Woman commits suicide 9 Accused of being a suffragist a Women s rights b Said no in public until he died and left letters saying he did support it i Saying yes publicly would ve been bad for his career Naturalism French 1 Zola and Antoine a Antoine i Wanted it as naturalist as possible ii Rehearsed in four walls 1 Before performance chose one wall to remove to place audience there iii No center of focus iv Lighting practical 1 No extra lighting design a Only from stage lamps fires etc v Furniture in realistic fashion 1 Made actors work together 2 One actor couldn t be the star 3 Made them stay in character during whole play vi His company failed vii Got job at state sponsored theatre viii Could practice in a financially stable place 2 More extreme form of realism 3 Slice of life a You are stuck in your life b Your kids will be in that same way of life c No editing Just put stories and a world on stage i ii Made it as realistic as possible d Life is just life i Doesn t work dramatically ii Not compelling to us 4 Everything practical 5 Subscription tickets a Antoine b Bought package of tickets ahead of time c One for every show 6 Wrote about the lower class a Most real stories to tell from upper class writer s viewpoint 7 Short lived movement Strindberg and Freud 1 Strindberg is a bridge playwright a Unhappy childhood and marriages b Mental illnesses 2 Famous plays a The Father b Miss Julie 3 Realistic plays 4 Naturalistic characters 5 Non realistic symbols and metaphors 6 Conflict between men and women inevitable a Women portrayed as evil characters 7 Freud influenced Strindberg a Internal unconscious psychological causality i More important than our conscious life 1 Conscious holds us back b Text and Subtext i Not spoken more important than what is spoken ii First time this is seen c Personality from both of these d Ego i Keeps id in check ii iii Super ego controls ego id is deep wants that we want no matter what Russia Realism Stanislavski and Chekhov Convergence 1 Stanislavski and Nemirovish Danchenko 2 Moscow Art Theatre formed by S and N D 3 Anton Chekhov a Playwright of comedic short stories b S and N D took a chance c First contemporary plays i Embrace own style 4 From them we get idea of contemporary theatre production and contemporary realism Constantin Stanislavski 1 S gives first and most successful teacher of acting a S s method used today and now b Have to be able to trust those you re working with i Ensemble is there as a group not as individuals If I was this character in these circumstances how would I behave i Characters are always different because it comes from each actor s own 2 Background a On characters b Of world of the play c answer to the if question d What is my character s goal i Based on action 1 Action leads to emotion 2 Makes action seem so real 3 MAT Moscow Art Theatre a Still producing today b The Seagull 4 The System Anton Chekhov 1 The Seagull 2 The Cherry Orchard 3 The Three Sisters 4 Uncle Vanya 5 Little action 6 Complex from a character s perspective a Characters know what they want i Directed by S ii So successful it helped bring us into contemporary time iii Logo of MAT is a seagull i Lack ambition knowledge or ability to get what they want b Serf s out of slavery want a better life but don t know how to get it 7 Not tragedies but no one gets married a Seen today as a dark or black comedy 8 Set in rural Russian with land owning families seeing the world change a How they deal with those changes b Constant change shown in set design Reactions to Realism 1890 1940 Symbolism first reaction against realism 1 between 1890 1910 2 plays are very static indirect evocative ceremonial trying to create experience instead of tell story trying to express the inexpressible find way to put soul on stage in theatrical way symbols metaphor poetry music 3 4 5 proponents a Maurice Maeterlinck i Belgin thought theater shouldn t present outward reality but instead reflection or shadow of symbolic form of life ii very mystical and out there with idea of no reality iii felt most dramatic moments on stage are silent because you could really feel the moment iv wanted performers to try new things with performances very non traditional b Lugne Poe i deemphasized scenic design ii Ubu Roi was most famous play written by Alfred Jarry iii 1896 man didn t have problem with killing someone to get what they want 6 Abby theater did plays about Irish experience still producing now started as symbolistic theater inner feelings Expressionism expressionist plays have plot action and symbolistic plays don t 1 Developed in Germany in