THAR 281 Lecture 9 Outline of Last Lecture Acting Styles Romanticism and Melodrama 1800 1875 I II III 1800 1875 Events Major Categories of Drama a Romanticism b Melodrama c Well Made Play Rise of the Star Outline of Current Lecture Realism I II III IV V Scenic Practices Costume Practices Realism a Realistic Beliefs b Characters in Realism Contributors to Realism a Naturalism Opposition to Realism a Independent Theatres b Konstantin Stanislavski Current Lecture Realism Scenic Practices Box Set Represents a room with practical elements entire room on stage As real as possible Popularized by Edwin Booth in the U S New at the time Hydraulic lifts These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor s lecture GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes not as a substitute Stage elevators effort to make more realistic sets Turntable disk that turns w dif props etc Moving Panorama long scene that turns picture that drags across stage Double Stage System o Two stages one built on top of another o Stage Elevator used to move o Allowed for huge sets and more than one scene Costume Practices Up until this point actors didn t accessorized or were creative costume At this point costume and accurate presentation becomes important Realism 1875 1915 What s going on in the World Rise of working class voting rights woman s suffrage unionization increased life expectancy industrialization urbanization Important longer life expectancy allows more time for goals and becoming successful You can retire more enjoy life live longer and have more leisure time Now different goals than having to work until you die People start to question what their purpose is in life Philosophers and Scientists o Freud psychoanalysis the analyzing the brain subconscious o Einstein relativity space time gravity is not a force science o Nietzsche God is dead Important idea he believed there was no god How would this impact people in the world Religion was part of life and atheism wasn t as prevalent at this time in history Inventions Telephone airplane light bulb Realism o Modern Theatre World is mirrored in Theatre o Want to convince the audience that theatre is real and stage action represents everyday life o Real people rather than stock characters stereotypes weren t always realistic over the top acting wasn t real o Prose rather than verse No more rhymes o Common people rather than extraordinary heroes realism not magical people They want stories about common normal people o No supernatural figures Changes Realistic Beliefs No subject matter off limits can put everything in plays Economic injustices Sexual double standard Unhappy marriage Religious hypocrisy Sexually transmitted diseases o Refused to make moral judgments it s not always right or wrong in real life o Didn t believe in the necessity of neat resolutions nothing has to be resolved peacefully o Realists believed in using drama as a means of calling attention to social issues Why In hopes to instigate social change Drama as a means of bringing about social change Characters in Realism o NO stock characters o Complicated personalities o Characters shaped by heredity and environment idea we all become who we are because of where we came from and how we lived o Example Southerners are polite say yes ma am no ma am etc Characters used colloquial and conversational language Contributors to realism Heinrick Ibsen founder of modern realism Norwegian playwright wrote A Doll s House Hedda Gabler o His Plays Social problems Character coming to terms with what society says they must do The repression of woman Infidelity A Doll s House women married to man who treats her like a child calls her a doll Her husband becomes ill and can t work The wife forges her father s signature to take a loan and move her husband to a better climate while he gets well from being sick Man black mails wife causing stress and anxiety confesses to her husband who is upset at her At the end of the play she leaves her husband and two kids to go into the world and find herself George Bernard Shaw 1856 1950 Dublin Ireland believed that Drama should inspire social reform primarily wrote comedies satire and ridicule Most popular play Pygmalion 1914 Nobel Prize winner for Literature in 1925 Mrs Warrens Profession o Play about Mrs Warren who owned whore houses for a living o Originally banned by the Lord Chamberlin o New York production in 1905 the entire cast and crew were arrested due to Mrs Warren s profession Anton Chekhov o Originally a physician Russian wrote The Cherry Orchard o First wasn t successful as a playwright o He focused on everyday life o Middle class provincial life typical for Russians o Intertwines comedy and tragedy o Tragic comedy To make the play that much more sad Outside forces that change people s lives Example cherry orchard death of husband and son Naturalism o Slice of life theatre not the same as realism You could literally cut out a chunk of life and turn into a play o 19th century o EXTREME realism has many of the same ideas o AUTHENTICITY o Short lived Emile Zola French man with the biggest push towards naturalism Wrote a couple of naturalist plays Scientific Objectivity o Idea that the actor should present someone s real life w o putting their own interpretation in it Act 100 like the character being portrayed Therese Raquin 1881 Novelist critic political activist Naturalist Plays o Lower class o Loosely structured The Vultures The Weavers The Lower Depths Modern day Examples documentary real life television Opposition to Realism o Censorship o England lord Chamberlin refused licenses Theatres refused to produce works of realists Independent Theatres o Subscription companies o Not for commercial success o Introduce new forms of drama o You bought a subscription to go see plays Most well known Moscow Art Theatre 1898 in Moscow Konstantin Stanislavski and Vladimir Memirovich Dancheno founded Moscow Art Theatre First production at Moscow Art Theatre The Seagull o Huge SUCCESS unlike first showing in Russia o Still in production today Konstantin Stanislavski Developed the first system for training actors to develop true to life characters on stage o Stanislavski s System Actor s outward behavior should be natural and convincing o Actors should convey inner needs in believable manner o Character life should be dynamic and continuous not to have short lived emotions o Strong sense of ensemble everyone on stage is equally important Ways to do