Beginning of Realism and Naturalism in Theatre 1875-1900

Overview of the Time Period 1881 - Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell formed the Oriental Telephone Company 1884 - Labor Day is considered a national holiday 1887- Anne Sullivan begins teaching Helen Keller. 1896- H. L. Smith takes the 1st X-ray picture. 1900 - Hawaii becomes a territory of the Untied States.

Ideas Dominating the Century Darwin--Origin of Species. Freudian psychology.  Scientific methodology can apply to human problem solving.  Lower and middle classes were now seen as heroes.

Realism Defined Realism is commonly defined as a concern for fact or reality and a rejection of the impractical and creative thinker People move and talk in a manner similar to that of our everyday behavior.  The stage seen as an environment, rather than as an acting platform.  The style has been dominant for the last 120 years.      

Realism Defined Versimilitude – appearance of truth Realist theater moved away from exaggerated acting styles and overblown melodrama to create theatrical productions truer to the lives of the people in the audience. Likeness to life is realism's goal - free of conventions and abstractions Every aspect of the theatre was fashioned into apparent lifelikeness.

Influences of Realism Developed from earlier forms: melodramas, spectacle plays, comedy, operas, and vaudeville. Rejected neoclassical form through 18th-century sentimental dramas and comedies and continued in the artistic rebelliousness of Romantic drama. “Scientific method" would allow an "objective" presentation of the nature of relationships or the ills of society.

Influences Realism's early phase was Romantic using spectacular theatrical innovations such as realistic scenery, box sets, attention to detail, and electric lighting As the 19th century progressed elements of social, and political ideas, new playwrighting structure, and scientific inquiry developed the style

Playwrights The major realist playwrights treated subjects of middle-class life in everyday, contemporary settings, featuring characters that face circumstances akin to those of average people Early - Ibsen, Chekhov, Shaw Later – O’Neil, Miller, Williams, Wilson, Simon                            

Henrik Ibsen “Father of Realistic Drama” Norwegian playwright 1828-1906 Henrik Ibsen launched the movement in 1879 with plays whose psychological detail and social concern other playwrights soon began to emulate across Europe. Ibsen around 1870.

Ibsen {cont.} Subjects of Ibsen’s plays were war, business, question of women’s rights, corruption, and hereditary disease. Ibsen changed play format; no more soliloquies, asides, etc. Everything was motivated; it contained psychological motivation, the environment, and also influenced characters.

Ibsen {cont.} Earliest plays were more melodramatic Known best for his eight plays written between 1877 and 1890. Some of which were: Ghosts, Hedda Gabbler, A Doll’s House, and An Enemy of the People. Ibsen’s older days.

A Doll’s House “There are two kinds of spiritual law, two kinds of conscience, one in man and another, altogether different, in woman. They do not understand each other; but in practical life the woman is judged by man's law, as though she were not a woman but a man. --HENRIK IBSEN

George Bernard Shaw Famed as a playwright, he wrote sixty-three plays. Later works in realistic style. He was a strong advocate for socialism and women's rights, and a vocal enemy of formal education. One of his influences is Henrik Ibsen.

Anton Chekhov The Seagull -1896. His brief playwriting career produced four classics of the realistic repertoire, including The Cherry Orchard and The Three Sisters. Deeply complex character relationships and developied plots and themes between the lines,

Naturalism Concurrent but essentially independent realistic movement. Naturalism is of crucial importance in fine art, literature and drama. Plays were based on ideas found in Darwinism: human beings are abiological phenomena, entirely determined by their heredity and environment.

Naturalism It was the attempt to mimic the form of the everyday world without the intervention of preconceived ideas or conventions. An attempt to present human reality without any appearance of dramatic convention. All characters were the product of their environment; decisions were made based on what nature had caused. 

Naturalism Playwrights: August Strindberg (Sweden) Emile Zola (Russia) Rejected the elements of conventional dramatic structure, such as climaxes and conclusions. Instead, the theatre was to offer an unadulterated "slice of life."

Johann August Strindberg Swedish writer, playwright, and painter. Known as one of the fathers of modern theatre and one of the pioneers of the Modern European stage. Strindberg was admired by the working classes as a radical writer. His best-known play from his Naturalism period is Miss Julie.

Emile Zola Émile François Zola (French) 1840 –1902 Important exemplar of the literary school of naturalism. Rougon-Macquart cycle (1871-1893) about the suffering of the Parisian working-class Nana, about a young Parisian prostitute, took the reader to the world of sexual exploitation Important contributor to the development of theatrical naturalism. "I am little concerned with beauty or perfection. I don't care for the great centuries. All I care about is life, struggle, intensity. - EZ

American Playwrights Since the United States is a relatively young country, its major dramatic development took place during realism's rise to prominence. Eugene O'Neill, Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams, and other playwrights wrote works that reveal the social and personal characteristics and issues of America Their works helped make realism the basic language of the American theatre today.

Bibliography McLeish, Kenneth. “Naturalism.” Guide to Human Thought. 1995. Bloomsbury. 22 Feb. 2007 <http://www.bloomsbury.com/‌RC/‌etail.asp?EntryID=102523&bid=2>. “Sparknotes: A Doll’s House.” Sparknotes. Summer 2006. 2 Feb. 2007 <http://www.sparknotes.com/‌it/‌ollhouse/‌acts.html>. Trumbull, Eric W, Dr. Introduction to Theatre. Course home page. 19 Oct. 2002. Northern Virgina Community College. 2 Feb. 2007 <http://novaonline.nv.cc.va.us/‌li/‌pd130et/‌ealism.htm>. http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0767430069/student_view0/part3/chapter8/true_or_false.html

The End