1. Continental European and Latin American Theatre (German Expressionism)
The term expressionism first gained use in France around 1901 to distinguish the kind of painting Van Gogh and Gauguin from that of other impressionists.
The term was introduced in Germany around 1910.
Any departure from realism was labeled “expressionism,” so the movement is difficult to define.
Basic premises are as follows:
Artists project human emotions and attitudes into inanimate objects
Seek truth in humanity’s spiritual qualities rather than external appearances
Oppose realism and naturalism on the grounds that they focus on surface details, and that the truth of those movements was materialistic and mechanical.
External reality is alterable and should be changed until it is brought into harmony with humanity’s spiritual nature (the only significant source of value).
Artistic “truth” is subjective.
Expressionism was first used to describe the paintings of artists such as Vincent van Gogh.
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2. Continental European and Latin American Theatre (German Expressionism)
Since “truth” was subjective to expressionists, it had to be expressed through new artistic means:
Distorted line
Exaggerated shape
Abnormal coloring
Mechanical movement
Telegraphic speech
Often everything was shown through the eyes of the protagonist, whose view might alter emphases and impose drastic interpretations upon the events.
Most plays were episodic.
They derived their unity from a central idea or argument.
This was often the promise of a future Utopia.
An expressionist production of the opera Jakob Lenz at the Hampstead Theatre (2012).
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3. Continental European and Latin American Theatre (German Expressionism)
As WWI began, expressionist emphasis shifted from personal concerns to warnings of impending universal catastrophe or pleas for the reformation of humanity/society.
No professional performance of an expressionist play was given until 1916; during the war, very little expressionist work was made public due to strict censorship.
After the war, expressionism flourished.
Expressionist plays were consistently performed beginning in 1919
These plays were dominant until 1924.
As optimism after the war diminished, society moved to disappointment and disillusionment.
By 1924, expressionism was virtually dead.
An expressionist set design (using projections from Studio 59. Emil and the Detectives.
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4. Continental European and Latin American Theatre (Epic Theatre)
“Epic Theatre” arose as expressionism declined.
The first practitioner of this style was Erwin Piscator, who sought to create a “proletarian drama” as opposed to producing standard plays for a working-class audience.
His plays used filmed sequences, cartoons, treadmills, segmented settings, and other devices to draw parallels between dramatic events and recent history, thus arguing for social and political reforms.
Despite this, Epic Theatre is primarily associated with Bertolt Brecht.
Brecht’s most famous works are The Threepenny Opera and Mother Courage and Her Children.
Authorship of some of his works is debated – while he certainly directed them, the scripts may have been primarily written by his collaborators.
Meryl Streep in a production of Brecht’s Mother Courage and Her Children (2006).
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5. Continental European and Latin American Theatre (Epic Theatre)
Brecht called his approach “epic” to indicate its broad sweep and its mixture of narrative and dramatic techniques.
He wished to assign the audience an active role in theatre by making them watch critically, rather than passively.
He used the concept of “alienation,” or making stage events strange enough that the audience will ask questions.
Ultimately, he wanted audiences to relate what they saw in theatre to what they experienced in real life, and thereby work for change in their own world.
He rejected the idea of production unity (a la Appia and Craig) – he called it “redundant.”
He also rejected Stanislavsky’s acting approach and told actors to think of their roles “in the third person” and to comment on their characters’ motivations and actions through acting.
Mother Courage and Her Children at London’s Olivier Theatre.
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