American Drama
American drama has gone through several stages of
development from the nineteenth century to the
present.
theatrical,
sentimental
shows
1800s
influence of
European
realism
new levels of
realism and
psychological
complexity
revolt
against
realism:
expressionist
drama
contemporary
During the 19th century, melodramas with
exemplary democratic figures and clear contrasts
between good and evil had been popular. Plays
about social problems such as slavery also drew
large audiences; sometimes these plays were
adaptations of novels like Uncle Tom's Cabin.
Not until the 20th century would serious plays
attempt aesthetic innovation. Popular culture
showed vital developments, however, especially
in vaudeville (popular variety theater involving
skits, clowning, music, and the like). Minstrel
shows, based on African-American music and
folkways-- performed by white characters using
"blackface" makeup -- also developed original
forms and expressions.
American Drama
European Influences
The “slice-of-life” realism of three late-nineteenthcentury European playwrights had a profound
influence on American drama.
Norwegian
Henrik Ibsen
depicted unsettling subjects such as guilt,
sexuality, and mental illness
Swedish
August
Strindberg
brought unprecedented level of psychological
complexity to his characterizations
Russian Anton
Chekhov
along with Ibsen and Strindberg, shifted the
subject matter of drama to inner actions and
emotions and the concerns of everyday life
[End of Section]
Twentieth-Century Realism
Realistic drama is based on the illusion that at a
play we are watching life through a “fourth wall”
that has been removed so we can see the action.
Stage realism is the use of ordinary people, in
ordinary settings, using commonplace dialect.
The stage props represent a camera photograph.
Realistic plays show aspects of real people playing
out conflicts and intrigues which reflect the ordinary
experiences of American middle class life.
Recognizable heroes and villains were replaced with
ordinary characters showing ordinary strengths and
weaknesses. The replacement of gas light by
electricity helped in the creation of realistic
ambience.
Twentieth-Century Realism
Key Figures of American Realism
Eugene O’Neill
(1888–1953)
dominated American drama in his
generation
Arthur Miller
(1915–2005)
master of realism; explored social
as well as psychological truths in
his plays
Tennessee
Williams
(1911–1983)
blended realism with imagination;
focused on personal rather than
social themes
[End of Section]
Naturalism
A commonly interchangeable term with realism,
naturalism assumes that humans are controlled by
their environment, fate, psychology, chance or
coincidence; realistic characters are in control of
their destinies. Naturalistic situations are generally
pessimistic and deterministic. Trapped and controlled,
human behavior is instinctual and animalistic; there
is heroism in a human's desire to survive against
insurmountable odds.
Expressionist Drama
Expressionist drama began as a revolt against
realism.
Rejecting the orderly format of realistic drama,
expressionist drama
• emphasized stage effects
and imaginative settings
• focused on revealing
characters’ interior
consciousness
• reflected a sense that life
is formless and uncertain
Expressionism
In expressionistic plays, the playwright's
subjective sense of reality finds expression.
The characters and the milieu 环 境 may be
realistic, but their presentation on stage is
controlled by the writer's personal biases and
inclinations. No longer a camera photograph,
the stage could be highly elaborate or bare;
the accompanying lighting, costumes, music,
and scenery could be similarly non-realistic.
More like a dream, expressionistic writing has
no recognizable plot, conflicts, and character
developments. However, the threads are still
audience friendly; expressionism is not
absurdity or an exercise in obscurity.
Expressionist Drama
Many writers who used expressionist techniques
came to be called playwrights of the Theater of the
Absurd.
• Aburdist plays are not
meant to tell a story.
• Instead, much like
poetry, they use a
pattern of images to
express an idea or a
feeling.
Founders of the Theater of the Absurd
Expressionist Drama
Edward Albee: American Absurdist
The most significant absurdist in the United States
has been Edward Albee (1928– ).
• Albee is not a pure absurdist; he
experiments with many forms.
The Zoo Story (1959): Albee’s debut
The American Dream (1961): an Absurdist
play
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1962): the
play that made Albee famous
[End of Section]
Contemporary Drama
Today, playwrights are free to experiment with
many different dramatic forms and structures—as
long as their approach speaks compellingly to an
audience.
Contemporary Drama
Quick Check
Match each definition with the correct term.
drama based on the illusion of
watching characters’ lives through
an invisible “fourth wall”; themes
usually center on contemporary
society
drama that focuses on revealing
characters’ stream of
consciousness; replaces logical
plot with pattern of poetic images
Expressionism
Realism
[End of Section]
Considered the foremost United States playwright,
O'N was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in
1936. He introduced psychological realism in his
plays; his constant experimentation with stage craft
and acting gave American plays a new vitality and
originality. Produced all around the world, his plays
continue to attract new generations of readers.
O'Neill's earliest dramas concern the working
class and poor; later works explore subjective
realms, such as obsessions and sex, and
underscore his reading in Freud and his
anguished attempt to come to terms with his
dead mother, father, and brother.
Playwright, poet, and fiction writer, Tennessee
Williams left a powerful mark on American theatre.
At their best, his twenty-five full-length plays
combined lyrical intensity, haunting loneliness, and
hypnotic violence. He is widely considered the
greatest Southern playwright and one of the
greatest playwrights in the history of American
drama.
Born Thomas Lanier Williams on March 26, 1911, he
suffered through a difficult and troubling childhood. His
father was a shoe salesman and an emotionally absent
parent. He became increasingly abusive as the Williams
children grew older. His mother, Edwina, was the daughter of
Southern Episcopal minister and had lived the adolescence
and young womanhood of a spoiled Southern belle. Williams
was sickly as a child, and his mother was a loving but
smothering woman. In 1918 the family moved from
Mississippi to St. Louis, and the change from a small
provincial town to a big city was very difficult for William¹s
mother. Williams had an older sister named Rose and a
younger brother named Walter. Rose was emotionally and
mentally unstable, and her illnesses had a great influence on
Thomas¹s life and work.
Tennessee Williams did not express strong
admiration for any early American playwrights;
his greatest dramatic influence was the brilliant
Russian playwright Anton Chekhov. Chekhov, with
his elegant juxtaposition of the humorous and
the tragic, his lonely characters, and his dark
sensibilities, was a powerful inspiration for
Tennessee Williams' work although Williams'
plays are undeniably American in setting and
character.