INTRODUCTION TO
THEATRE STYLES!!!!
The “isms”—romanticism, realism and naturalism
ROMANTICISM
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Cultural movement during the 1800’s
Rejected neoclassical rules and suggested that
genius creates its own rules
Focused on emotions, sentiment and imagination
Elaborately staged and used supernatural elements
Heroes were independent and defended
individuality
Common theme was the gulf between human beings’
spiritual aspirations and their physical limitations
NATURALISM
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Mid-19th Century
Based on views on contemporary scientific theory
Aimed to present ordinary life as accurately as
possible – no theatrical sense– in the extreme “slice
of life” and “real flies on real meat”
Showed how human beings act in response to forces
of nature and society that are beyond their control
Subject matter emphasized the boredom,
depression, and frustration of contemporary life
REALISM
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Late-19th Century movement
Replaced the artificial romantic style with accurate depictions of
people in plausible situations
Writers refused to make simple moral judgments or to resolve
dramatic action neatly
Presents life as it actually is; characters talk, dress, and act as
people in ordinary life do
Actors attempt to become their characters; living their lives in real
room with the audience spying on them through the invisible fourth
wall
Ushered in modern theatre and revolutionized contemporary theatre
in every aspect, from scenery, to styles of acting, from dialogue to
makeup
SYMBOLISM
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Anti-realist movment between 1880-1910
Writers belived that drama should present the mystery
of being and the cosmos—the infinite qualities of the
human spirit and inner meaning of life
Characters were figures representative of the human
condition
Stage pictures had only the bare essentials necessary to
evoke the dramatic universe
Themes were chosen from myth of fairy tales and used
poetic language and a deliberately artificial style of
staging
EXISTENTIALISM
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Philosophical doctrine developed after World War I
Rejects traditional beliefs
Writers believe there is little meaning to existence, that God does
not exist, and that humanity is therefore alone in an irrational
universe
An individual must accept responsibility for his/her own actions
Emphasis is on freedom and the moral responsibility of the individual
and shows a distrust of philosophical idealism
Disillusionment
Plays are based on traditional cause-and-effect logic, and the
characters are recognizable, fully developed human beings
EPIC/THEATRICALISM
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Began by Bertolt Brecht
Reactions in the 1920’s and 30’s to an over-emphasis on artistic illusion and
aesthetic emotion in the theatre
Believes that theatre should serve a social purpose of educating audiences
Narrators are often used to comment on the dramatic action
Political drama intended to appeal to reason rather than emotions that uses
a journalistic, non-emotional style that incorporates signs, projections, films,
etc.
Attempts to distance the audience from the action and characters—
”alienation effect”—in order to allow them to concentrate on a play’s
message
Epic theater usually deals with history of foreign lands, covers a long time,
shifts locale frequently, has intricate plots, and includes many characters
ABSURDISM
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Genre of the 1950’s and 60’s
Stage conventions were abandoned in order to present a view of
the world as meaningless and incomprehensible
Believe that much of what happens in life cannot be logically
explained; it is ridiculous and absurd and presents human existence
as futile
Plots do not have traditional structure
Characters are not realistic and they usually fail to communicate
Setting is frequently a strange, unrecognizable locale
Dialogue seems to make little sense and the language is unreliable
Writers are highly individualistic