DRAMATIC ARTS
‘Schisms & Isms’
20th Century Theatre Movements
CONTENTS
PAGE
INTRODUCTION
OVERVIEW OF MAJOR THEATRICAL MOVEMENTS
DRAMATIC THEATRE VS. AVANT GARDE
REALISM
SYMBOLISM
EXPRESSIONISM
FUTURISM
CONSTRUCTIVISM
DADAISM
SURREALISM
SURREALISM: THEATRE OF CRUELTY
EPIC THEATRE
EXISTENTIALISM
ABSURD THEATRE
POOR THEATRE
THEATRE OF OPPRESSED
POSTMODERNISM
KEY THEATRE PRACTITIONERS COMPARED
2
3
4
5-6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14-17
18
19
20
21
22
23-24
Film is art,
television is furniture,
theatre is life.
“Movies make you
famous, television will
make you rich; but
theatre will make you
good,” Terence Mann
SOURCES:
 Drama Rama 11 & 12. 2000. Roux, Lizeth
 Via Afrika Dramatic Arts Teacher’s Guide. 2007. Ciro, Guhrs et.al.

International Theatre of the Oppressed Organisation. http://www.theatreoftheoppressed.org
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INTRODUCTION
End 19th Century / Beginning 20th Century
At the end of the 19th Century / beginning of the 20th Century, in Europe, the dominant
form of theatre was Realism and Naturalism*: anti-idealistic styles which were attempts to
represent reality in its gritty particularity, and to elevate the humble and the ordinary over
the ideal.
*Naturalism: continuation of Realism (playwrights restricted to slice of life, photographic image, illusion of everyday life)
Due to a number of influences, not least the number of political upheavals and wars, artists
and theatre makers started to consider the fact that Realism was perhaps an inadequate
form with which to express themselves. They started to experiment: exploring the
unknown and trying new ways of doing things. An umbrella term for all the experimental
forms of art (and theatre) that flowed forth is Avant Garde*.
*Avant garde: to be way out in front, to take the lead.
Types of Theatre in the 20th Century:
Box-Office (Main Stream)
Experimental / Avant Garde
General entertainment
Conventionally staged
Often lacking intellectual dimension
E.g. Light comedies; Musicals, farces
Thrillers, Films
Appeals to more restricted audiences
Explores and develops new techniques
E.g. Experimental theatre, Theatre of
Absurd, Theatre of Fact (documentary
style)
Alfred Jarry – An example of an Experimentalist / Avant Garde theatre maker
Like his Symbolist contemporaries, Jarry rebelled against Romanticism and Naturalism. He
wrote plays, novels, and essays that anticipated Dadaism, Surrealism and Theatre of the
Absurd. His 1896 play, Ubu Roi (King Ubu), subverted the dramatic conventions of Realism by
avoiding sympathetic characters, identifiable locations, and a logical, coherent narrative
structure. King Ubu is also credited with creating a new literary type: a buffoonish yet sinister
anti-protagonist who possesses no redeeming qualities. Urged by his wife, Père Ubu uses his
“de-braining” device to assassinate the King of Poland and then his allies. He wanders around
the countryside demanding double and triple taxes before cowardly retreating from the Tzar's
army and surviving a bear's attack. The play, which increasingly loses any semblance of unified
action or linear narrative, ends with Ubu and his wife sailing to France. At the premiere of King
Ubu on December 10, 1896, at the Théâtre de l'Oeuvre in Paris, the audience booed when the
actor who portrayed Ubu mimed unlocking a jail cell door that was represented by another
actor. Additionally, King Ubu provoked the bourgeois audience with the first theatrical uttering
of the neologism “merdre,” inciting riots each time “le mot d'Ubu” (the word Ubu) was uttered
on stage. In the character of Père Ubu, Jarry had invented a new literary type—a simplified,
archetypal anti-protagonist.
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AN OVERVIEW OF MAJOR THEATRICAL MOVEMENTS
Development from
Reaction against
1870s
1880s
REALISM
NATURALISM
SYMBOLISM
EXPRESSIONISM
1890-1900
AVANT GARDE /
EXPERIMENTAL
1910 – 1930
Futurism
Dadaism
Constructivism
Surrealism & Theatre of Cruelty
EPIC THEATRE
1940
NEW REALISM
1950
ABSURD THEATRE
 Modified Realism
 Kitchen sink Drama
 Social problems of working
class
1960
POSTMODERNISM
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DRAMATIC THEATRE
vs.
 Life is considered worth living; a better world is
anticipated; leans towards optimism & hope;
 Seeks truth; finds substance of great importance
in defining man/woman in their world; believes
mankind has a will and is capable of improving his
existence, capable of communication;
 Moves in orderly fashion and accepts established
style or form.
 Places emphasis on plot or character and a
concrete theme;
 Has conversational dialogue; attempts to be
literary and is partial to prose; abolishes soliloquy
and asides and abandons the chorus;
 Fosters illusion of reality in imitating life; portrays
the external reality; holds a mirror up to the
world; aims for clarity; objective reality
 Seeks to analyse and understand specific human
problems; performances are representational;
appeals to intellect as well as emotions;
 Seeks motivation for characters’ actions; this
further develops illusion; promotes audience
identification with characters;
 Accepts structural rules for playwriting: insists on
exposition, development, climax and dénouement
(although ending can be open); has linear plot
line; play progresses to a clear conclusion;
 Creates realistic settings; upholds fourth wall;
tries to mask technical effects; seeks logic in all
things; has order and central focus
 Chooses stories from imagination, fiction and
history; seeks situations that can be recognised
and related to one’s existence;
 Encourages audience to enjoy the performance;
retains formal seating arrangement with stage
and auditorium separated
 Taboos: nudity, unsavoury sex and obscenity; is
usually conscious of good taste and audience
endorsement
 “Art for life’s sake”
AVANT GARDE
 Leans towards pessimism; life is considered absurdity;
little hope held for the individual; world of future is
even less attractive than present;
 Finds beauty mystical; prefers excitement and intuition;
considers truth not absolute and only implied; considers
truth from different perspectives;
 Interested in developing a new style and form;
 Often forgets plot or story; greatly simplifies or
symbolises characters; uses abstract themes;
 Permits dialogue to be formal/simple/non-existent;
dialogue is often non-literary, poetic; re-establishes
chorus, soliloquy, asides; language does not have to
communicate
 Destroys illusion with unrealistic material and style;
seeks to portray the internal; refuses to accept realism
as means of expression; aims at ambiguity; portrays life
through broad exaggeration; subjective reality
 Accepts obscurity as part of the magic in humankinds’
existence; strives for full theatricality; avoids
representation, prefers presentational, demonstrative
style through use of masquerade, circus, dance, ritual;
appeals to imagination
 Sees no need for motivation; destroys all illusions;
discourages identification
 Creates new structure; mostly middle with beginning
and end slight or omitted or rearranged; accepts no
rules for playwriting; can have circular plot line if there is
a plot; play can end the same way it began
 Abandons realistic settings; eliminates fourth wall;
technical effects may be in full view; makes audience
conscious that they are in a theatre; strives for the
illogical, imaginative; irrational;
 Chooses stories from symbols, myths, primitive
spectacles, medieval farce and other rituals; presents
situations that reinterprets life’s reality
 Assaults audience’s sense; involves them in performance
in some way; forces breakdown of audience-actor
relationship
 Makes no effort to judge morality; has no taboos; insists
on utter freedom; is interested in shock values; even to
point of antagonising audience
 “Art for art’s sake”
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Realism
th
(19 century realism; modified realism, neo/new realism; kitchen-sink realism)
Realism was a dramatic and theatrical convention that originated in the mid- to late 19th
century that attempted to depict everyday life in a truthful manner. The subject matter
is the ordinary and characters are authentic. The dramatic action is plausible to an
everyday reality. The audience is not acknowledged; the fourth wall convention is used.
The playwright’s candid depiction of the real world can only be gleaned through direct
observation of the real world, so they can only write about the society around them,
and must strive to be as objective as possible. Themes dealt with contemporary social
issues in support of promoting social reform.
When, who,
what plays?
World view,
purpose
Themes

19th century : Norway, Sweden, Moscow, England, 1870s onwards Henrik Ibsen,
e.g. A doll’s house, august Strindberg e.g. The seagull, ghosts, George Bernard
Shaw, e.g. Pygmalion, Anton Chekov e.g. The seagull, the cherry orchard, three
sisters
 Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen (A Doll’s House, Hedda Gabbler) is considered
the father of modern realism in the theatre
 New realism (20th century): England: John Osborne’s Look Back In Anger;
America: Tennessee Williams’s The Glass Menagerie, A Streetcar Named Desire;
Eugene O’Neill’s Desire Under The Elms; South Africa: Athol Fugard’s People Are
Living There; Hello And Goodbye; Master Harold And The Boys
 Mirrors society
 Rejected the complex and artificial plotting of the well-made play and instead
treated themes and conflicts belonging to a real, contemporary society.
 An authentic representation of everyday life’s struggles depicted on stage.
 The playwright’s ‘truthful’ depiction of the real world can only be gleaned
through direct observation of the real world, so they can only write about the
society around them, and must strive to be as objective as possible.
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Key
features
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Dealt with contemporary social issues in support of promoting social reform.
Naturalism explores the concept of scientific determinism (spawning from
Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution)
Characters in the play are shaped by their circumstances and controlled by
external forces such as hereditary or their social and economic environment
Dispensed with poetic language and extravagant diction, instead using action and
dialogue that looked and sounded like everyday behaviour and speech. Colloquial
language & vernacular.
Realism had no use for the declamatory delivery and the overblown virtuosity of
past acting and replaced this style with one demanding natural movements,
gestures, and speech. Realist drama also used stage settings that accurately
reproduced ordinary surroundings.
A truthful, authentic representation of life.
The striving towards verisimilitude (authenticity) affected stage design,
costumes, lighting, direction and acting style.
Watching a realist play, the spectator is observing a “slice of life,” meaning an
authentic portrayal of an event in a character’s life.
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Plot
&
Structure
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Character
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Dialogue /
language
Aural &
visual
elements
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Acting style
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Naturalistic dramas normally follow rules set out by the Greek philosopher
Aristotle, known as ‘the three unities’ (of time, place and action).
o The action of the play takes place in a single location
o Over the time frame of a single day. Jumps in time and/or place between
acts or scenes were at first not allowed, but were included occasionally
o The action is causal and plausible
The subject matter is the ordinary and the dramatic action is plausible to an
everyday reality.
Realistic plays often see the protagonist (main character) rise up against the odds
to assert him/herself against an injustice of some kind (e.g. Nora in Ibsen’s A
Doll’s House)
The drama is typically psychologically driven, where the plot is secondary and
primary focus is placed on the interior lives of characters, their motives, the
reactions of others etc.
Social problems are reflected without flinching.
Does not adhere to well-made play; often open-ended
Usually two to three acts; occasionally episodic
Linear structure, time flows chronologically, each acts logically follows on from
the previous one.
Characters are believable, everyday types; psychologically drawn
Back story feeds into displayed scenes.
Character is an effect of his/her environment (nurture) but the inherent nature is
indelibly part of the character’s story.
Often characters in naturalistic plays are considered victims of their own
circumstance and this is why they behave in certain ways (they are seen as
helpless products of their environment)
New realism characters are often working class/lower class (as opposed to the
mostly middle class characters of 19th century dramas)
New realism plays regularly explore sordid subject matter previously considered
taboo on the stage in any serious manner (e.g. Suicide, poverty, prostitution)
Vernacular, colloquial, suited to character’s class and education
Language is in prose form, naturalistic, not stylized or poetic, no chorus
Dialogue is not heightened for effect, but that of everyday speech (vernacular)
Costumes are authentic
Stage settings (locations) and props are often indoors and believable
The ‘box set’ is normally used for realistic dramas on stage, consisting of three
walls and an invisible ‘fourth wall’ facing the audience
Settings for realistic plays are often bland (deliberately ordinary
Costumes, sets and props are historically accurate and very detailed, attempting
to offer a photographic reproduction of reality (‘slice of life’)
As with realism, settings for naturalistic dramas are often bland and ordinary
Stanislavski’s system employed.
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THEATRE MOVEMENT / STYLE
SYMBOLISM
What is the difference between a symbol and a sign?
WHEN, WHO,
WHAT PLAYS?
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WORLD VIEW,
PURPOSE
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THEMES
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KEY FEATURES
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PLOT &
STRUCTURE
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CHARACTER
DIALOGUE /
LANGUAGE
AURAL & VISUAL
ELEMENTS
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Origins: France 188Os to early 1900s.
Influenced by theatre of Far East
Poets: W.B. Yeats, T.S. Eliot
Designers: Adolphe Appia, Edward Gordon Craig
Playwrights: Maurice Maeterlinck’s Pelleas and Melisandre, The
Blue Bird; August Strindberg’s A Dream Play ; Henrik Ibsen’s
Wild Duck; Alfred Jarry’s early works
Anti-realistic, intuitive, subjective truth, world of dreams and
imagination, art for art’s sake.
To represent the true meaning of life which is spiritual and not
materialistic.
In favour of the imagination, and dreams, metaphorical,
suggestive, evocative of inner meaning and beauty
Plays attempted to present a higher truth which could not be
expressed in words, only in symbols.
Simplicity, metaphorical, evocative of feeling & state of mind.
Social problems avoided, rather realm of fantasy and allegory
Do not use well-made structure,
Plot can be vague and obscure.
Dialogue and plot not of primary importance
No personality of their own, rather symbols of the inner life of
the writer;
Characters are controlled by fate
Anything from staccato delivery to flowing lyrical delivery,
chorus work.
Dialogue and plot not of primary importance
Music, poetry, dance, exaggerated movements integrated
Atmosphere & mood created by lighting, colour, shapes, lines.
Impressionistic sets & scenery; Greater visual beauty on stage.
Set designs by Appia and Craig
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EXPRESSIONISM
 WW1 onwards
WHEN,
WHO, WHAT  Germany: George Kaiser’s Gas(1920); Ernst Toller’s Masse Mensch(1921);
 USA: Thornton Wilder’s Our Town (1938); Kaufman & Connelly’s Beggar
PLAYS?
on Horseback(1924)
WORLD
VIEW,
PURPOSE
THEMES
KEY
FEATURES
PLOT &
STRUCTURE
CHARACTER
DIALOGUE /
LANGUAGE
AURAL &
VISUAL
ELEMENTS
 An anti-realistic, subjective reality: hallucinations, dreams, spirits, visions,
secrets, unconscious desires
 Expressing psychological forces that lie under the surface of human mind
in a stylized manner
 To express the inner feelings and experiences of characters; a journey to
the soul; to protest against the contemporary social order;
 Anti-materialism and anti-industrialism; humanitarian
 Show how humanity’s spiritual potential can be realised; attack capitalist
values in industrialised societies
 Exaggeration, distortion, disruption of three unities
 Devices such as chorus, narrator, soliloquies, unusual stage effects
 Concentrated on negative aspects of present; to prove how false ideas
have distorted man’s spirit
 Usually focusses on protagonist’s journey, can be illogical
 A journey / a search
 Episodic structure
 Protagonist is central – everything is seen through his/her eyes;
 S/he is tortured by events and society
 Other characters presented as dehumanised, automatons or abstractions
 Regimented/ mechanical/ stylized movements; speech reduced to
phrases or single words
 Broken monologues
 Staccato delivery, illogical, rhythmical;
 Highly emotional, abrupt, shocking, sudden shifts in mood
 Sound used to illicit emotional response from audience
 Choral chants, rhythmical, use of repetition
 Images pictorial, different levels, design used to bring out thoughts and
feelings of protagonist
 Exaggerated shapes and lines, tilted walls, bizarre costumes and masks,
multi-level sets, spectacular
 Shapes may be distorted, colours abnormal,
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FUTURISM
WHEN, WHO,
WHAT PLAYS?
WORLD VIEW,
PURPOSE &
THEMES
KEY FEATURES
PLOT &
STRUCTURE
CHARACTER
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Italy +/- 1909, then Russia
Filippo Tommaso Marinetti
Short dramatic plays
Reject past, glorify energy and speed of machine age &
technology
Glorifying war (right-wing fascists)
Wish to transform humanity
Compress time & space
Multiple scenes showed simultaneously
Fast-moving, amalgamating all arts
Anti-literary; short, dramatic plays;
Fast moving, love of speed
 Directly confronting audience
 Collage of nouns; free verse; improvised speeches
DIALOGUE /
LANGUAGE
AURAL & VISUAL  Chaotic, simultaneous sounds; art of noise; noise machines
 Mixed media: sculpture, painting, dancing displays; often used
ELEMENTS
arena staging
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CONSTRUCTIVISM
WHEN, WHO,
WHAT PLAYS?
WORLD VIEW,
PURPOSE
& THEMES
KEY FEATURES
PLOT &
STRUCTURE
CHARACTER
DIALOGUE /
LANGUAGE
AURAL &
VISUAL
ELEMENTS
 Russia after 1917
 Vsevolod Meyerhold directed classics e.g. The Magnanimous
Cuckold, The Government Inspector
 Anti-illusion, development from Futurism
 To express a new modern society; shows and tests a future as yet
unrealised
 Anti-war, corruption, philistinism & bureaucracy; depicting
dehumanisation
 Actors create intervention in this reality
 Eliminated footlights
 Agitprop;
 At first Pro-Bolshevik revolution but later critical and satirical
about Soviet society
 Original classics dissected into episodes; directors’ theatre
 Biomechanics – system of actor training which uses physical
movement patterns to create the impression of emotion; train
reflexes to be finely tuned; Actors are puppets in in hands of
director
 Grotesque characters
 Visuals more important than dialogue
 Rhythmical sounds
 Machine for acting; non-decorative; non-representational;
utilitarian set; multi-purpose stage settings – platforms, catwalks,
steps, wheels, use of circus elements
GR. 11 & 12 DRAMATIC ARTS - 20TH CENTURY THEATRE MOVEMENTS
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DADAISM
WHEN, WHO,  Started in Zurich, Switzerland 1916, later also in Paris
WHAT PLAYS?  Tristan Tzara; Hugo Ball; Georg Grosz; Emmy Hennings
WORLD
VIEW,
PURPOSE
& THEMES
KEY
FEATURES
PLOT &
STRUCTURE
CHARACTER
DIALOGUE /
LANGUAGE
AURAL &
VISUAL
ELEMENTS
 Short plays, cabarets or events
 Venue: Cabaret Voltaire
 Nihilism; anti-art; death of art; replaced logic and reason with
calculated madness; anarchic; anti-war
 Question everything, believe nothing; attack complacency; to
outrage bourgeois audiences
 Meaningless of existence
 Insanity seemed the world’s true state
 Variety of forms, improvisation; simultaneous actions; illogical
arrangement of events and staging;
 Productions: lectures, recitations, dances, short plays, visual art
 No plot
 No character although certain types emerged such as Doctor
Death;
 Interaction with audience; no 4th wall
 Nonsense phrases
 Sound poems
 Use of clichés
 Variety of sounds, simultaneous: Balalaika orchestra, African
music, jazz, songs by Wedekind, music by Debussy
 Variety of meaningless visual elements juxtaposed; bizarre masks
and costumes
GR. 11 & 12 DRAMATIC ARTS - 20TH CENTURY THEATRE MOVEMENTS
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SURREALISM
WHEN,
WHO,
WHAT
PLAYS?
WORLD
VIEW,
PURPOSE
& THEMES
 France 1920s
 André Breton; Guillaume Apollinaire-Les Mamelles de Tirésias; Jean
Cocteau – Orphée; Antonin Artaud* – Jet of Blood
* See also Artaud’s Theatre of Cruelty
 Super-realism (super = exceeding, beyond); art to express the real
process of thought which is the subconscious dream state
 Reflecting subconscious and unconscious processes (influences of
Freud)
 Expressing dream state of mind: dreams, hallucinations; break down
people’s defences (Theatre of Cruelty)
 Free people from chains of logic and rationality
 Create a personal, social and cultural revolution to bring about a life
of freedom.
 Theatre should express what language cannot put into words.
 Imaginative; idiosyncratic; familiar mixed with the strange and
KEY
unusual
FEATURES
 Personal, social & cultural revolutions
 Illogical
PLOT &
STRUCTURE  Symbolic
CHARACTER  Unlikely & illogical, e.g. a bearded woman, a man who gives birth
DIALOGUE /  Flow of thoughts without censorship; automatic writing
LANGUAGE
 Shrill sound effects; use of voice to create harmonies and dissonance
AURAL &
 New spaces; stark lighting; sets modelled on surrealist paintings (e.g.
VISUAL
by Salvador Dali); some décor and costumes designed by Picasso
ELEMENTS
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THEATRE OF CRUELTY
WHEN, WHO,  Antonin Artaud (1896-1948).By cruelty, he meant not sadism or causing pain, but
rather a violent, physical determination to shatter the false reality.
WHAT
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Operated directly on sensory (feelings), bypasses the conscious mind; an attack on
PLAYS?
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WORLD
VIEW,
PURPOSE
& THEMES
KEY
FEATURES
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PLOT &
STRUCTURE
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DIALOGUE /
LANGUAGE
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ACTOR &
CHARACTER
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AURAL &
VISUAL
ELEMENTS
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the senses.
Based on ritual and fantasy, launches an attack on the spectators' subconscious in an
attempt to release deep-rooted fears and anxieties that are normally suppressed,
forcing people to view themselves and their natures without the shield of civilization.
This is Artaud’s ‘double’: theatre should recall those moments when we wake from
dreams unsure whether the dream’s content or the bed we are lying in is our reality.
Theatre is not an area for escape from the world. Forced audiences to confront
themselves; Aim was to break down audience’s defences
A true play, according to Artaud's concept, will disturb in the spectator his tranquillity
of mind and his senses, and it will liberate his subconscious.
Ritualistic, theatre of myth and magic; The spirit of Dionysus should be driving force
in theatre
Operated directly on sensory (feelings), bypasses the conscious mind; an attack on
the senses
Emphasis on the written or spoken text was significantly reduced
The notion of text being exalted (a more powerful component) was eliminated.
Artaud referred to spoken dialogue as ‘written poetry’ emphasis on improvisation,
not scripts
Text was given a reduced emphasis in Artaud’s theatre, as dance and gesture became
just as powerful as the spoken word.
The actor was encouraged to openly use emotions (opposite to Brecht and Epic
Theatre)
No emphasis on individual characters in performance (opposite to Stanislavski and
Realism)
Using spectacle and sensation, Artaud wanted his theatre to hypnotise its audience.
Traditional theatre buildings replaced by barns and factories; acting areas were
corners and against walls
A largely movement-based performance style, sometimes using violent and
confronting images that appealed to the emotions.
Sound: abrupt changes, human voices distorted; Lighting should ‘vibrate’
Piercing sound and bright stage lights bombarded the audience during performances.
Experimented with the relationship between performer and audience, preferring to
place spectators at the very centre of a performance surrounding them. His intention
was to trap the audience inside the drama
Stylised movement was known as ‘visual poetry’. Dance and gesture became just as
effective as the spoken word movement and gesture replaced more than words,
standing for ideas and attitudes of mind. Movement often created violent or
disturbing images on stage. Sometimes the violent images were left to occur in the
minds of the audience (not on stage)
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EPIC THEATRE
WHEN,
WHO, WHAT
PLAYS?
WORLD
VIEW,
PURPOSE
& THEMES
KEY
FEATURES
PLOT &
STRUCTURE
CHARACTER
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DIALOGUE /
LANGUAGE
AURAL &
VISUAL
ELEMENTS
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The term ‘epic’ lends itself from epic poetry: a long narrative poem that tells
the story (instead of showing it like a dramatized version of the same events) of
legendary or historical heroes and great deeds. Strictly speaking, ‘epic’ is an
Aristotelian term for a form of narrative that is ‘not tied to time’ – as opposed
to ‘tragedy’ which is bound by the unities of time, place and action. Compare
story telling (narrating with re-enacting (dramatizing);
Germany; Pre, during and after World War 2
Bertolt Brecht, Erwin Piscator, composer Kurt Weill
In SA: Junction Avenue Theatre Company; Mtwa, Simon & Ngema
Anti-war; anti-materialism and anti-capitalism
Didactic
Wants audience to be critically aware; must be able to make changes in the
present as result of what they have seen
Themes are socio-political e.g. universal suffering in war; political parables
Verfremdungs Effekt (Alienation technique); distancing; deliberately reminding
audience that they are in the theatre and should be reflectively critical of what
they see; numerous theatrical devices to achieve this
Historification (displacing the subject from the present into the past)
Plot punctuated by narration (narrator explaining, songs); prologues,
interludes, epilogues
Storyline often didactical
Structure not necessarily linear; Episodic; spanning/jumping between time and
space;
Characters comment on themselves; may directly address audience; may speak
in third person;
Characters are presented or demonstrated to the audience;
Use of gestus to demonstrate social function of character; masks, emphasis on
ensemble
Juxtaposition of styles
Shifting between poetic, prosaic & comic
Functional music, not incidental; Songs comment on and punctuate action;
music used to juxtapose mood of a scene; rough street songs; satirical cabaret
lyrics; often consciously unmelodic; music used to break audience’s empathy
Hard white light from visible source; staging techniques visible’ half-curtain &
revolve used; projections (film and slides); titles used for scenes; costumes &
props made to look well-worn; scene & costume changes could be done in full
view of audience; fragmentary settings – multiple settings in one space
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EXISTENTIALISM
 1940s onwards, France
WHEN,
WHO, WHAT  Jean Paul Sartre: No Exit; The Flies
 Albert Camus: Caligula
PLAYS?
WORLD
VIEW,
PURPOSE
& THEMES
KEY
FEATURES
PLOT &
STRUCTURE
CHARACTER
DIALOGUE /
LANGUAGE
AURAL &
VISUAL
ELEMENTS
 Influenced many writers worldwide, including Athol Fugard in South
Africa
 Existence comes before essence: there is no meaning to existence
until the human being takes action and makes choices, i.e. choices
determine who one is = existence before essence (i.e. we are not
born ‘good’)
 Absurdity and irony of life
 Makes us aware that we are responsible for finding all answers
ourselves, there are no universal rules
 To make us socially committed out of ourselves, not out of some
authority
 ‘Hell is other people’; ‘Hell is within ourselves’
 Philosophical & questioning; little joy or happiness
 Freedom is an act of human will, but we are condemned to this
freedom – we have freedom of choice, but we are responsible for
the consequences of our choices
 Isolation and despair in modern world; meaninglessness; absurdity;
 Inevitable devaluation of ideals, purity and purpose
 Closer to traditional plot structure than Absurdists
 Representative characters with little known about their pasts
 Poetic, beautifully phrases, argumentative
 Richness of dialogue, conventionally used
 Irrational, illogical universe depicted
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ABSURD THEATRE
 Post World War 2; France
WHEN,
WHO, WHAT  Samuel Beckett – Waiting for Godot; Jean Genet’s The Balcony;
Eugene Ionesco’s The Bald Prima donna; Rhinoceros;
PLAYS?
WORLD
VIEW,
PURPOSE &
THEMES
KEY
FEATURES
PLOT &
STRUCTURE
CHARACTER
DIALOGUE /
LANGUAGE
AURAL &
VISUAL
ELEMENTS
 In SA: Andre Brink, Chris Barnard
 Exploring existentialist views of humanity in a theatrical, absurd,
irrational fashion.
 ‘Existentialism declares the void; Absurdism faces the void,’; Give
audience a heightened experience of the existential crisis;
 Demonstrates absurdity of existence in an isolated world;
 Communicates poetic images of a world that is disintegrating and
has lost its meaning and purpose
 Man is a lone in a hostile universe; existence is futile
 Language has failed as a tool of rational communication
 No realistic treatment of time and space
 Mixture of tragedy and farce; tragicomedy
 Reflects on existential themes and awareness
 Devoid of traditional linear plot structure; circular plots and
structure or plots spiralling into chaos; no logical, motivated action;
meaningless stage business
 Characters have no history or their history is uncertain; they act
illogically and irrationally; they are human puppets; representing
humanity rather than real people; often mutually dependent if in
pairs
 Language emphasises character’s inability to communicate;
devaluation of language
 Poetic language; clichés; rhythmical; new words; puns; slang,
sudden shifts in style; contrasts; repetitions; stichomythia; nonsequiturs
 Language can become meaningless; silence as important speech
 Strange, dreamlike images (a woman buried up to her neck in sand;
characters in dustbins; a road that goes nowhere)
 Space can be cluttered or empty; concepts of confinement and
emptiness
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POOR THEATRE
WHEN, WHO,
WHAT PLAYS?
WORLD VIEW,
PURPOSE
KEY FEATURES
& THEMES
PLOT &
STRUCTURE
CHARACTER
DIALOGUE /
LANGUAGE
AURAL &
VISUAL
ELEMENTS
 1960s onwards, Poland
 Jerzy Grotowski’s Polish Laboratory theatre created Acropolis;
The Constant Prince
 Peter Brook continues Grotowski’s concepts in The Conference of
the Birds; Mahabarata
 Eugenio Barba; Richard Schechner
 In SA: Mbongeni Ngema, Percy Mtwa, Barney Simon, Athol
Fugard
 Theatre is a holy space in which actor s and audience confront
one another; focus on the pure presence of the actor
 To drop masks and reveal the essence of humanity; to enter into
a sacred ritual where catharsis is reached and shared
 Focus on intimate relationship between audience and actors
 Total dedication to development of actor as pure instrument,
intense training;
 Actor practises asceticism (severe self-discipline, avoiding of all
forms of indulgence, self-denial, abstinence); secular holiness;
actor-audience intimate confrontation
 No illusion; actors reveal themselves
 Classical texts reworked; improvisation combined with text;
montage of materials; scenes are series of images rather than
logically constructed; often no text;
 Total immersion in character; often Christ-like character suffering
for all mankind; archetypal characters; no illusion
 Can be poetic
 All sound and music made by actors themselves; voices trained as
superb resonators for sound
 Avoidance of machinery; minimise all spectacle not created by
actor; stripped down; multi-functional props; performance space
becomes the place for confrontation & engaging of audience and
actors;
 Found spaces can be arranged in different ways;
 Visual metaphors in costume; minimal lighting sources; intimate
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THEATRE OF THE OPPRESSED- AUGUSTO BOAL
Theatre of the Oppressed is a system of Games and Techniques that aims at developing, in the oppressed citizens, the
language of the theatre, which is the essential human language. This form of theatre is meant to be practiced by, about and
for the oppressed, to help fight against their oppressions and to transform the society that
engenders those oppressions. The word Oppressed is used in the sense of s/he who has lost the
right to express his/her wills and needs, and is reduced to the condition of obedient listener of a
monologue. It must be used as a tool of fighting against all forms class oppression, racism, sexism,
and all kinds of discrimination. THEATRE OF THE OPPRESSED does not aim at being only like
Hamlet´s definition – a mirror that allows us to see our vices and virtues – but to be an instrument
of concrete social transformation
Augusto Boal, Rio de Janeiro 2004
IMAGE-THEATRE – Words are ‘emptinesses’ that fill the emptiness (vacuum) that exists between one human being and
another. Words are lines that we carve in the sand, sounds that we sculpt in the air. We know the meaning of the word we
pronounce, because we fill it with our desires, ideas and feelings, but we don’t know how that word is going to be heard by
each listener. IMAGE THEATRE is a series of Techniques that allow people to communicate through Images and Spaces, and
not through words alone.
FORUM-THEATRE — Music is the organization of sound in time; plastic arts, the organization of colours and lines in the
space; theatre, the organization of human actions in time and space. Theatre is a representation and not a reproduction of
social reality. FORUM-THEATRE presents a scene or a play that must necessarily show a situation of oppression that the
Protagonist does not know how to fight against, and fails. The spect-actors are invited to replace this Protagonist, and act
out - on stage and not from the audience - all possible solutions, ideas, strategies. The other actors improvise the reactions
of their characters facing each new intervention, so as to allow a sincere analysis of the real possibilities of using those
suggestions in real life. All spect-actors have the same right to intervene and play their ideas.
NEWSPAPER THEATRE - This system of 12 techniques represents the first attempt that was made to create the Theatre of the
Oppressed, by giving the audience the means of production rather than the finished artistic product. They are devised to
help anyone to make a theatrical scene using a piece of news from a newspaper, or from any other written material, like
reports of an political meeting, texts from the Bible, from the Constitution of a country, the Declaration of Human Rights,
etc.
INVISIBLE THEATRE – To be a citizen does not mean merely to live in society, but to transform it. If I transform the clay into a
statue, I become a Sculptor; if I transform the stones into a house, I become an architect; if I transform our society into
something better for us all, I become a citizen. INVISIBLE THEATRE is a direct intervention in society, on a precise theme of
general interest, to provoke debate and to clarify the problem that must be solved. It shall never be violent since its aim is
to reveal the violence that exists in society, and not to reproduce it. INVISIBLE THEATRE is a play (not a mere improvisation)
that is played in a public space without informing anyone that it is a piece of theatre, previously rehearsed. INVISIBLE
THEATRE is the penetration of fiction into reality and of reality into fiction, which helps us to see how much fiction exists in
reality, and how much reality exists in fiction.
LEGISLATIVE THEATRE - Theatre is not enough to change reality, we all agree. LEGISLATIVE THEATRE is the utilization of all
forms of the Theatre of the Oppressed with the aim of transforming the citizens’ legitimate desires into Laws. After a
normal Forum session, we create a space similar to a Chamber where laws are made, and we proceed to create a similar
ritual of law-making, following the same official procedure of presenting Projects based on the spect-actors interventions,
defending or refusing them, voting, etc. At the end, we collect the approved suggestions and try to put pressure upon the
lawmakers to have those laws approved.
“We believe in Peace, not in Passivity!” - Augusto Boal, Rio de Janeiro 2004
GR. 11 & 12 DRAMATIC ARTS - 20TH CENTURY THEATRE MOVEMENTS
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POSTMODERNISM
WHEN, WHO, WHAT
PLAYS?
WORLD VIEW,
PURPOSE & THEMES








KEY FEATURES

PLOT & STRUCTURE

CHARACTER


DIALOGUE /
LANGUAGE
AURAL & VISUAL
ELEMENTS










1980s onwards
USA: Sam Shepard, Robert Wilson, Wooster Group
UK: Carol Churchill; Sarah Kane, Ben Elton
SA: Marthinus Basson; Robyn Orlin; Brett Bailey; Magnet Theatre
Rejection of all certainties; no absolute truths (grand narratives);
anti-definition; anti-categorisation; multiple
realities/voices/choices
Demonstrating that there is no such thing as absolute truth; to
reveal contradictions, uncertainties & ironies;
Self-conscious (self-aware) reflection on process of making art
Deconstruction of grand narratives and existing notions of reality;
upturning myths; pop-culture & mass-media celebrated;
Fragmented; collage-like; blurring of boundaries between high and
low art; free mixture of styles; irreverence; celebration of chaos
and uncertainty; no answers given – death of the author –
audience as meaning maker; multiple interpretations allowed &
encouraged
Deconstruction of narrative structures; fragmentation; non-linear;
number of different directions; no straight lines
Incongruity, anachronistic (out of appropriate time or space)
Characters may be composites of many aspects; fragmented
rather than coherent of well-rounded; can be aware of audience;
multiple roles can be played by same actor, or multiple actors can
play same character;
Incongruous characters;
Not psychologically drawn
Overlapping dialogue; loss of punctuation
Intertextual references, borrowing, layering
Nonsensical, playful, disruptive, surprising
Pastiche, collage, juxtaposition
Music-driven at times; mixture of forms and genres; overlapping
dialogue
Mixture of art forms and genres: dance, theatre, multi-media,
sculpture all combined; performance art
Visually stunning; experimental; mixture of many ideas and forms
Experimental
GR. 11 & 12 DRAMATIC ARTS - 20TH CENTURY THEATRE MOVEMENTS
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KEY THEATRE PRACTITIONERS COMPARED
A comparison of the techniques of Stanislavski, Brecht & Grotowski
KONSTANTIN
STANISLAVSKI
BERTOLT BRECHT
JERZY GROTOWSKI
WORLD
VIEW
&
INTENTION
 Truthful depiction of
reality; Theatre not merely
for entertaining but to be
useful to society;
 To draw in audience
emotionally to focus on
society’s problems.
 Anti-war, anti-materialism,
anti-capitalism
 Dialectic, didactic
 Wants to make audience
critically aware and inspire
change.
SUBJECT
MATTER
 Social problems, domestic
issues particular to social
classes
(middle/working/poor)
 Fourth wall observed.
 Audience observes from a
distance; auditorium
darkened; audience
voyeuristically witnesses a
slice of life
 Filled with arguments to
arouse audience’s thinking
 Presents man as capable of
change
 Direct addressing of
audience.
 Abolition of illusion.
 Audience encouraged to
“Stop goggling like a bunch
of romantics”
 Theatre holy space in
which actors and audience
confront one another.
 To disturb and move
audience on deep level
 Innermost core of
personality through a
dissecting process;
 A self-penetrating process
 National or religious myths
and taboo topics are
attacked to show the truth;
classical text reinterpreted
 Intimate actor & audience
relationship.
 Actors and audience share
the same space.
 Actor is holy and poor.
 Audience part of
action/experience
 Small, intimate spaces,
often found spaces; acting
arena or simple large room
or small hall, prefers not to
use stage; restricted
numbers
 Focus on intimate
actor/audience
relationship
 Revealing layers of truth,
intense collaboration
ACTOR/
AUDIENCE
RELATIONSHIP
STAGE
SPACE
 Usually Proscenium stage &  Uses traditional stages, e.g.
box set.
Proscenium and Thrust but
keeps curtains open; scene
 Set represents an interior
changes visible
with three walls. An
environment represented.
DIRECTING
STYLE
 Director guides.
 Detailed PRE-planning.
 Based on Stanislavski’s
system.
 Extensive rehearsals.
 Accurate period details.
 Setting, costume, make-up,
lighting used to create
authentic atmosphere
DESIGN
ELEMENTS
 Director as part of a team,
ensemble work.
 Clear, carefully constructed
stage pictures.
 Multiple settings in one
location
 Scenes given headings on
posters/projections
GR. 11 & 12 DRAMATIC ARTS - 20TH CENTURY THEATRE MOVEMENTS
 Stripped to bare essentials.
 Costume reflects type, not
character.
23
A comparison of the techniques of Stanislavski, Brecht & Grotowski
KONSTANTIN
STANISLAVSKI
BERTOLT BRECHT
JERZY GROTOWSKI
ACTING
STYLE
 Psychologically drawn
 Given circumstances; Units
of thought; Objectives;
Magic if; Imagination; Sense
memory; all movements
motivated by thought
 Actor in role, not in
character.
 The actor as demonstrator.
 Actor is main source of
distancing (alienation).
 Use of gestus
TECHNICAL
ELEMENTS
 Machinery to sustain
illusion.
 All stage mechanics hidden
behind proscenium arch, in
the wings, behind borders
& teasers.
 Actively breaking illusion
 Stage mechanics displayed
 House lights might be left
on
AUDIENCE
RESPONSE
 Suspension of disbelief.
 Seeing confirmation of their
own bourgeois values.
 Desire to see great acting.
 To be alerted to the need
for change.
 To observe rather than
empathise.
STRUCTURE
 Linear development of plot.
 Based on well-made play.
 Freytag’s pyramid.
LANGUAGE
 Vernacular
 Exactly suited to character’s
class
 Episodic
 Events with little need for
sequence; moves in
irregular curves
 Used in combination with
Gestus to establish
character type.
 Juxtaposes poetic, prosaic &
comic
 Use of body and voice to
shock audience.
 Actor vulnerable, sacrifices
self; Catharsis
 Intense physical training:
physically supple and a
trance-like spiritual element
is present
 Actor gives themselves
totally; each expressions
through sound and
movement is of his/her own
psychoanalytical language
 No illusion, only the actor.
 All sounds made by actor
 Minimal lighting can be
used.
 Imaginative interpretation
of objects e.g. the floor =
the sea; a table = a boat
 To be moved and changed
by the visceral (instinctive)
experience.
 To recognize archetype.
 To achieve catharsis.
 Usually takes form of
ritualistic procession
KEY
WORDS
 Truthful, authentic
 Feelings and emotions
stimulated
 Stylized, didactic
 Thoughts and actions
stimulated
GR. 11 & 12 DRAMATIC ARTS - 20TH CENTURY THEATRE MOVEMENTS
 Can be poetic
 Actors help create text.
 Relies on spontaneous
improvisations and
workshopping; limited
dialogue
 Complex spiritual
experience
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