Chapter 7 – The Modernist Temperament: 1885-1940
Terminology
Modernism
Théâtre de l’Oeuvre
Expressionism
“Synthetic” drama
Cubism
Max Reinhardt
Robert Edmond Jones
The Group Theatre
Alienation
Surrealism
Symbolism
Scrim
Futurism
Dadaism
Adolphe Appia
Expressionism
Thornton Wilder
Epic Theatre
The Berliner Ensemble
Theatre of Cruelty
Maeterlinck
Lugné-Poë
Marinetti
Tristan Tzara
Edward Gordon Craig
August Strindberg
The Federal Theatre Project
Bertolt Brecht
Antonin Artaud
Peter Brook
Outline
I. BY THE LATE 1880S, A REBELLION AGAINST REALISM WAS EMERGING
A. One group of artists rejected the belief that art should seek to objectively represent human
behavior and the physical world, and substituted its own subjective visions, usually involving
some degree of abstraction and distortion
1. This rejection of the relationship between perception and representation is often considered
the beginning of the modernist temperament
2. Artists might now be valued for imaginative perception and formal innovation rather than
accurate renditions of recognizable subjects
II. SYMBOLISM
A. The first artistic movement to reject the traditional relationship between perception and
representation
1. Began in 1885
2. Argued that truth transcends objective examination
3. Truth can only be hinted at through a network of symbols that evokes feelings and states of
mind
4. Pelléas and Mélisande by Maurice Maeterlinck is perhaps the best known symbolist play
B. Symbolists chose their subjects from the past, the realm of fancy, or a mysterious present
1. They avoided any attempt to deal with social problems or environmental forces
2. They aimed to suggest a universal truth independent of time and place
3. Their drama tended to be vague and mysterious
C. The symbolists established independent theatres in which to perform their plays
1. Théâtre de l’Oeuvre – Paris, 1893, founded by Aurélien-Marie Lugné-Poë
2. Most important aspect of a symbolist production is mood or atmosphere
a. Often placed a “scrim” at the front of the stage so that the action would appear to take
place in a mist or timeless void
b. Color was chosen for mood rather than representational accuracy
c. Actors would chant lines and use unnatural gestures
3. Performances were so different that many audience members were baffled
4. Symbolism lost its appeal as a theatrical movement, but remains the 1st nonrealistic
movement
BOX – Symbolist Production
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The symbolist theatres rejected realism altogether
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The motto of the Théâtre d’Art was “The word creates the décor”

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Scenery was suggested through the use of drops or draperies
About the acting, one critic noted; “As if hallucinatory, they stare before them far, very
far, vaguely, very vaguely. Their voices are cavernous, their diction choppy.”
D. Symbolism also disrupted a pattern that had persisted since the beginning of theatre
1. In previous periods, the same conventions and approaches to production were used for all
plays within that period
E. When symbolism challenged realism and naturalism, two radically different sets of conventions
came into conflict
1. Prior to the 20th century artistic movements succeeded one another chronologically
2. In the 20th century, several movements existed simultaneously, each based on a separate set
of premises about the nature of truth
a. Realism
b. Expressionism c. Futurism
d. Dadaism e. Cubism
3. Each movement required its own set of conventions to embody its vision
a. Multiple views based on differing sets of values
4. Multiple sets of values is the most basic characteristic of the modernist temperament
F. Modernism influenced all of the arts
1. In the early 20th century, visual arts no longer depicted all details of the same picture as seen
from one eye-point
a. Picasso’s cubism
b. The attention shifted from content or subject to the innovative use of artistic elements
III. APPIA, CRAIG, AND REINHARDT
A. During the early 20th century, 2 theorists – Appia and Craig – were especially successful in
reshaping ideas about the “art of the theatre”
B. Adolphe Appia advocated the idea that artistic unity is fundamental but difficult to achieve
because of conflicting elements: the moving actor, the horizontal floor and the vertical scenery
1. He replaced flat, painted scenery with 3-D structures
2. Used steps, platforms and ramps to create transitions and greater compositional variety
3. Promoted the concept of the director as the supreme, unifying theatre artist
4. Advocated simplicity in scenery, costumes and lighting
C. Appia was also a major theoretician of stage lighting
1. He advocated the use of light from various directions and angles
2. Appia considered light the most flexible of all theatrical elements
a. It can change moment to moment to reflect shifts in mood and emotion
b. It unifies all other elements through intensity, color, direction, movement
3. The technology needed to implement his theories was just becoming available
D. Gordon Craig began his career as an actor in the English theatre
1. He denied that theatre is a fusion of other arts, and advocated theatre as a wholly
autonomous art
2. Argued that the basic elements of theatre – action, language, line, color and rhythm – should
be fused by a master artist
3. Suggested that actors could be replaced by puppets
4. Advocated simplicity in scenery, costumes and lighting
5. Replaced representational design with abstract structures that embodied the line, mass,
color, texture and mood appropriate to the dramatic action
6. Promoted the concept of the director as the supreme, unifying theatre artist
E. German director Max Reinhardt reinforced the influence of Appia and Craig
1. Reinhardt came to believe and treat each play as a new challenge demanding unique stylistic
solutions
a. In this way, plays of various periods and styles could be accommodated in one theatre
b. Thus a wide knowledge of dramatic literature and theatre’s past practices and
conventions became important tools for the director
i. Reinhardt built productions around elements significant to each play’s theatrical
context
F. Reinhardt’s method further enhanced the role of the director
1. The stylistic approach was the director’s choice to make
2. The director was the arbiter of all choices made by those involved in the production
3. The production should serve the script
4. He established eclecticism (in ways he never intended) and relativism as the dominant
directorial approach
IV. NEW ARTISTIC MOVEMENTS
A. The decade between 1910 and 1920 was one of unrest and upheaval
1. New artistic movements emerged, each with a new perspective on human experience and
ways of expressing this perspective
B. Filippo Tommaso Marinetti launched futurism in 1909
1. It viewed the speed and energy of the machine age as the key to an enlightened future
2. It sought to replace old art forms with new ones
a. Collage, kinetic sculpture, and “noise music”
3. It was contemptuous of drama that developed leisurely and failed to prompt active audience
involvement
C. The futurists proposed to replace existing drama with a “synthetic” drama that would compress
into a moment or two the essence of a full-length play
1. They advocated simultaneity and multiple focus
2. Sought confrontation with the audience
3. Futurism lost its appeal perhaps because it praised war as the supreme expression of the
aggressive life
BOX – Futurist Synthetic Plays
 The futurists’ desire to compress dramatic action into a brief moment is illustrated in
the sintesi, Synthesis of Syntheses, by Gugielmo Jannelli and Luciano Nicastro (ET,
page 176)
D. Dada, with Tristan Tzara as its principal spokesman, rejected the values that had provoked WWI
E.
F.
G.
H.
I.
J.
1. It sought to replace logic, reason and unity with chance and illogic
2. Used simultaneity and multiple focus
a. “Chance poems”
b. “Sound poems”
3. Recognized no formal barriers between art forms
Much of what the futurists and Dadaists did seems prankish, intended deliberately to provoke
others
1. Still, these nonrealistic styles aroused strong emotion and heated debate about:
a. How to define a work of art
b. The role of audience response
c. Art as an instrument of change
d. The need for innovation in art
e. The relationship of art to its culture
2. Their influence would resurface strongly after 1960
Expressionism emerged around 1910 in Germany
1. It sought to counter materialism and industrialism
2. It charged that the industrial age had turned humans into machines
3. Expressionists wished to reshape the world and achieve “the regeneration of man”
4. Unlike futurism and dadaism, expressionism emphasized the text and had a greater
immediate impact
Most expressionist drama focuses on how the human spirit has been distorted by materialist
values
1. Its protagonist is usually on a quest for identity, fulfillment or the means to change the world
2. The audience sees the world through the perspective of this protagonist - as warped by
materialism and industrialism
a. Walls may lean in threateningly
b. Color may reflect emotion
c. Movement and speech may be robotic
d. Several persons or objects may be identical in appearance
3. Typically, expressionism presented a nightmarish vision of the human situation
Some of August Strindberg’s plays are seen as forerunners of expressionism
1. In the preface to A Dream Play Strindberg wrote:
a. “The writer has tried to imitate the disconnected but seemingly logical form of the dream.
Anything may happen; everything is possible and probable. Time and space do not exist.
On an insignificant background of reality, imagination designs and embroiders novel
patterns: a medley of memories, experiences, free fancies, absurdities, and
improvisations”
Strindberg overcame the limitations of time, space, logical sequence, and appearance by
adopting the viewpoint of the dreamer
1. No logical transitions between events
2. Characters may transform into other characters
3. Widely separated places and times are telescoped
4. Many expressionists borrowed these techniques from Strindberg
Expressionism flourished in Germany, especially immediately after WWI
1. Major German expressionist playwrights - Georg Kaiser and Ernst Toller
2. Major American expressionist plays – Elmer Rice’s The Adding Machine, and Eugene
O’Neill’s “The Hairy Ape”
K. Eugene O’Neill is often considered the greatest playwright America has produced
1. O’Neill’s plays range through a variety of dramatic styles
V. “THE HAIRY APE”
A. “The Hairy Ape” derives its unity from its central theme – humanity’s frustrated search for identity
in a hostile environment
B. Yank, a stoker on an ocean liner, becomes unnerved when Mildred, a wealthy ship owner’s
daughter, refers to him as a “hairy ape.” This prompts Yank to question his identity and he
decides to take revenge on the steel and machinery that he previously thought he had power
over. After all his attempts have failed, he enters a gorilla cage at the zoo and the only creature
he imagined might understand and accept him, kills him
C. Yank is symbolic of modern humanity in an industrialized society – trapped in an existence where
individuals are little better than cogs in the industrial machine
D. Only a few of the characters in “The Hairy Ape” have names
1. Overall, O’Neill seems to suggest that all human beings have been distorted
a. The workers seem like animals and the rich have become “gaudy marionettes”
2. Yank is set off from the other characters because he is the only one who recognizes the need
to seek a coherent relationship between himself and his environment
E. “The Hairy Ape” is representative of both the outlook and the techniques of expressionism
1. Many still believed in absolute values and considered the modernist temperament misguided
and dangerous
VI. THE POSTWAR ERA
A. By the 1920s, modernism dominated “high” art both in Europe and America
1. The mass audience still preferred pre-modernist entertainment, and film fulfilled that need.
2. Between 1929 and 1939 approximately ⅔ of all theatres in the U.S. closed
B. In the U.S., the majority of those who attended live theatre still preferred some version of realism
1. Broadway audiences were not very tolerant of innovation
a. Arthur Hopkins’ “expressionistic” Macbeth, with set design by Robert Edmund Jones,
was a box office failure
b. Broadway producers thereafter adhered to modified realism
BOX – The New Stagecraft

The “new stagecraft” is the term used in the U.S. to describe the European
innovations of modernism, as seen in the works of Appia, Craig and others

In 1915, Robert Edmund Jones designed the scenery for The Man Who Married A
Dumb Wife, by Anatole France. His design is called the first American expression of the
“new stagecraft”

Lee Simonson and Norman Bel Geddes also designed in this mode

Simplification and suggestion were the hallmarks of new stagecraft design

Jones established the style that dominated the American theatre between the two
world wars
C. In addition to O’Neill, a number of other American playwrights gained international recognition
after WWI
1. Maxwell Anderson
2. Elmer Rice
3. Paul Green
4. Robert Sherwood
5. Lillian Hellman
6. Thornton Wilder
V II.
THE FEDERAL THEATRE AND THE GROUP THEATRE
A. The economic depression of the 1930s brought a unique development in American theatre – the
Federal Theatre Project
1. It was first time the government financially supported theatre in the U.S.
2. Part of the Works Progress Administration from 1935-39
3. The Federal Theatre Project created the Living Newspaper
a. Plays that explored a specific problem, along with its causes and possible solutions
b. These plays advocated social reform and corrective legislation
B. During the years between the two world wars, Stanislavsky became a major influence on
American acting
1. American Laboratory Theatre (A.L.T.) was founded by former students of Stanislavsky in
1923
2. The Group Theatre was founded by former students of A.L.T. in 1931
a. Modeled on the Moscow Art Theatre
b. For 10 years it was one of the most respected theatre companies in the U.S.
c. Its members actively promoted Stanislavsky’s system in the U.S.
V III.
EPIC THEATRE
A. Epic theatre developed in Germany during the 1920s
1. It was associated with playwright Bertolt Brecht
a. Brecht sought to make audiences evaluate the socioeconomic implications of what they
saw in the theatre
b. He sought means to encourage the audience to watch actively and critically
B. One such method was “alienation” - distancing the audience from stage events so they could
view them critically
1. To achieve this distancing, Brecht used many conventions that were initially strange but
have since become common practice
a. He revealed the theatre’s means to remind the audience they were in a theatre watching
one version of the events
i. Lighting instruments were left unmasked
ii. Scenery was fragmented rather than fully completed
iii. Musicians were visible to the audience
iv. Captions, maps or other images were projected onto screens
v. Ropes suspending objects were clearly visible
vi. Actors sang and spoke directly to the audience
C. Brecht sought to achieve alienation by distancing the story either through time or place
1. He wanted to make the differences between the past and present readily apparent
D. Brecht further sought alienation through his handling of the various theatrical elements
1. He opposed the notion of each element reinforcing the others in a unified whole
2. Instead, he advocated that each element make it own comment on the events
a. Disparity of the elements would then arouse alienation
E. Brecht adopted a number of structural devises to create alienation
1. Wished to call attention to the knots that tied the scenes together
a. Used captions, songs or other devices to emphasize breaks in the action
F. These conventions may suggest that Brecht was a heavy-handedly didactic, but he was also
intent on entertaining
1. For alienation to be effective, one must first engage the audience empathetically before
pushing it away for a more critical appraisal
G. Brecht called his theatre “epic” because he thought it had more in common with the narrative
tradition of epic poetry than with dramatic traditions
IX. THE GOOD WOMAN OF SETZUAN
A. The Good Woman of Setzuan is a parable distanced by setting it in China
1. The prologue demonstrates the irony that permeates the piece
2. Brecht suggests not only that economic need is the root of all evil, but also that the solution to
human problems is not to be found in divine injunctions
B. The gods are looking for a good person whom they find in a kind-hearted prostitute named Shen
Te. They enjoin her to remain good, but she explains that without money she won’t be able to
both survive and stay good. Shen Te receives the money she needs, but others take advantage
of her goodness and threaten to ruin her until she disguises herself as a male cousin, Shui Ta,
who suppresses all humanitarian feelings. Eventually, Shui Ta takes over and those who relied
on Shen Te’s goodness accuse him of murdering her. When the Gods return to judge the case,
Shen Te reveals herself and her predicament. But the gods leave without truly helping her to
resolve the problem. In the epilogue, the audience is encouraged to provide a solution.
1. The action focuses on the conflict between good and evil as seen in the protagonist’s two
personae
C. The Good Woman of Setzuan alternates short and long scenes
1. The short scenes break up the action and comment on the action
2. Brecht telescopes events and eliminates transitions
D. Brecht’s structural techniques are explained in part by his belief that scenes should be clearly
separated as one means of creating alienation
1. The social content of each scene (gestus) can be expressed in one sentence
E. Brecht oversimplifies characters because he is principally concerned with social relationships
1. Some characters are designated by social function
2. Characters are concerned with attaining selfish goals or sustaining a dogmatic view
F. Today, many of our most familiar theatrical conventions derive in large part from Brecht
1. No front curtain
2. Fragmented scenery
3. Visible lighting instruments
X. ARTAUD AND THE THEATRE OF CRUELTY
A. Artaud’s Theatre of Cruelty focused on relieving those impulses buried in the unconscious mind
B. Artaud for a time was a member of the surrealist movement
1. Surrealism emphasized the importance of the unconscious
a. Surrealists believed significant truths are buried deep in the psyche
b. They promoted dreams, automatic writing and stream of consciousness
c. Surrealism made its greatest impact in painting (Salvador Dali, Magritte, etc.)
C. Artaud expressed his major ideas about theatre in The Theatre and Its Double
1. Used properly, theatre might free people from their destructive impulses
D. Artaud was certain that his goals could not be reached through appeals to the rational mind
1. He referred to his theatre as “theatre of cruelty” because it forced the audience to confront
itself
2. He proposed to replace established conventions with a “new language of the theatre”
a. Replacing proscenium-arch theatres with large, undivided spaces, placing the audience
in the midst of the action
E. Artaud wanted to abolish realistic scenery and replace it with symbolic costumes and properties
1. He wrote of a “vibrating, shredded” effect with pulsating changes for lighting
2. He favored great variety in sound; vocal sounds rather than “words”
3. The ultimate purpose was to develop a type of psychic shock therapy that might break
through the audience’s defenses and drag suppressed impulses to the surface
a. Once acknowledged and expressed, these impulses would be drained of their power to
create hatred and violence
BOX – Peter Brook and the Theatre of Cruelty

Artaud’s theories did not attract wide attention in England and America until Peter
Brook began to experiment with them in the early 1960s.

Brook and others experimented with sound, movement, rhythm and
pantomime as they sought to replace clichéd solutions with innovative, nonrealistic
means of expression


Brook also sought to replace typical plot development with discontinuous or
simultaneous scenes
Brook’s production of Marat/Sade is considered one of the most
successful and influential productions of the 1960s
F. As this broad survey of theatrical developments suggests, during the years between 1885 and
1940 the modernist temperament achieved dominance
1. Multiple artistic movements existed simultaneously and challenged each other
2. Diversity raised awareness that no single correct approach exists
3. Though elitist critics favored the avant-garde, the most popular mode in mainstream
theatre remained a modified realism