19th Century Realism
1875-1915
Realism
• Drama was to involve the direct observation of human
behavior
• Use contemporary settings and time periods
• Uses temporary life and problems as subjects
• No subject matter should be excluded from the stage
• Economic injustices, sexual double standards, unhappy marriages,
disease, religious hypocrisy
• People move and talk in a manner similar to that of our everyday
behavior
• This is accomplished through realistic settings and natural speech
• It holds the idea of the stage as an environment, rather than as an
acting platform. It presents a theatrical verisimilitude (true to life) that
would more objectively portray life as recognizable to the audience.
• Not always a neat and happy ending
According to the Realist view…
• General precepts:
• Truth is verified through science
• The scientific method—observation—would solve
everything
• Scientific methodology can apply to human problem
solving.
• Art had as its purpose to better mankind
• Purpose of drama was to call the audience’s attention
to social problems in order to bring about change
Realism in Art
Courbet’s Spinner
Daumier’s Third Class Carriage
Millet’s Gleaners
Monet’s The Beach at St. Addresse
Realism Plays
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A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen
The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov
Uncle Vanya by Anton Chekhov
Major Barbara by George Bernard Shaw
A Doll’s House (1879)
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The play focuses on Nora, a woman
trapped in a marriage in which she is
treated by her husband as an object – a
doll – as she was treated by her father
previously.
When she innocently gets into trouble
over a financial arrangement by using
forgery, her husband Torvald does not
stand behind her, even though it was to
save him. She discovers her unequal
status in her home when her forgery is
revealed in a letter sent to Torvald by a
fired employee, Krogstad. Even when
Krogstad takes back the letter because he
is to marry Nora’s friend Mrs. Linde,
Nora realizes that she can no longer live
with Torvald in a relationship in which
she is treated like a child. The play
closes with Nora leaving her home,
slamming the door behind her.
Constantin Stanislavski
• Founder of the Stanislavskian Technique or
Method Acting
• “The actor must first of all believe in everything that
takes place onstage, and most of all, he must believe
what he himself is doing. And one can believe only in
the truth.”
• He developed a series of exercises and techniques
for the actor which is still being used today by
famous actors in films and on stage.
Stanislavskian Techniques
• Relaxation
• Unwanted tension has to be eliminated to attain a state of physical
and vocal relaxation
• Concentration and Observation
• Importance of Specifics
• A performer should never try to act in general, he said, and should
never try to convey a feeling such as fear or love in some vague
way
• In life, we express emotions in terms of specifics
• Inner Truth
• The “Magic If” – through it we can imagine ourselves in virtually
any situation
Stanislavskian Techniques
• What? Why? How?
• Everything on stage must have a purpose
• Through Line of a Role
• Finding the superobjective of a character
• What is it, above all else, that the character wants during the
course of the play?
• Ensemble Playing
• Many performers tended to “stop acting” or lose
concentration when they were not the main character in
a scene, which weakens the sense of ensemble
Naturalism vs. Realism
• Naturalism was an extreme form of Realism
where all characters were the product of their
environment.
• Decisions were made based on what nature had
caused.
• If a person stole bread, it was justified because he was
hungry.
• Emile Zola (Theres Raquin), and Gorky (The Lower Depths)
are noted Naturalists
• NOTE: Production values are similar to Realism.
Two Kinds of Naturalism
• Naturalism A
• Playwright takes a troubling social problem and puts it on stage without
any attempt to change things or alter anything so the audience can look at it
objectively, scientifically, and come to a solution ourselves
• The artist does not suggest or propose a solution; they only put it on
display so the audience has to find the answer for themselves
• OBJECTIVITY is the point of Naturalism A – the author does not get to
mediate between the stage and the audience, only observes and presents
• It is also impossible, because artistic objectivity is a myth
• We live in an era of Naturalism A, with reality TV – there is a sense of
objectivity, an illusion of it
• Example: House of Sand and Fog
• Problem with Naturalism A
• Presumes the audience feels the same way and presumes objectivity can be
shown
Two Kinds of Naturalism
• Naturalism B
• Objectivity disappears – the artist takes a situation that is
morally despicable and puts it on probably worse than it is and
doesn’t do anything to soften it up so that people will think
that it is awful
• No moral center anywhere
• moral center is presumed to be in the audience
• The Protagonist is awful, the objective is horrible and most of
the time they achieve it – mostly villains or victims
• Teaches through a bad example
• Playwright: David Mamet
• Example: The Shape of Things by Neil Labute
• Problem with Naturalism B
• Deals with people behaving horribly and getting away with it
and no one in the play mediates the piece
Realism v. Naturalism
• A realist attacking naturalism:
• Ibsen: “M. Zola descends to the gutter to
wallow in it. I descend to the gutter to clean it
up.”
• Zola's answer is more of “I'm putting it
there so the audience is the raisseneur; the
audience should go, 'oh, that's interesting.
We can fix this problem if we...'”
Vsevelod Meyerhold (1874-1940)
• Antirealist director in Russia
• Wanted to shatter the “fourth wall”
• Searched for found spaces – streets, factories, schools –
to present his work
• Founded biomechanics, which emphasized external
physical training and performance style
• An actor’s body could be trained to operate like a machine and
through physical actions, performers could evoke desired
internal responses in themselves and their audience
• Used constructivist sets, which used skeletal
frames, ramps, stairways and platforms not meant
to indicate a specific location
Constructivist Set