Drama Appreciation \ Drama 1

Notes pp. 237-255

Chapter 9 Anti-Realistic Theatre

     Antirealism developed from Symbolism. Symbolism began in Paris in 1880s at the Paul Fort’s Theatre d’Art. It stressed artistic creativity and the raising of the common place people to the level of art.
Some symbolist plays and playwrights were:
Strindberg’s "The Dream Play" (1902), Shaw’s "Man and Superman" (1903), & James Barrie’s "Peter Pan" (1904).
THE ERA OF ISMS

     Following The World War (now called World War I) literary and artistic movements developed into two opposing facets of "isms". Some of the movements were positive, forward moving "isms" to promote growth after this destructive war. Others were negative movements depicting the horrors of the war and man’s inhumanity to man. Positive "isms" were futurism and constructivism which were mainly art movements in Russia and Germany. The following "isms" were mainly in France and Germany:
Dadaism, Impressionism, Expressionism, and Surrealism.      The following "isms" showed playwrights' and writers' views on the aftermath’s of the war.
1) Avant-Garde (Surrealism): Alfred Jarry’s "Ubu Roi"(1896, French) a savage satire on a foul mouthed King. This was the first time profanity was used on the stage.
2) Intellectualism: George Bernard Shaw’s "Man and Superman"(1903, English) a philosophical discourse.

"Bang".......World War I !

3) Expressionism: Eugene O’Neill’s "The Hairy Ape"(1921, Irish-American) shocking and gutsy. Shows human nature in an industrialized setting. A cultural criticism that is symbolic of the regimentation that makes men slaves of machinery.
4) Theatricalism: Luigi Pirandello’s "Six Characters in Search of an Author"(1921, Sicilian) this play asked what is reality, what is human identity, what is human destiny?
5) Theatre of Cruelty: Antonin Artaud "Jet of Blood"(1930, French) Artaud believed that theatre must shock the audience or theatre fails.

"Bang Boom"...............World War II

6) Philosophical Melodrama (Existentialism): Jean-Paul Sartre’s "No Exit" (1944, French) shows the infinite bleakness of life. Existentialists believe that all human interaction was a living hell. In this play three characters are in a bizarre inferno. Garcin, the only man, is a homosexual. Inez , one of the two females, is also homosexual. Estelle, the third character and second female, is a heterosexual nymphomaniac. n the last line of the play Garcin says, "Well, let's get on with it."

Notes pp. 255-274:

7) Theatre of Alienation: Bertolt Brecht (German) formulated this movement. He wanted to show man’s potential for growth and his ability to affect social change. Brecht wrote "The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny"(1930) and "The Good Woman of Sezuan" (1943). These were based on Dialectical Materialism (the basis of all Communist Marxist Theory) and faith in the human potential. Brecht wanted to divorce his audience emotionally from his plays. He wanted them to look at the plays politically and socially.
8)Theatre of the Absurd
Originally formulated by French novelist Albert Camus, who wrote The Myth Of Sisyphus. Camus said all action is futile. Eventually all human action will be destroyed or redone.
Playwrights are: Jean Genet (French), Eugene Ionesco (Spanish), Harold Pinter (English), Edward Albee (American), and Samuel Beckett (Irish-American), who wrote "Waiting for Godot"(1953), the most written about play in the English language. It explores human futility. All Beckett will say about this play is that it is a parable without a message. He also wrote "Happy Days" (1961) a compassionate comedy showing the irrationalities of human existence and the irony of everyday life.
End of Chapter 9

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