Introduction to

Theatre Online Course

Dr. Eric W. Trumbull, Professor,
Theatre/Speech

Last update: May 17, 2002

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Realism
Resource: Wilson/Goldfarb, Chapter 14

Objectives for this lesson:

Students will examine:

Background

The Emergence of Realism

Beginnings of the Movement

Writers of Realism

Other Movements:

o Naturalism
o The Independent Theatre Movement

Background
Realism in the last half of the 19th-century began as an experiment to make
theater more useful to society. The mainstream theatre from 1859 to 1900 was
still bound up in melodramas, spectacle plays (disasters, etc.), comic operas,
and vaudevilles.
But political events—including attempts to reform some political systems—led
to some different ways of thinking. Revolutions in Europe in 1848 showed that
there was a desire for political, social, and economic reform. The many
governments were frightened into promising change, but most didn’t
implement changes after the violence ended.

Technological advances were also encouraged by industry and trade, leading to

an increased belief that science could solve human problems. But the working
classes still had to fight for every increase in rights: unionization and strikes
became the principal weapons workers would use after the 1860s—but success
came only from costly work stoppages and violence. In other words there
seems to be rejection of Romantic idealism; pragmatism reigned instead. The
common man seemed to feel that he needed to be recognized, and people
asserted themselves through action.
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The Emergence of Realism

3 major developments helped lead to the emergence of realism:

1. August Comte (1798-1857), often considered to be the "father of

Sociology," developed a theory known as Positivism. Among the
Comte’s ideas was an encouragement for understanding the cause and
effect of nature through precise observation.
2. Charles Darwin (1809-1882) published The Origin of Species in 1859,
and creators a worldwide stir which exists to this day. Darwin’s essential
series suggested that life developed gradually from common ancestry
and that life favored "survival of the fittest." The implications of
Darwin's Theories were threefold:

1. people were controlled by heredity and environment

2. behaviors were beyond our control
3. humanity is a natural object, rather than being above all
else

3. Karl Marx (1818-1883) in the late 1840’s espoused a political

philosophy arguing against urbanization and in favor of a more equal
distribution of wealth
These three stated ideas that helped open the door for a type of theatre
that would be different from any that had come before.

Even Richard Wagner (pronounced "Rih-Kard’ Vahg’-ner") (1813-1883),

while rejecting contemporary trends toward realism, helps lead toward a
moderate realistic theatre. Wagner wanted complete illusionism, but wanted the
dramatists to be more than a recorder—he wanted to be of "myth-maker."

True drama, according to Wagner, should be "dipped in the magic founding of

music," which allows greater control over performance than spoken drama.
Wagner wanted complete control over every aspect of the production in order
to get a "gesamtkunstwerk," or "master art work."

Because Wagner aimed for complete illusion, even though his operas were not
all realistic, many of his production practices helped lead the way for realism.
For instance the auditorium was darkened, the stage was framed with a double
proscenium arch, there were no side boxes and no center aisle, and all seats
were equally good. Further, he forbade musicians to tune in the orchestra pit,
allowed no applause or curtain calls, and strove for historical accuracy in
scenery and costumes. Therefore, even though Wagner’s operas are fantastic
and mythical, his attempts at illusionism helped gain public acceptance for
realism.
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Beginnings of the Movement:

Realism came about partly as a response to these new social / artistic
conditions. The "movement" began in France and by 1860 had some general
precepts:

1. truth resides in material objects we perceived to all five senses;

truth is verified through science
2. the scientific method—observation—would solve everything
3. human problems were the highest were home of science

Art—according to the realist view—had as its purpose to better mankind.

Drama was to involve the direct observation of human behavior; therefore, the
trust to use contemporary settings and time periods, and it was to deal with a
temporary life and problems has subjects.
As already mentioned, realism first showed itself in staging and costuming.
Three-dimensional details had been added by 1800. By 1850, theater
productions years historically accurate settings and constant and details, partly
as a result of romantic ideals. But it was harder to get realism accepted widely.

The Duke of Saxe-Meiningen helped unify productions; Richard Wagner

wanted theatre to fuse the emotional and the intellectual, though his operas
were highly mythical and fantastic.
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Writers of Realism
In France, to Playwrights helped popularized the idea of realism but both clung
to two inherent traditional morality and values:

Alexandre Dumas fils (the fils stands for "son," and designates the
"illegitimate son of Alexandre Dumas") – (1824-1895)

His novel, Camille, was dramatized in 1849. About a "kept woman," the play
was written in prose, and dealt with contemporary life. Eventually, he wrote
"thesis plays," about contemporary social problems.

Emile Augier (1820-1889) also wrote plays about contemporary conditions.

In Norway: Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906) is considered to be the father of modern

realistic drama. His plays attacked society’s values and dealt with
unconventional subjects within the form of the well-made play (causally
related).

Ibsen perfected the well-made play formula; and by using a familiar formula
made his plays, with a very shocking subject matter, acceptable. He discarded
soliloquies, asides, etc. Exposition in the plays was motivated, there were
causally related scenes, inner psychological motivation was emphasized, the
environment had an influence on characters’ personalities, and all the things
characters did and all of things the characters used revealed their socio-
economic milieu. He became a model for later realistic writers.

Among the subjects addressed by Ibsen in his plays are: euthanasia, the role of
women, war and business, and syphilis.

Some of Ibsen's Plays:

  Ghosts—1881—dealt with the concept of the sins of the father
transferring to the son, resulting in syphilis.
 Pillars of Society – 1877 – dealt with war and business.
 Hedda Gabbler – 1890 – a powerful woman takes her life at the end of
the play to get away from her boredom with society.
 A Doll’s House – 1879 – Nora leaves her husband Torvald and her
children at the end of the play; often considered "the slam heard around
the world," Nora’s action must have been very shocking to the Victorian
audience.

Later in life, Ibsen turned to more symbolic and abstract dramas; but his
"realism" affected others, and helped lead to realistic theatre, which has
become, despite variations and rejections against it, the predominant form of
theatre even today.
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Other writers of realism:

George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) – in England

Uncommon for his witty humor

Made fun of societies notion using for the purpose of educating and changing.
His plays tended to show the accepted attitude, then demolished that attitude
while showing his own solutions.

 Arms and the Man (1894) – about love and war and honor.
 Mrs. Warren’s Profession – prostitution.
 Major Barbara (1905) – a munitions manufacturer gives more to the
world (jobs, etc.) while the Salvation Army only prolongs of the status
quo.
 Pygmalion (1913) – shows the transforming of a flower girl into a
society woman, and exposes the phoniness of society. The musical My
Fair Lady was based on this play.

Anton Chekhov (1860-1904) – in Russia

Chekhov is known more for poetic expiration and symbolism, compelling

psychological reality, people trapped in social situations, hope in hopeless
situations. He claimed that he wrote comedies; others think they are sad and
tragic. Characters in Chekhov’s plays seem to have a fate that is a direct result
of what they are. His plays have an illusion of plotlessness.

 The Seagull (1898).

 Three Sisters (1900) – we did the show here last year; about three sisters
who want to move to Moscow but never do.
 The Cherry Orchard (1902)

Again, his realism has affected other Playwrights, as did his symbolic meanings
in the texts of his plays and in the titles of his plays.
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Other Movements
Two other "movements" that developed concurrently with realism warrant our
attention, Naturalism and the Independent Theatre Movement. Each of these
had an influence on the developing realist movement.

Naturalism
While Ibsen was perfecting realism, France was demanding a new drama based
on Darwinism:

1. all forms of life developed gradually from common ancestry,

2. evolution of species is explained by survival of the fittest

The implications of Darwin’s ideas seemed to be that 1) heredity and

environment control people; 2) no person is responsible, since forces are
beyond control; 3) the must go to society; 4) progress is the same as
improvement/evolution; it is inevitable and can be hastened by the application
of the scientific method; 5) man is reduced to a natural object.

France had been defeated in the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-71, ending

Napoleon III’s empire, and making France a Republic. Attitudes shifted: the
working man had few privileges, it appeared, and socialism gained support. By
1900, every major country in Europe had a Constitution (except Russia); there
was therefore a strong interest in the plight of the working class. Science and
technology became major tools for dealing with contemporary problems.
Naturalism became a conscious movement in France in the 1870’s; Emile Zola
(1849-1902) was an admirer of Comte and an advocate of the scientific
method. Literature, he felt, must become scientific or perish; it should illustrate
the inevitable laws of heredity and environment or record case studies. To
experiment with the same detachment as a scientist, the writer could become
like a doctor (seeking the cause of disease to cure it, bringing the disease in the
open to be examined), aiming to cure social ills.

Zola’s first major statement came in a novel, Thèrése Raquin, which was
dramatized in 1873; his preface states his views. He also wrote a few treatises
about naturalism in the theatre and in the novel: he wanted art to detect "a scrap
of an existence."

Even though Thèrése Raquin failed to adhere to most of the principles of

naturalism, except in the setting (it was mostly a melodrama about murder and
retribution), his followers were even more zealous. The most famous phrase we
hear about naturalism is that it should be "a slice of life." We often tend to
forget what a later French writer stated should be included with that phrase: "…
put on the stage with art."

Naturalism, as it was interpreted, almost obliterated the distinction between life

and art. As you can imagine, there is a serious lack of good naturalistic plays
and embodying its principles, has it is virtually impossible to do. Henri Becque
(1837-1899) most nearly captured the essence of naturalism in two of his plays,
The Vultures (1882) and La Parisienne (1885), both of which it dealt with
sordid subjects, were pessimistic and cynical, had no obvious climaxes, had no
sympathetic characters, and progressed slowly to the end. However, Becque
refused to comply with suggested changes when the show was first produced in
a conservative theatre, so naturalism was still not really accepted.
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The Independent Theatre Movement

It would take André Antoine and the Théâtre Libre – the beginnings of the
Independent Theatre Movement – to make naturalism and realism more
acceptable.

Antoine (1858-1943) has become known as the father of naturalistic staging.

He had little acting or theatre Experience—he was a clerk in a gas Co. and
work in an Archer theatre—and when he wanted to produce a dramatization of
a Zola novel, the amateur groups refused.

So he founded the Théâtre Libre (Free Theatre), first program was a success
and by the end of 1887 he was famous, and worked in the theatre till 1914. The
Théâtre Libre used a subscription basis—productions were open only two
members—so his theatre was exempt from censorship. His theatre did many
plays that had been refused licenses other places (for instance, Ghosts had been
banned in much of Europe). While some of the plays tended to reverse morality
—repelling many and helping to lead to the idea that naturalism was depraved
—key paved the way for greater freedom in established theatres. The Théâtre
Libre also began producing at least one foreign work per year, introducing a
world theatre to France.

Antoine’s production techniques were innovative. He had seen the Meiningen

troupe and was influenced to produce authenticity: real beef carcasses hanging
on stage; the "box set" was used so that "the fourth wall" was adhered to
constantly (he popularize the terms and the ideas—legend has it that he
arranged rooms as they would be, and then later decided what wall to
"remove"); he discouraged declamation in favor of more natural acting;
replaced footlights with more natural lighting; emphasized ensemble acting;
and adhered to his belief that each play had its own environment.

Antoine had many problems: as actors became well-known, they left the
company; his high standards left him always in debt; and his theatre did only
three performances of any production. By 1894, he left the Théâtre Libre.

Eventually, he opened the Théâtre Antoine in Paris in 1897, all fully

professional company, and then later became the director of all fully-
modernized state-subsidized theatre. His influence was undeniable in helping
the acceptance of realism/naturalism and in the development of the independent
theatre movement.

The Independent Theatre Movement developed in other countries as well. For

instance, in Germany, many small theatres had opened up buying 1890 in
Berlin, but were severely limited by censorship in their choice of plays. Most
had been influenced by the Meiningen troupe—some advocated realism, while
others advocated severe naturalism. But these theatres lacked focus until the
development of the Independent Theatre Movement.

The Freie Bühne (Free Stage) was founded in Berlin and 1889. Unlike
Antoine’s theatre, the Freie Bühne was democratically organized, with officers
and a governing council. Otto Brahm (1856-1912), a drama critic, became
president and guided the group. They gave performances on Sunday afternoons
(so that professional actors could be in them), had different performers in each
production, and exercised much less control over the theatrical productions. Its
major contribution was performing censored plays. The theatre dissolved in
1894, and Brahm was named head of the Deutches theatre.

The Freie Volksbüehne (People’s Theatre) was organized by socialist workers

in 1890 after a ban on such organizations had been lifted. Using the Freie
Bühne as it its model it produced plays on Sunday afternoons and sold its
tickets keep.

Shortly after that, another similar theatre was formed; both groups merged
before World War I, and had a combined membership of 70,000. The Workers
Theatre Movement flourished in Germany and Austria, and built a broad-based
theatre audience.
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Last update: May 17, 2002