Realism Time Period

Realism

Taylor Farmer & Mary Kathryn Hill

1B

Major contributions

As the 19th century progressed, there were several contributing elements to Realism, which came together in the late 19th century. Social, and political ideas, playwrighting, and some spectacular theatrical innovations helped bring Realism to the theatre. The idealism of Napoleon/Fraternity/Equality was exciting at the turn of the century, but within a few years was replaced by strict governments. With the dawn of the industrial age people moved to the city into crowded conditions. Disease and poverty were common. "Life is a sewer" became an outcry.

Major Works with Genres & Summary of one play

Realism Time Period

Description of Style

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.

19th-century realism is closely connected to the development of modern drama, which, as Martin Harrison explains, "is usually said to have begun in the early 1870s."

A good working definition of, "Style", is how something is done. Theatrical styles are influenced by their time and place, artistic and other social structures, as well as the individual style of the particular artist or artists. As theater is a mongrel art form, a production may or may not have stylistic integrity with regard to script, acting, direction, design, music, and venue.

video

Bio of Major Contributor

www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7GidbGt-fs

Lee Strasberg was born in Budanov, Ukraine, on 17th November, 1901. The Strasberg family emigrated to the United States in 1908. Strasberg lived in Lower East Side of New York and as a teenager he began acting in plays. Strasberg studied in Moscow under the Russian director, Konstantin Stanislavsky, who had developed a system of training and rehearsal for actors which bases a performance upon inner emotional experience.