Symbolism In Theatre

Symbolism In Theatre

By:Brooklyn Jones

Early Symbolism ?

As theatre is often a blend of the visual and performing arts working in harmony, many of the sets and props in symbolist plays were also anti realistic/non-naturalistic and were often used to symbolise emotions or values in society. A huge throne could symbolise power, a window placed in a set could symbolise freedom in the outside world or a simple action by a character could symbolise a greater ideal in the context of the play.

In 1890 French poet Paul Fort opened the Theatre d’Art where many symbolist plays were performed. The primary symbolist playwrights included Belgian Maurice Maeterlinck and Frenchmen Auguste Villiers de L’Isle-Adam and Paul Claudel. Other playwrights who dabbled in the form included Swede August Strindberg (most closely associated with expressionism in the theatre), Irishman W.B. Yeats and American Eugene O’Neill.

A symbol implies a greater meaning than the literal suggestion and is usually used to represent something other than what it is at face value. Symbolism in the theatre can be achieved via characters, colour, movement, costume and props.

Well symbolism was not so early really , Symbolism was a late nineteenth-century art movement of French, Russian and Belgian origin in poetry and other arts. In literature, the style had its beginnings with the publication Les Fleurs du mal by Charles Baudelaire. The characteristic emphasis on an internal life of dreams and fantasies have made symbolist theatre difficult to reconcile with more recent trends.Symbolists believed that art should represent absolute truths that could only be described indirectly. This Means they wrote in a very metaphorical and suggestive manner, endowing particular images or objects with symbolic meaning

Where do you think the symbolism is in this song ?

A Little Realism

Even more Symbolism

More Symbolism

The symbolist thought the mysteries of life should fill our stages.In symbolist theatre, objects used as symbolic images , rather than the concrete actions of realistic life filled the stage. They believed that questions about the reasons for living , mans place in the universe and the potential of the humans spirit should be the basis for theatre. They believed that by using styles far removed from the images and dialects of daily living , their plays would speak a stronger clearer message . The symbolic use of props and set pieces , the mood of the symbolist play is often more dream like than it might be in reality

Symbolism began with a group of French poets in the late 19th Century and soon spread to the visual arts and theatre, finding its peak between about 1885 and 1910. French poet Jean Moreas published the Symbolist Manifesto in 1886 that greatly influenced the entire movement in the visual and performing arts.Symbolism in art implied a higher, more spiritual existence and aimed to express emotional experiences by visual means.In the theatre, symbolism was considered to be a reaction against the plays that embodied naturalism and realism at the turn of the 20th Century. The dialogue and style of acting in symbolist plays was highly stylised and anti realistic/non-naturalistic.

Realism was the most popular style of theatrical productions ,The followers of the symbolist disagreed with the realist artist about what proper subject matter for a play should be.The character in a symbolic play is DIFFERENT form one who has one in a realistic play.