Comp 3

  1. Weimar Clasicism
    • Formed by philosophies of Goethe and Schiller
    • Theatre should transform ordinary experience rather than create the illusion of real life
    • verse, conventional structure, simple settings, precise rhythmic speech
    • Lead spectators to realm of ideal truth
  2. Goethe
    • (1749-1832)
    • Greatest literary figure of Germany
    • Visit to Italy in 1786-8 leads him to reject sturm und drang
  3. Schiller
    • (1759-1805)
    • after first play, The Robbers, forbidden to write, and fled to Manneheim (1782)
    • 1797-1798 devotes himself to historical studies
    • 1799 becomes involved with Goethe in the operations of the theatre at Weimar
  4. Goethe and actors
    • Had to transform Weimar troupe into professionals
    • local accents and dependence on improv so severe, Goethe had to set up a set of rules to help actors achieve appearance of grace, dignity, and ease
    • 6-10 rehearsals, but Goethe worked with individual actors on interpretation, sometimes for months
    • So concerned with rhythm he would sometimes beat time like a conductor
    • wanted to make actors so comfortable with the rhythms they would appear natural
    • divided stage into squares to aid in blocking
  5. Goethe as proto-director
    • sought to create harmonious and graceful picture rather than illusion of reality
    • intelligent and euphonious line readings
    • lead spectator toward ideal beauty
    • required strict adherence to his directions, creating integrated productions and ensemble
    • could be the same with the audience, reprimanding them for not responding in appropriate ways
  6. Weimar theater
    • remodeled 1798
    • 27 feet wide, 30 feet deep
    • 500 seat auditorium
    • repertory included musicals and opera and popular drama as well as drama admired by Goethe and Schiller
  7. Weimar after Shiller
    • Shiller dies in 1905
    • Goethe's interest becomes sporatic
    • Goethe loses control of the troupe to Caroline Jagemann and resigns in 1817
    • Weimar troupe actors to parts in other ensembles and spread Weimar approach throughout Germany
  8. Romaticism
    • Appears around 1800
    • first formally in Germany
    • Beyond earthly existence is a higher truth: everything was created by an absolute being and as such participates in an eternal truth
    • All creation has a common origin: careful observation of any part can give insight into the whole. The closer something is to its natural state, the more likely it embodies a fundamental truth
    • Human existence composed of dualities: body and soul, physical and spiritual, temporal and eternal: Humanity is divided against itself, and strives for the ideal, but is limited by physical existance. Art important because it can free man from this struggle and can embody the eternal in a physical form.
    • Perception of the unity behind endless diversity takes an exceptional mind: The artist and philosopher are paramount.
  9. Romantic Closet Drama
    Many romantics felt that the demands of the physical stage were too restrictive, so wrote closet dramas, meant only to be staged in the imagination.
  10. Romantics and Structure
    • Rejected unities and separation of drama into genres
    • Idolized Shakespeare, but to many he symbolized freedom from restraint
    • Romantic works tended to be episodic and disorganized.
  11. August William Schlegel
    • 1767-1845
    • Used Classicism and Romanticism as ends on a spectrum
    • Considered Shakespeare greatest of all dramatists
    • Schlegel's translations remained staples of German Repertory well into the 20th century
    • Uninterested in structure, considering Mood, Emotion, and Character to be the main ingredients of drama
    • Plot considered contrivance to keep the story moving
  12. Ludwig Tieck
    • 1773-1853
    • Interested in Elizabethan drama even before he connected with other romantics
    • Perehaps the most responsible for introducing German romantics to Shakespeare
    • Wrote a number of "fantastic comedies" like Puss in Boots: break theatrical illusion and call attention to theatrical medium and contemporary artistic taste
  13. Heinrich von Kleist
    • 1777-1811
    • Considered best German dramatist of the early nineteenth century
    • No success in his own time, but collected works published by Tieck in 1821
    • The Prince of Homburg his masterpiece
  14. Young Germany
    • Emerged in 30s-40s
    • in response to failed revolutions of the 30s
    • Scorn abstraction and romantic idealism
    • Focused on social awareness and relevance to contemporary affairs
    • Too political for censors so not produced unil 1848 revolution, but so tightly tied to their time that they didn't last long in the repertory
  15. Georg Buchner
    • 1813-1837
    • only 3 plays: Danton's Death, Leonce and Lena, and Woyzeck(not completed)
    • Because outlook and techniques ahead of their time, became popular when revived by Max Reinhardt in 1913
  16. Later 19th century German Drama
    • Freidrich Hebbel most highly regarded after 1840: conflicts between old and new order, those who represent new order destroyed, but paves way for their ideals to succeed.
    • German Drama enters  decline and doesn't really recover until 1890s
  17. Organization of German-language theater
    • Decentralized: few stand-outs, but well supported across the board
    • Berlin and Vienna stand out among the others
  18. Berlin
    • National Theatre in Berlin dominant in early 1800s
    • perhaps because of Iffland, who was in charge until his death in 1814
    • Iffland mounted the most sumptuous productions in Germany
    • accelerated trend toward historical accuracy
  19. Vienna
    • After 1815, Burgtheater in Vienna became primary in German states
    • Josef Schreyvogel leads from 1814-1832
    • Restricted repertory to spoken-word drama
    • Theatre's repertory should reflect a nation's culture
    • Sought middle ground between sparce Weimar style and spectacular Berlin style
  20. Historical Accuracy in early-1800s Germany
    5 generalized periods: classical, medieval, 16th century, 17th century, and mid-18th century
  21. Acting in Germany
    • Goethe's and Schroder declined after 1830 and replaced by star system
    • Conflicting acting styles emerged, though all large. Raw emotion & tortured portraits vs. senstive voice and heroic gesture
    • Tieck advocated for open stage and emotionally honest acting
    • Does not get a chance to put this into action until 1940s. After Tieck's passing, his style retired.
  22. Napoleon and theater
    • Opposed the then-dominant partisan drama
    • Granted subsidies to major troupes, assigned by genre
    • Most minor troupes closed, few exceptions restricted to melodrama and pantomimes
    • favored classical drama
  23. Melodrama
    • term comes into use after 1800
    • though all elements long present, works of Rene Charles Guilbert de Pixerecourt gave them their typical form
    • popularity of works of Pixerecourt and Kotzebue establish melodrama as dominant form of 19th century
    • could be understood and enjoyed by the least sophisticated theatergoers
    • brought in massive popular audiences
  24. Characteristics of Melodrama
    • virtuous hero or heroine relentlessly hounded by a villain and is rescued from seemingly insurmountable difficulties only after undergoing a series of threats
    • episodic story after a short expository scene
    • each act ends with a strong climax
    • all important act happen onstage
    • spectacle and local color
    • plot devices including disguise, abduction, concealed identity, and fortunite coincidence
    • poetic justice: villains are always defeated
    • servant or companion provides comic relief
    • Music provides additional entertainment and underscores emotion of the scene
  25. French Romantic Drama and Melodrama
    • Popularity of melodrama prepared audience for departures from neoclassical form
    • Romantic Drama differed from melodrama only in a few ways: five acts instead of three, avoided happy endings, more dependent of poetic diction
  26. French Romanticism
    • Of Germany described romanticism suppressed until fall of Napoleon in 1814
    • Hugo's introduction to Cromwell (1827)
    • 1827 Charles Kemble's troupe of English actors preform Shakespeare in Paris
    • W.C. Macready appears in English romantic plays in 1828
    • by 1829 French romantics making their way into repertory of Comidie Francaise
    • lifting of censorship and easing of genre restrictions in 1830 allows Romanticism to come to the fore
    • finds home in Boulevard theaters where it mingles with melodrama
    • falls off in popularity, failure of Hugo's Les Burgraves in 1843 marks end
  27. Intro to Cromwell
    • Called for abandonment of the unity of time and place
    • denounced strict separation of genres
    • advocated placing drama in specific historical milieus
    • art should go beyond idealized nature to include both sublime and grotesque
  28. Hernani
    • 1830 at Comedie Francaise
    • broke with neoclassicism
    • Made innovations in Alexandrian verse
    • Used vocabulary considered beneath tragedy
    • broke unities of time and place
    • showed deaths and violence on stage
    • shifted moods and mixed humor with seriousness
    • marks beginning of French romaticism
  29. Theatre of common Sense
    • Short-lived compromise between neoclassicism and romanticism
    • bridges the gap between romanticism and realism
  30. Society of Dramatic Authors
    • 1829
    • established contracts for authors: specified maximum delay between acceptance and production of a script, required minimum 3 productions, allowed a cessation of rehearsals for ten days for author's revisions, calculated royalties between 10 and 15 percent
    • French playwrights first to collect royalties for each performance
  31. Melodrama and Directing
    • Melodrama initiated demand for direction in France
    • Complex plotting and spectacle demanded careful management of staging
    • Pixerecourt, father of French melodrama, insisted on control over staging of his works
    • In addition to staging special effects, Hugo also concerned with actor's stage positions
    • previously actors formed straight line or semi-circle around prompter's box.
  32. Panorama and Diorama
    • Panorama: one large painting that surrounded an audience
    • Diorama: layered semi-transparent scenery and paintings that could change appearance by manipulating light
    • "Midnight Mass at St, Etienne-du-Mont" showed empty church gradually filling for midnight mass, then emptying again
    • Panorama adapted for stage: moving panorama on rollers that could appear to show movement, replaced sky borders and became painted version of cyclorama, replacing entire scene save downstage scenery
  33. Box set in France
    by 1820 not uncommon, but furnishings cut-outs until 1850s
  34. Russia in the early 1800s
    • Heavy censorship prevents most Romantic plays from being produced
    • Romanticism primarily found in patriotic spectacles
    • Repertory dominated by melodrama and musical plays
    • More realistic drama appears in 30s with Gogol: The Inspector General (1836)
    • Production encourages other Russian authors to move to a more realistic style
  35. English theaters in the early 1800s
    • Patent theatres enlarged
    • more minor theatres opened
    • Patent theatres: increased offerings of minor drama, evening extended to five or 6 hours; two full-length plays, an after piece and variety acts
    • Minor theatres: could not play regular drama. Melodrama and Burletta allowed.
    • Burletta: light comic opera: so ambiguous included any play 3 acts or fewer with at least 5 songs per act
    • Melodrama: regular plays could be counted if divided into 3 acts and music added. Othello said to have been performed as a melodrama by adding a chord struck on the piano every 5 minutes
  36. Melodrama in England
    • Very popular in early 1800s
    • 36 of Ketzebue's plays translated
    • Native authors Matthew Gregory Lewis and Thomas Holcroft
    • Most exotic in time or place
    • Pierce Egon begins trend of contemporary place and local with Tom and Jerry, or Life in London.
    • While most melodrama appealed to unsophisticated audience, Knowles and Bulwer-Lytton created works both effective and critically interesting
  37. John Phillip Kemble
    • Took over Drury lane in 1788, then moved to Covent Garden in 1803
    • Oversaw opening of rebuilt Covent Garden in 1809, when he tried to raise prices to help recover costs of construction there were riots until he reversed himself
    • Advocated historical accuracy, but inconsistently
  38. Sarah Kemble Siddons
    • Greatest tragic actress of her day
    • "classical" style; statliness, dignity, and grace
  39. Edmund Kean
    • Perfected romantic style of acting
    • Emphasized realism of emotion and put little value in grace and dignity
    • Never a regular member of a company after 1820s, instead worked as a star actor in various productions
  40. Early 18th century acting
    • Rehearsals perfunctory
    • actors lined up across the stage, and actors moved toward center stage each time they had an important speech
  41. William Charles Macready
    • (1793-1873)
    • Talented actor who moved into management because he was dissatisfied with theatrical conditions
    • Covent Garden 1837-1839
    • Drury Lane 1841-1843
    • One of the early directors: perscribed stage positions for actors, full acting during rehearsals rather than saving himself
    • consistently sought historical accuracy in both costumes and scenery
    • Put much emphasis on Shakespeare, and worked to restore original texts
    • not commercially successful, so gave up management in 1843
  42. Vestris
    • Popular performer of Burlesque and light comedy, but more important as a manager
    • managed Olympic from 1831-1839
    • close attention to all aspects of production and coordinated them into a whole
    • gave special consideration to spectacle, credited with introducing box set to England
    • Equipped sets as rooms in real life
    • realistic costumes
    • treated minor drama with respect previously reserved for classics
    • shortened over-long evenings bill, eventually to the one-play bill
  43. Major North American theatres in early 1800s
    • Philidelphia was dominant theatrical center until 1815: Chestnut Street Theater
    • New York: John Street Theatre
    • Boston: Federal Street Theatre
    • Charleston: City Theatre
    • Most companies and repertory English
  44. American theatre west of the 13 colonies
    • 1815 Samuel Drake creates touring circuit in the west: Scenery had to designed to fit many different demands, plays were adjusted to be playable by 10 person company who also performed backstage duties
    • Showboats conceived in the 1830s: 1836 first time steamboat used to tow a show-boat up and down stream
  45. East Coast theatre after 1815
    Number and size of theatres grow: by 1825 twenty resident troupes  and 35 by 1850
  46. Actors in early 19th century America
    • Edmund Kean visits US in 1820-21. Success lead to many other visiting actors from England.
    • Touring became a mark of distinction, and soon few good actors were left in troupes
    • until around 1830 majority of actors in America were English born and trained
  47. Edwin Forrest
    • First American actor to win lasting fame
    • major attraction by 1828
    • known for physically rigorous performances
    • established an American school of acting, sometimes called physical or heroic acting
  48. Chalotte Cushman
    • First American actress to win international fame
    • Went of London in 1845, and was immediately famous and soon considered best tragic actress in the English speaking world
    • like Forrest energetic and and kenetic performer, but intelligent line readings and emotional control won her greater following among more sophisticated audiences
  49. Early 19th century American plays
    • 2 major types: Native American and Yankee
    • Native American: presented sympathetically as the noble savage
    • Yankee character was a specialty comic character: symbol of American common man: simple, naive but upholding democratic principals and despising pretense
  50. African American in early American drama
    • African American specialty character: faithful servant or comic caricature
    • Popularity dates from about 1828 when "Jim Crow" song and dance introduced by Thomas D. Rice
  51. Minstrel Show
    • 1st part: performers arranged in semi-circle. Tamborine player at one end and pair of bones player at the other. These came to be called Tambo and Bones. Middle man acts as MC and exchanges jokes with Tambo and Bones between musical numbers
    • 2nd part: "olio" specialty acts and songs
  52. African Americans in early American Drama
    • 1821 first known company of African American actors in the US assembled in New York by William Henry Brown.
    • Presented theatrical performances at the African Grove, an outdoor tea garden and later at an indoor theatre
    • repertory included Shakespeare as well as first known play by an African American author, King Shotaway, written by Brown
  53. City Boy
    • New American role-type appeared in 1840s
    • Urban folk-hero
    • A Glance at New York (1848) introduced Mose the Bowery Boy
  54. Gas Light
    • !816 Chestnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia became first in the world to light the stage with gas
    • Until 1840s each theatre needed its own supply of gas
    • Control of intensity now possible
    • 1840s "gas table" made it possible to control all the lights from a single position
    • 1850s "fishtail" burner increases control and efficiency by controlling relationship of fuel to oxygen
  55. Limelight
    • invented in 1816 by Thomas Drummond
    • in addition to gas, required cyinder of compressed hydrogen and one of oxygen, directed against a column of lime which was heated to incandescence
    • placed under a hood and fitted with a lens, prototype spotlight
    • widely adopted by 1850s
    • required a separate operator for each instrument
  56. US theatre 1850-70
    • Spreads west as prospectors spread to the west coast
    • California, then other western states
    • Number of of resident companies grows throughout the nation
    • Uncle Tom's Cabin played for 300 performances in 52-53: this was atypical, but indicated a new trend toward long runs
    • Extended runs were usually of new plays, so repertory was tightened
    • In late 20th century, African Americans only allowed on stage in minstrel shows, where they would imitate white minstrel performers
    • Burlesque parodying popular plays, performers, or topical events among the most popular forms
  57. Combination company
    • Star actor with troupe could tour an entire production
    • started sometime in late 50s, accerated in the late 70s into the 80s
    • At first regional theatres attempted to keep resident repertory troupe between tours, but soon many of these troupes were dismissed
  58. Edwin Booth
    • John Wilks Booth's brother
    • 1863 Leased Winter Garden Theatre in New York
    • Gave best Shakespeare productions yet seen in America
    • Such lavish productions he was bankrupt by 1874
    • Considered by many historians the greatest US actor
  59. Agustin Daily
    • Under the Gaslight (1867)
    • 1869 leased Fifth Avenue Theatre
    • Contributed to the development of realism
    • realistic special effects: hero tied to the train tracks, heroine licked in stateroom of burning steamboat
    • Among the first to portray Native American as villain
    • helped establish director as a major force
    • retained control over every aspect of production: coached actors in interpretation, stage business, and blocking
    • Attracted many young actors and raised many of them to stardom
  60. Steele MacKaye
    • Established acting schools in America using the Delsarte method
    • Many stage inventions including elevator stage and realistic cyclone and stampede
  61. Bronson Howard
    • America's first professional dramatist
    • among first dramatists to receive royalty payments
    • 1891 founded Society of American Dramatists and Composers
  62. Burlesque in the 1860s
    • 1866, troop of ballet dancers stranded in New York incorperated into Burlesque show The Black Crook
    • Result was so popular it ran for 16 months
    • 1869 Lydia Thompson and her "British Blondes,"
    • Burlesque begins to emphasize the feminine form rather than parody
    • not until 1929 that the "striptease" added
    • Vaudeville rises in 1880s when Tony Pastor reshapes burlesque to make it family-friendly
  63. The actor in late 19th century US
    • Benefits abandoned for salary
    • most actors had to travel to New York to find work
    • Hired for run rather than season
    • received no salary during rehearsal and often stranded if productions closed on the road
    • now subordinate to both director and producer
  64. Dion Boucicault
    • 1841 London Assurance
    • during 1850s prefected basics of his melodramas: sentimentality, wit, sensationalism, and local color
    • rarely varied from winning formula except in details
    • popularized out of town tryout, opening plays in provinces before London
    • employed actors for run rather than season
    • first English playwright to achieve financial security from writing: plays so popular he could demand percentage of receipts; the royalty system gradually gained favor
  65. Popular English theatre 1850-90
    • pantomime, burlesque, and musical entertainments
    • Pantomime transforms from traditional short-form to full-length entertainment
    • burlesque-extravaganza most popular form at mid-century
    • as burlesque declines starting in 1870s, comic opera takes its place
  66. Gilbert and Sullivan
    • Start collaboration with Trial by Jury (1875)
    • 1881 Savoy built to house their plays
  67. Music Hall
    • developed out of music rooms in taverns
    • 1850 Charles Morton creates separate adjacent building to house entertainment
    • gradually entertainment house separates from tavern
    • Fare became acceptable to middle-class audience, sketches and short plays added, and famous actors and concert artists begin to appear
  68. Samuel Phelps
    • takes over Sadler's Wells, run-down theater known for aquatic dramas and pantomime.
    • Stages poetic dramas and becomes principal home of serious drama from 1844-62
    • reestablished faith that poetic drama could be commercially viable
  69. Charles Kean
    • Perfected pictorial realism
    • 1850 leased Princess theater
    • Brought fashionable audiences back to the theater
    • Queen Victoria requested theatrical performances from Kean for Windsor Castle and attended Princess's Theatre
    • Added short opening piece to offset late arrivals of fashionable play-goers
    • Continued trend toward "gentlemanly" melodramas
    • Developed antiquarianism further than any other English producer
    • provided printed list of authorities consulted for authenticity
    • "Illustrator" of Shakespeare: cut descriptive passages and replaced with spectacle, rearranged texts to avoid scene changes
    • Helped establish director as primary artist in theater: no stars
  70. Charles Fletcher
    • extended vogue for gentlemanly melodrama
    • popularized more realistic acting style
    • revived interest in box set
  71. The Bancrofts
    • Marie Bancroft leased Queen's theater, know as the "dust hole"
    • Renamed Prince of Wales's and opened in 1865
    • 1867 marries her leading man, Squire Bancroft
    • Primary playwright was Robertson, who also directed
    • Robertson-Bancroft style: domestic realism
    • Character revealed through minutiae of everyday life.
    • embraced long runs
    • abandoned benefits and raised salaries for actors
    • 1867 Caste among first in England to tour with full company, scenery, props
    • dropped curtain-raiser and afterpiece
    • helped establish matinees
    • Moved actors off the apron and behind the proscenium
  72. Auditorium design in late 1800s England
    • Benches in orchestra level gradually replaced with seats with backs
    • Balconies foreshortened so they no longer extended to the proscenium
    • smaller houses
    • structural steel and concrete construction allowed balconies to extend over pit without obstructing supports
  73. Henry Irving
    • Dominated English theatre 1880-1900
    • Manages Lyceum 1878-98
    • Lyceum productions climaxed trend toward pictorial realism
    • Copied "free plantation" style of Booth's theatre in New York: abandoned grooves in stage and achieved flexibility in scenery
    • Large set pieces could be changed up-stage behind a drop while a "short scene" is played down stage
    • Act curtain could also be used for set changes while entr'acte entertainment performed in front
    • Probably the first English producer to use stage lighting to artistic effect
    • First English producer to consistently darken auditorium
    • care for each element surpassed by care for integrated whole
  74. Electric Lighting
    • Edison's incandescent lamp invented in 1879, and changeover from gas in theaters begins almost immediately
    • 1881 Savoy first theater in London to switch to electric, by 1900 almost all English theaters had followed suit
    • electric lights still available only in low wattage, so supplemented by limelight
  75. Carbon arc
    • Developed in 1808, not widely used until 1880s, when electricity began to replace gas
    • each electrical pole attached to a stick of carbon, when brought close together current leapt between poles.
  76. Auguste Comte
    • Positive Philosophy and Positive Polity
    • Classified sciences according to simplicity, with sociology at apex
    • Sociology would be able to discover the causes of social problems and find the remedies
    • Metaphysical explanations of events and behavior must be abandoned in favor of material explanations based in observation and analysis
  77. Realism
    • First discernible around 1853 in France
    • Art must depict truthfully the real, physical world
    • since only the contemporary world can be observed directly, truth can be attained most fully through impersonal, objective observation and representation of the world around us
  78. Realism in Russia
    • appeared in Russian drama earlier than it did in the rest of Europe
    • Although major Russian plays of the late 1800s realistic, not the standard fare of public theatres, which favored melodrama, farce, musical drama, and romantic spectacles
  79. Ivan Turgenev
    • A Month in the Country written in 1850, but nor produced until 1872
    • major concern is inner life of the characters
    • use of domestic detail to reveal inner turmoil
  80. Alexander Ostrovsky
    • Russia's first professional playwright and the first to confine himself exclusively to drama
    • often credited with creating a peculiarly Russian Drama
    • major work draws on the like of the middle class
    • Enough Stupidity in Every Wise Man (1868)
    • The Thunderstorm (1859)
    • instrumental in founding Russian Society of Dramatic Authors and Composers
  81. Theatrical conditions in Russia to 1900
    • 1882 abolish monopoly of state theatres in Moscow and St. Petersburg
    • Although monopolies violated frequently by private clubs, public theatres expanded rapidly after monopolies broken
    • Russians slow to adopt accuracy in costume and setting
  82. German and Austrian theatre to 1900
    • few German dramatists of note in the second half of the 19th century, but this was little felt because of Shakespeare, Lessing, Goethe, and Shiller were prominent in repertory and Kleist began to assume prominence as well
    • German resident companies did not decline as much as in other countries, probably because of state support
    • by 1875 historical accuracy accepted as ideal by almost all German troupes
  83. Scribe
    • between 1811 and 1861, contributed 300 pieces
    • most remembered as popularizer of the "well-made play": combination and perfection of devices common since the Greeks
    • careful exposition and preparation
    • cause-to-effect arrangement of incidents
    • building scenes to a climax
    • skillful manipulation of withheld information
    • startling reversals
    • suspense

    sacrifice depth of characterization to thought and intrigue
  84. Alexandre Dumas fils
    • came to public attention with Camille (1852)
    • wrote thesis-plays about current social problems
    • in most message clearly stated by raisonneur (author's mouthpiece)
    • Considered himself a realist, his duty was the betterment of society
  85. Emile Augier
    • Started in theatre of common sense, but then adopted realistic style
    • characteristic plays comedies of manors depicting struggle between impoverished nobility and ambitious middle-class
  86. Victorien Sardou
    • one of the most popular playwrights 1860-1900
    • true heir to Scibe, applied well-made play formula to all genres
  87. Theatrical Conditions in France to 1900
    • 1864 new law remove all remaining strictures on genre
    • long runs desirable: at least 100 performances to be successful
    • provincial theatre so overtaken by touring companies that Paris was the only important theatrical center by 1900
    • increasing demand for realism
  88. Montigny
    • credited for being first to treat directing as art
    • put table downstage to prevent actors from standing in semi-circle
    • made actors sit around the table and talk to each other rather then audience
    • furnished room like real room and placed props around the room to motivate movement
  89. Francois Delsarte
    • set out to demonstrate that the laws of the stage are discoverable and can be formulated precisely
    • divided human experience into physical, mental, and spiritual; and related these to each thought, action, and emotion
    • divided body into parts and sought to describe how each part can be used to communicate particular emotions, attitudes, or ideas
  90. Saxe-Meiningen
    • Georg II succeeds to throne in 1866
    • depended heavily on Luwig Chronegk who became director in 1871
    • First played outside of Meiningen in Berlin in 1874
    • After Berlin success engaged in a long series of tours
    • By 1890, when it ceased touring, most respected company in the world
    • Historically accurate, but in service of the script, not for its own sake
    • did not allow actors to adjust their costumes
    • authentic props, furniture, and costume pieces
    • used bold colors in scenic design rather than pastels, consistently used stage floor as part of the design
    • Greatest strength of the troupe was ensemble acting
    • all supernumeraries were members of the troupe not cast in lead roles
    • effect of masses achieved by keeping settings small enough that the cast spilled out into the wings
    • Each member of crowd scene given individual lines and movement and coached in small groups by experienced actors
    • long rehearsal periods
    • Each element selected to contribute to an overall artistic effect
  91. Ibsen
    • Appointed resident dramatist and Norwegian National Theatre in 1851
    • Imortant early works: Brand (1866) Peer Gynt (1867)
    • Abandoned verse in 1870s because it was unsuited to creating the illusion of reality
    • A Doll's House (1879) and Ghosts (1881) in particular shocked conservative readers
    • Wrote about controversial topics and made received ideology the problem to be overcome
    • Ibsen's plays contribute much to realism: eliminated asides and other non-realistic conventions and was careful to motivate all actions
    • In later works symbolism used by imbuing ordinary objects with significance above their literal meaning
    • Forwarded idea that deama should be a source of insights, a creator of discussion, and a conveyor of ideas
  92. Zola
    • Naturalist drama rises in France: heredity and environment are major determiners of human fate
    • influenced by The Origin of Species (1859)
    • 1) human behavior determined by heredity and environment
    • 2) at least partial blame for undesirable behavior had to be taken by society that allowed sub-optimal heredity and environment
    • 3) Progress inevitable, but could be hastened by scientific method and technology
    • 4) Humans become part of, rather than separate from, the natural world
    • Naturalism as conscious movement in 1870s lead by Emile Zola
    • Believed that literature must become scientific
    • dramatist should depict social ills so they can be corrected
    • should demonstrate cause and effect
    • Some of his followers even more extreme demanding plays be "slice of life"
  93. Antoine
    • Clerk at a gas company who started his own company, the Theatre Libre
    • Sucess of first program, including Zola's Jagues Damour, won him the support of Zola and other influential services
    • Second program attended by major critics, and in 1887 Antoine had quit day job
    • Open only to members, and so exempt from censorship
    • many pieces produced at Theatre Libre those that had been refused license elswhere
    • Produced controversial foreign works like Ibsen and Tolstoy as well as French
    • Experimental techniques as well as scripts: In The Butchers hung actual carcasses of beef
    • 4th wall taken to an extreme, plays rehearsed in room and only later was it decided which wall would be removed
    • furniture would be placed along the curtain line
  94. German Realism
    • Strong push toward realism in 1880s, but lacked independent theatre that could avoid censorship
    • Freie Buhe (free stage) organized in Berlin in 1889
    • Used mainly professional actors employed at the major theatres, so performed on Sunday afternoons
    • Little influence over production technique, but gave hearing to otherwise forbidden plays
    • most important German Realist Gerhart Hauptmann The Weavers (1892) remarkable for its group protagonist of workers driven to revolt
  95. English Realism
    • First steps toward realism Jones and Pinero, who's plays were a bit provocative, but not enough to warrant censorship
    • Push toward more provocative drama came from translations of Ibsen
    • Independent Theatre founded in 1891 by J.T. Grein
    • Subscription-based to avoid censorship, first two productions, Ibsen's Ghosts and Zola's Therese Raquin created much publicity, making general public aware of the new drama
  96. Shaw
    • Wrote regularly for theatre from 1892 until his death
    • unlike most new writers wrote primarily comedies
    • Enjoyed persuasion and having characters arrive at perceptions that remove barriers to happy endings
    • Used paradox to make both characters and audiences to reassess values
  97. Moscow Art Theatre
    • Although Turgenev, Ostrovsky, and Pisemsky had moved playwriting in a realistic direction, production had not followed
    • Moscow art Theatre founded in 1898 by Konstantin Stanislavsky and Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko
    • Opening work, Tolstoy's Tsar Feodor Ivanovich notable painstaking reproduction of Russia in 1600 and ensemble acting
    • Really takes off with Checkhov's The Seagull
  98. The Syndicate
    • 1896 handful of men established exclusive contracts with major theatres along key touring routes
    • by 1900 effectively controlled theatre in America
    • Most important member Charles Frohman, only one directly involved in theatrical production
    • guided by popular opinion and star power
  99. Innovations at the end of the 1800s
    • revolving stage, first in Munich in 1896
    • rolling platform stage, Royal Opera house around 1900
    • elevator stage in Budapest Opera House in 1884
  100. Wagner
    • Rejected contemporary trend toward realism
    • Dramatist should be a mythmaker than the recorder of domestic affairs
    • true drama concerned with ideal world
    • believed music gives greater control over performance than possible in spoken drama
    • sought to create "master art work" that unified all elements of art
  101. Festival theatre
    • Wagner's theatre finished in 1876
    • Classless theatre: main part of auditorium stepped rows of seats, no side boxes or center isle; rear single large box with gallery; auditorium shaped like a fan
    • orchestra pit hidden from view
    • auditorium darkened 
    • stage framed by double proscenium arch
    • aimed toward total illusion
  102. Nonrealism in France
    • Interested in the unknowable and relative
    • Instead of accurate representation, artists should be valued for novelty and experimentation
    • Truth cannot be represented directly, but must be evoked through symbols, legends, myths, and moods
    • Principal spokesman Stephane Mallarme
  103. Theatre d'Art and theatre de l'Ouevre
    • founded in 1890 by Paul Fort
    • independent theatre modeled on Theatre Libre for nonrealism
    • mostly negative critical reviews
    • Theatre de l'Ouevre takes over for Theatre d'Art in 1893
    • reduced scenery to simple compositions of line and color
    • focus on creating mood and style
  104. Maurice Matterlinck
    • Intruder (1890), The Blind (1890), The Deathe of Tintagiles (1894).
    • Best known of early work Pelleas and Melisande (1892) plot involves triangular relationship, but notable for mood of mystery and heavy use of symbols
  105. Alfred Jarry
    Ubu Roi (1896)sometimes called first absurdist drama
  106. Benjamin Franklin Wedekind
    • Spring's Awakening (1891)
    • intermingling of naturalism and symbolism
  107. Oscar Wilde
    • "Aesthetic" movement: rejected the idea that drama should be utilitarian or that the popular audience is a suitable judge of merit.
    • Should seek to make life more like art rather than the other way around
    • The Importance of Being Earnest (1895)
Author
cgaier
ID
318540
Card Set
Comp 3
Description
Prep for comp 3 on 19th century theatre history at Indiana University
Updated