Realism_TSMS

Realism Theresa Stratmann

In the earlier years of theatre plays centered around royalty and Gods, with script often written in verse and acting highly stylized. The staging and costumes were not elaborate, and so the play depended greatly on the imagination of the audience. Characters often directly addressed the audience and a chorus acted as commentary. In this manner, theatre did not strive to be realistic. Yet with the growth of democracy, which empowered the middle and lower class, and budding interests in fields examining the human condition like philosophy, sociology, and science theatre became another way to examine the human condition and so it turned toward a more realistic approach. Playwrights like Henrik Ibsen, August Strindberg, and Anton Chekhov began writing plays about middle and lower class people and their everyday struggles. Directors like Konstantin Stanislavsky wanted actors to portray their characters more realistically, drawing on their own personal experiences to enrich their acting. Sets and costumes became extremely realistic and detail oriented. Playwrights let their characters speak in everyday vernacular, moving away from verse. Whole rooms would be recreated on stage. Actors did not acknowledge the audience. A play was performed as if the audience was looking in on a house where one of the walls was removed (the concept of the “fourth wall” in theatre). This sort of realism is still very much a part of modern day theatre.

The set of videos we watched in class portray how this realism has changed over time. We began by watching plays from the earlier periods – The Cherry Orchard, Hedda Gabler, and Miss Julie. Here we see the considerable effort put into creating a realistic visual appearance – all the houses are meticulously furnished with every possible detail and characters are dressed in period appropriate attire. In Miss Julie, we even see the woman cooking an actual meal, and the man actually eating and drinking. The dialogue, although not written in verse, is still very formal and clean. Hedda may insult Aunt Julie’s hat, but she does not call her a vulgar name. Everything is done in taste. We see in these plays the emphasis of the middle and lower class and their everyday problems. The Cherry Orchard is about a family loosing their cherry orchard. Hedda Gabler is about the struggles of a 19th century woman to live within the confines of a middle-class society. In Miss Julie we see the servants discussing how a daughter of a nobleman should act. No longer were the gods and royalty the main subjects.

The next set of plays move on to those of the early American playwrights interested in realism. These plays also put much effort into a realistic visual appearance, again with detailed sets and costumes. Now, though, the plays broach into more vulgar, common aspects of characters. The main character in The Iceman Cometh cusses, acknowledges drinking problems and frequently getting in trouble. In the Glass Managerie the son struggles with having to work a job he hates. He gets into a heated argument with his mother – both yelling, the mother often grabbing or slapping him. This would never have been an acceptable portrayal of mother, son conduct in earlier days. We even see the son undress to his underwear and put on a new set of clothes, a kind of realism that would have been socially unacceptable to present in earlier years. In Arthur Miller’s play, also about the struggles within a family, mundane things like the sons shaving together are talked about. Gods and royalty would have been above such trivial daily occurrences, but they are a very real part of our world. By including the mundane, having harsher language, not censoring life, these plays seem more realistic. The earlier plays seem to still be filtered by that need to maintain a certain amount of propriety. But every day life is rough around the edges, and that’s what these plays begin to highlight.

In the last set of plays life’s rough edges are fully embraced, but where we start to really see a new manner of approach is in the theatre productions. Now, there is less emphasis on re-creating every detail of the characters’ world. Set design is realistic, but minimalistic. In Orleanna we have the professor’s desk, his brief case, and the student’s chair, but not every shelf and picture in his office. In Fences, we see a porch, but not a full house. Much more emphasis is put on the realistic acting than on the realistic setting. Our attention is meant to focus on the actors, not counting how many books are on the bookshelf.

Realism has progressed much over the years. That which began as new form of exploring the human condition is now an essential part of modern day theatre. And so theatre brings to us the human condition - raw, vibrant, uncensored, and meticulously explored.

***Much of the first paragraph is what I gained from reading our text book, A Creative Spirit by Stephanie Arnold.***