TS+Realism

The rise of realism in theatre mirror the appearance of a middle class in many plcaes around the world. With the focus of society moving from the aristocracy to the common man, plays began to examine the interactions between those common men. As the subject matter of plays began to focus on everyday life, playwrights began to make the scenery and dialogue in their play more true to life as well. Sets were constructed in a way that mirrored exactly what one would expect to find in that type of location in real life. House scenes were now cluttered with knick-knacks and the accoutrement of day-to-day life, and this caused the audience to feel as though they were getting a glimpse into one moment in the life of a family while watching the performance. The lighting of the set was also changed in order to make the performance seem like a scene out of the actual life of the characters, rather than a play. Instead of large, overheard lighting, scenes were lit with lamps and other items found within the structure where the scene was taking place. Naturally, as playwrights worked to make their plays feel like interactions between common people, they began to use dialogue written in the vernacular of the time and location were taking place, and the costumes were changed to common attire of the time. All of these factors worked to together to create a vignette of the lives' of the characters in a play, which allowed the audiences to relate to the performance in a way that was not possible before realism came to be the norm.

As realism has moved into contemporary times, it has evolved in many ways, while also remaining consistent. Generally, characters in contemporary realistic plays are still portrayed in a true to life way. They still speak in the vernacular of the setting of the play, and their costumes are still accurate representations of the time period. The main differences between modern realism and the realism of the past is in the set of the play and in the way that the play is presented to the audience. In many modern realistic plays, the back drop of the set is missing, and instead, only vital set pieces remain. Often, the playing area is bathed in an overhead light that highlights were the action is taking place and leaves the rest of the stage in complete darkness. The set pieces used in the performances are still what one would expect to find in real life; however, the overhead lighting technique gives the performance a sort of surreal feel. It feels almost as if the play is taking place in a void. The way the scenes are presented to the audience has also taken on some surrealism in modern realism. Audiences often enter scenes mid-way through the action, which means that the audience often is not aware of some details related to the scene at hand, or a certain scene is repeated many times with slight variations in the lines of actions of the characters with each repetition. These tactics create confusion among audience members that can contribute to a surreal feeling. As realism has moved into modern times, it has become less focused on creating a entirely realistic setting, and has shifted its focus more toward portraying realistic and deep interactions among the characters, with the set often serving in a symbolic capacity as the director sees fit. Although very different in implementation from the realism of the past, modern realism is still true to the same ideas of portraying the common man to the audience in a relatable way that realism sprang from.