THE DEVELOPMENT OF LITERARY MOVEMENTS

EXPRESSIONISM NATURALISM REALISM BOURGEOIS DRAMA (MELODRAMA)

Bourgeois Drama (melodrama) Early 19th century, both Melodrama and Romanticism were somewhat exotic, focusing on historical or extraordinary events while idealizing or oversimplifying characterization. Beginning in the late 1800s and gaining momentum through the early 1900s, Realism and Naturalism emphasized character-based plotting, realistic acting, and somewhat minimalist scene design. It was a reaction against the histrionic, artificial theatre that was popular at the time. Realism By 1830s in England the stylistic elements and characteristics of both turned towards contemporary life and domestic matters and seemingly serious thematic concerns. Emphasis was shifted from spectacle and sensation to the recreation of local colour and domestic detail. This required new staging practices that laid the groundwork for much modern stagecraft. The box set came into voguea setting depicting three walls of a room with the implication that the audience was observing through an imaginary fourth wall. Three-dimensional furniture replaced the painted representations used previously. Because the sets were no longer mere background, the performers acted as if they were in the real environment of the setting, seemingly unaware of audiences presence. Bits of business developedinstead of assuming a pose and reciting lines, actors created realistic actions, appropriate for the character and situation. More and more attention was paid to accuracy and consistency in costume and setting. Playwrights too paid more attention to realistic detail.

As plays found a larger audience, economic practices altered. Where once actors were part of a repertory company that might perform dozens of plays in continuous rotation over the course of a season, the long run now became more popular. Actors were hired for a single production, to play as many consecutive performances as an audience would pay for. The Well-Made Play-ibsen The French equivalent of the bourgeois drama was the so-called well-made play. Similar to melodrama, the well-made play had a highly crafted formula, or structure. The specifics of each play varied, but the structure or plot outline remained basically the same:

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a careful exposition, a series of incidents leading to a climax, the skilful use of dramatic devices such as reversals, hidden information, important propsa letter, for example, falls into the wrong hands and must be retrieved, and contrived suspense.

Naturalism and Social Criticism By the mid-19th century the interest in realistic detail, psychological motivation for characters, and concern for social problems led to Naturalism in drama. Turning to science for inspiration, the Naturalists felt that the goal of art, like that of science, should be the betterment of life. Dramatists and players should, like scientists, objectively observe and depict the real world. Influenced by the theories of Charles Darwin, the Naturalists believed that heredity and environment are at the root of all human actions and that the drama should illustrate this. The Romantic concern for spiritual values was abandoned. The result of this was drama that focused on the seamier elements of society rather than on the beautiful or ideal. Naturalists sought to present a slice of life, put on the stage with art. Just as drama was moving towards increasing realism in its depiction of the external world, the pioneering 19th-century study of psychology led to increasing realism in the psychological motivation of characters. Late 19th-century playwrights developed three-dimensional characters placed in realistic settings and situations. The leading playwrights of this style were the Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen and the Swedish author August Strindberg, often considered the founders of modern drama. Their plays deal with such social problems as venereal disease, the sanctity of marriage, and womens rights, but they are also convincingly motivated studies of individuals. In their hands the Naturalistic drama became increasingly introspective. The Irish-born writer George Bernard Shaw was influenced by Ibsen but more in the area of social commentary than in psychological realism. Expressionist Drama The Expressionist movement was popular in the 1910s and 1920s, largely in Germany. It explored the more violent, grotesque aspects of the human psyche, creating a nightmare world onstage. Scenically, expressionism is typified by distortion and exaggeration and a suggestive use of light and shadow. Individualized characters were replaced by stock types or allegorical figures, much as in the morality plays, and plots often revolved around the salvation of humankind. In the visual arts, artistic style in which the artist depicts not objective reality but the subjective emotions that objects or events arouse.