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RealismandNaturalism in The Theater - sp21
RealismandNaturalism in The Theater - sp21
THE THEATER
REALISM IN THE THEATER IN GENERAL
• "He (Duke George II) eventually convinced every director in Europe... that the fundamental
problem to be answered by the scene designer is not, What will my setting look like and
How will the actor look in it but What will my setting make the actor do?" (Braun 1986:38).
• Where is accountability if we
are exactly who we are based
on nature and nurture? Where
does human choice come in?
• In Preface to Miss Julie:
Strindberg goes so far as to say
“there is no such thing as
absolute evil,” implying that
everything is complex and has
multiple motives and influences
from both nature and nurture.
He also says the “Naturalist has
abolished guilt,” which goes
hand in hand with loss of First Miss Julie production, November 1906,
accountability. The People's Theatre, Stockholm. Manda
Björling as Miss Julie (left), Sacha Sjöström as
Kristin, and August Falck as Jean
PREFACE: OTHER IDEAS AND QUOTATIONS
• American theatrical producer, impresario, director,
and playwright
• Pioneer of modern stage lighting and stage effects;
stage naturalism… electric lights!!!!!
• Adapted Madame Butterfly into a play and wrote the
play Girl of the Golden West. Both would go on to be
adapted into operas by Puccini
• first to develop modern stage lighting along with the
use of colored lights, via motorized color changing
wheels, to evoke mood and setting
• He is even said to have purchased a room in a
flophouse, cut it out of the building, brought it to his
theater, cut out one wall and presented it as the set for
a production.
BELASCO’S NATURALISM
SARAH BERNHARDT
• 1828-1906
• Norwegian
• Most of his plays are set in Norway, but he lived most
of his adult life in Italy and Germany
• Most well-known works include:
• 1867 Peer Gynt
• 1879 A Doll's House (Et Dukkehjem)
• 1881 Ghosts (Gengangere)
• 1884 The Wild Duck (Vildanden)
• 1886 Rosmersholm (Rosmersholm)
• 1888 The Lady from the Sea (Fruen fra Havet)
• 1890 Hedda Gabler (Hedda Gabler)
• 1892 The Master Builder (Bygmester Solness)
•
IBSEN AND STYLE: THREE PHASES