Somebody find me a good definition of Realism in Theatre in the 19th century..

[ThatBeetroot]

a nice clear and simple one that explains it in nice simple terms for kids to understand

Please

and then find me on for Romanticism

TIA

ThatBeetroot - yes, but think the move away from big sets and proclamation was called Naturalism in the nineteenth century.

Oh, sorry - have mis-read and mis-understood beety's q...off to look in my bookcase...

Oxford Companion To Theatre:
"Drama which should approximate in speech and situation to the social and domestic problems of everyday, played by actors who reject all artifice and spoke and moved naturally and against scenery which reproduced with fidelity of the people they represented."

in shakespeare terms 19th century was the first time they went back to elizabethan dress, everybody got into history in a big way, historical specificity an all.

In my link there is a definition of realism as opposed to naturalism: Ibsen and GBShaw are the most prominent practitioners of Realism

AHUDRED TIMES ARE YOU SURE???

Blu - thanks

zizou - well int he nineteenth C they became historically accurate. Not everything was set in Shakespeares time

no, i said in terms of shakespearean performance. Obviously they didn't do EVERYTHING in elizabethan dress....although that might have been funny.

Moomin - that link is indeed really excellent and interesting - especially the clear explanation of the context of scientific thinking and also political movements. Also, the separate development of Realism and naturalism in France and other European countries. I am now fascinated anew!

Ahhhhhhhhh THIS is why I love MN.

I have a PhD in theatre and have learned a few things on this thread.

What a breath of fresh air ......

BUT

the acting in these three different genres?

What was it like?

bullit points required

BLOODY Garrick is the problem - he was getting all realsitic in the 18th C. and confusing my timeline

I think it was more the beginnings of naturalism in the 19th c than realism. Though in London Shakespeare was still big melodramatic style. There were some productions in Russia, but they were considered very daring.

One of the biggies in naturalism was an actor turning his back on the audience for the first time as happens in Miss Julie. Also our friend Stan the man and emotional memory.

Have you got the book The Theory of the Modern Stage, that has some good stuff in it, unfortunately I have got builders in so my copy is packed away somewhere.

Beet - no not sure at all. Ignore me. Am going to find book on acting styles now.

Could do bullet points on c19th naturalism acting, but not realism. Have we made a decision on this yet?

So don't ignore me after all.

REALISM

"In Norway: Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906) is considered to be the father of modern realistic drama. His plays attacked society?s values and dealt with unconventional subjects within the form of the well-made play (causally related).

Ibsen perfected the well-made play formula; and by using a familiar formula made his plays, with a very shocking subject matter, acceptable. He discarded soliloquies, asides, etc. Exposition in the plays was motivated, there were causally related scenes, inner psychological motivation was emphasized, the environment had an influence on characters? personalities, and all the things characters did and all of things the characters used revealed their socio-economic milieu. He became a model for later realistic writers."

NATURALISM

"The search for naturalism in acting was begun by Russian theatre teacher Stanislavsky. This ended in an obsession with finding completely authentic stage scenery and properties (required to assist the actor in sustaining a role)."

"As early as 1867, the French novelist Émile Zola had called for a rejection of all artifice in the theatrical arts, as in the novel, demanding that plays be faithful records of behaviour?namely, scientific analyses of life. Thérèse Raquin, an 1873 dramatization of his own novel (written in 1867), represents the first consciously Naturalistic drama."

ooh she got it. Well done. Ignore me after all. I can now retire to bed finally knowing the difference between Realism and Naturalism. It's funny the things you didn't realize you didn't know but apparantly do care about.

I think the two styles are so inter-related it is hard to differentiate between them to be honest. I only really studied naturalism (Stan and Strindberg) though I did a little background reading on Ibsen.

I seem to have forgotten most of what I learn now though. This thread has motivated me to go out and refresh my knowledge.

thanks for that - very helpful. Am thinking I will include realsim as well - as it was a driving force by 1900 throughou europe.

Sodor - hello

after al that I didn't use Realism - the class was too small

Thaks anyway

typical!!!!. Hope it went well anyway.

yes it was fine - now want to spend some more time with them - but hey ho