Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • 12 views

    Realism Absurdism

    Uploaded by

    Aaditri
    Realism in theatre strives for authenticity through everyday characters, costumes, and settings as well as psychological and social realism in plotlines. Absurd theatre departs from realism through ambiguous and fluid time, place, and identity, meaningless plots, repetitive dialogue, and dream-like or nightmare-like moods that ask the audience to draw their own conclusions.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Realism Absurdism

    Uploaded by

    Aaditri
    12 views2 pages
    Realism in theatre strives for authenticity through everyday characters, costumes, and settings as well as psychological and social realism in plotlines. Absurd theatre departs from realism through ambiguous and fluid time, place, and identity, meaningless plots, repetitive dialogue, and dream-like or nightmare-like moods that ask the audience to draw their own conclusions.

    Original Title

    Realism_Absurdism

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Available Formats

    DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    Realism in theatre strives for authenticity through everyday characters, costumes, and settings as well as psychological and social realism in plotlines. Absurd theatre departs from realism through ambiguous and fluid time, place, and identity, meaningless plots, repetitive dialogue, and dream-like or nightmare-like moods that ask the audience to draw their own conclusions.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    12 views2 pages

    Realism Absurdism

    Uploaded by

    Aaditri
    Realism in theatre strives for authenticity through everyday characters, costumes, and settings as well as psychological and social realism in plotlines. Absurd theatre departs from realism through ambiguous and fluid time, place, and identity, meaningless plots, repetitive dialogue, and dream-like or nightmare-like moods that ask the audience to draw their own conclusions.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    You are on page 1of 2

    Realism

     characters are believable, everyday types


     costumes are authentic
     the realist movement in the theatre and subsequent performance style have
    greatly influenced 20th century theatre and cinema and its effects are still
    being felt today
     triggered by Stanislavski’s system of realistic acting at the turn of the 20th
    century, America grabbed hold of its own brand of this performance style
    (American realism) and acting (method acting) in the 1930s, 40s and 50s (The
    Group Theatre, The Actors Studio)
     attention to material detail
     includes psychological realism – cause and effect of material circumstances
    on the human psyche
     illusion of material reality
     three-dimensional sets
     action that is psychologically understandable
     linear – plot structure with a beginning, and middle and an end
     character that can be explained by circumstances
     middle class/working class settings
     linear action --
     everyday speech
     fourth-wall drama – the ‘well-made play’
     stage settings (locations) and props are often indoors and believable
     the ‘box set’ is normally used for realistic dramas on stage, consisting of three
    walls and an invisible ‘fourth wall’ facing the audience
     settings for realistic plays are often bland (deliberately ordinary), dialogue is
    not heightened for effect, but that of everyday speech (vernacular)
     the drama is typically psychologically driven, where the plot is secondary and
    primary focus is placed on the interior lives of characters, their motives, the
    reactions of others etc.
     realistic plays often see the protagonist (main character) rise up against the
    odds to assert him/herself against an injustice of some kind (eg. Nora in
    Ibsen’s A Doll’s House)
     realistic dramas quickly gained popularity because the everyday person in the
    audience could identify with the situations and characters on stage
     Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen (A Doll’s House, Hedda Gabler) is
    considered the father of modern realism in the theatre

    Absurd Theatre

    Essential traits

     departs from realistic characters


     time, place and identity are ambiguous and fluid
     meaningless plots
     repetitive or nonsensical dialogue
     dramatic non-sequiturs
     dream-like, or even nightmare-like moods
     asks its audience to "draw his own conclusions, make his own errors"
     Martin Esslin says: If a good play must have a cleverly constructed story,
    these have no story or plot to speak of: if a good play is judged by subtlety of
    characterization and motivation, these are often without recognizable
    characters and present the audience with almost mechanical puppets; if a
    good play has to have a fully explained theme, which is neatly exposed and
    finally solved, these often have neither a beginning, nor an end; if a good play
    is to hold the mirror up to nature and portray the manners and mannerisms of
    the age in finely observed sketches, these seem often to be reflections of
    dreams and nightmares; if a good play relies on witty repartee and pointed
    dialogue, these often consist of incoherent babblings.

    Language

     nonsense language
     moments when characters resort to nonsense language or clichés–when
    words appear to have lost their denotative function, thus creating
    misunderstanding among the characters
     language without actually communicating anything substantive or making a
    human connection
     breakdown of communication

     Plot

     the line between theatre and reality starts to blur


     frequently cyclical

    You might also like