Asian Theatre
Roots in Hindu, Buddhist,
Confucian and Islamic Rituals
highly
systematized
highly
traditional
music,
dance, drama linked
emphasis
on the performer
Theatre in
India
Shiva
Nataraja
Natyasastra (The Art
of the Theatre) - attributed to Bharata (2nd c. A.D.)
Epics as
sources
Mahabharata (final form c. 250 B.C.)
Ramayana (final form c. 250 B.C.)
Golden
Age 120 -- 500 A.D.
Sanscrit drama
elements
rasa
bhava
Sanskrit Plays
King Sudraka, The
Little Clay Cart (4th -- 8th c.)
Kalidasa. Sakuntala
(late 4th -- early 5th c.)
Kathakali
dance drama (18th century)
Rabindrinath
Tagore (1861 -- 1941)
Chitra (1894); The Cycle of Spring (1917)
wins Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913
Girish Karnad (1938- )
Hayavadana (1971)
Theatre in China
Tang Dynasty (618 -- 904) -
"students of the pear garden"
Song Dynasty (960 -- 1279) -
storytellers
Yuan Dynasty dramatists (1279 -- 1368) -
Li Xingdao, The Story of the Chalk Circle
Beijing
Opera (19th c. forward)
civil plays
military plays
acting roles: male, female, painted face, comic
Mei Lan Fang (1894 -- 1961)
Communist
control in China, 1949
the
Cultural Revolution, 1966
The Peony Pavilion
Theatre in Japan
Noh
theatre (begins late 14th c.)
Kan'ami (1333 –- 1384) and Zeami (1363 -- 1443)
Sotoba Komachi (by Zan’ami
hashigakari
kyogen
Bunraku
(begins 17th c.)
Chikematsu Monzaemon (1653 -- 1724) - The Double Suicide at Sonezaki (1703)
Takedo Izumi (1691 -- 1756) - Chushingura (1748)
action accompanied by samisen
Kabuki
Okuni invents the form
more spectacle than other Japanese forms
hanamichi
mie
Modern
Japanese Theatre
European-style Free Theatre, founded 1909
Kobo Abe (1924 -- 1993)
Yukio Mishima (1925 -- 1970)
Butoh (movement begins circa 1960) - Kazuo Ohno (1906 -- )
Tadashi Suzuki (1939 -- ) and his company at Toga
synthesis of eastern and western styles
works with Anne Bogart and SITI
The Trojan Women,
The Bacchae, others
Shakespeare in Japan
Eighteenth
Century English Theatre
Social and historical background
an age of
Reason
the rise of the middle class
political
changes
German
kings from Hanover
a
“prime” minister takes charge
Plays and Playwrights
sentimental
comedy
Colley Cibber (1671 -- 1757) - The Careless Husband (1704)
George Farquhar (1678 -- 1707)
The Beaux'
Stratagem (1707)
The Recruiting
Officer (1705)
Sir Richard Steele (1672 --
1729)
The Conscious
Lovers (1722)
"a
joy too exquisite for laughter"
pathetic
tragedy
Nicholas Rowe (1674 – 1718) The Ambitious Stepmother (1701)
Ambrose Phillips (1674 – 1749) The Distrest Mother (1712)
domestic
tragedy
George Lillo (1693 -- 1739) - The London Merchant (1731)
other
kinds of entertainment
grand opera
George Frederick Handel (1685 -- 1759)
arrives in London in 1710
creates a vogue for Italian opera
Rinaldo (1711)
Rodelinda (1725)
writes for the
castrato
Farinelli
(1705 -- 1782)
ballad opera John Gay (1685 -- 1732) The Beggar's Opera (1728)
satirical burlesque
Henry
Fielding (1707 – 1754
Tom Thumb, or the
Tragedy of Tragedies (1730)
The Historical
Register of 1736 (1737)
the Licensing Act of 1737
limits
London to 2 legitimate theatres
forces all
plays to be licensed
minor forms
pantomime
John Rich (1692 -- 1761), aka “Lun”
Amadis, or the
Loves of Harlequin and Columbine (1718)
comic
opera - Thomas Arne and Isaac Bickerstaffe, Love
in a Village, 1762
"laughing" comedy
Oliver
Goldsmith (1730 -- 1774)
wrote the manifesto in his “Essay on Theatre”
used Shakespeare as model
She Stoops to
Conquer (1773)
Richard
Brinsley Sheridan (1751 -- 1816)
used Restoration comedy as model
The Rivals (1775)
The School for
Scandal (1777)
Revivals - Shakespeare “improved”
again
Theatre Architecture, Design and
Staging
theatres:
Drury Lane continues as performance space
Covent Garden (opens 1732)
King's Theatre for opera
(opens 1705, named King’s in 1714)
Haymarket (built 1720)
pit, box,
gallery system
forestage lessens
wing
and groove scene changes
1762--stage seating abolished
trends in
theatre architecture:
to larger houses
to increasing spectacle
to specific settings
Philippe
Jacques de Loutherbourg (1740 -- 1812)
unifies design
introduces local color
emphasizes historical accuracy
lighting moves from candle to oil
costumes:
habit à la Romaine
The Actors:
Colley
Cibber (1671 -- 1757) - adapts and pads Richard
III
James
Quin (1693 -- 1766) - bombastic
Charles Macklin (c. 1699 – 1797) - sympathetic,
“natural” Shylock
David
Garrick (1719 -- 1779)
Garrick
as manager
Garrick as director
Garrick as writer
Miss in Her Teens (1747)
The Clandestine
Marriage (1766)
Garrick - greatest actor of the era
Peg
Woffington (c. 1714 -- 1760)
George
Ann Bellamy (1731 -- 1788)
writes Apology for
the Life of George Ann Bellamy (6 vols, 1785)
Susannah Cibber (1714 – 1766)
Spranger
Barry (1719 – 1777)
Kitty
Clive (1711 – 1785)
Mary Robinson (1758 – 1800)
The “Business” of the Theatre
detailed
records kept
lines of
business
stars, leading players, supporting players,
“walking ladies and gentlemen, & ‘fifth business”
theatre
grows as a commercial enterprise
Eighteenth
Century French Theatre
Social and Historical Background
Paris
as cultural capital
Social
and political change
Rousseau
and the philosophers of the Enlightenment
The
French Revolution
Plays and Playwrights
Voltaire
(1694 -- 1778)
Zaire (1732)
Alzire (1736)
his plays feature exotic
locales
and offer new subjects for
tragedy
Candide (1759) satirical novella
tearful comedy and le drame
La
Chaussée (1692 -- 1754) - writes comédie
larmoyante such as False Antipathy
(1733)
Marivaux
(1688-1763)
Game of Love and Chance (1730)
Triumph of Love (1722)
Denis
Diderot (1713 -- 1784) – creates le drame,
drama to teach moral lessons
The Natural Son (1757)
“fourth
wall”
moves
towards the Revolution
laughing comedy
Beaumarchais (1732 -- 1799)
Barber of Seville (1775)
Marriage of Figaro (1783)
more
moves towards the Revolution
Minor forms
theatre at fairs
opéra comique
the Italian troupe
Theatre spaces
Two
licensed spaces: l'Opéra and Comédie Française
pit, box,
gallery
as in
England, increasingly less forestage
1759 -- stage seating abolished
1782 -- seats placed in the parterre
curved and widened auditorium
Scene design and costumes
move towards greater spectacle and
illusion
focus on specific locales
Giovanni
Nicolo Servandoni (1695 -- 1766)
introduces scena per
angolo to Parisian theatres
Costumes
contemporary dress
habit à la Romaine
for the classics
Actors and acting
Michel
Baron returns to the stage
Adrienne
Lecouvreur (1692 -- 1730)
Mlle
Dumesnil (1713 -- 1803)
Mlle
Clairon (1723 -- 1803)
Henri-Louis
Cain (Lekain) (1729 -- 1778)
François-Joseph
Talma (1763 -- 1826)
Eighteenth
Century Italian Theatre
Social and Historical Background
several
countries rule different sections of Italy
Italian
culture exported through Europe
Plays and Playwrights
opera
dominates
Venice as center of theatrical activity
Carlo
Gozzi (1720 -- 1806)
retains improvisation, masks from commedia dell’arte in his plays
fiabe –fairy tales with a purpose
The King Stag (1762)
The Love of Three Oranges (1761)
Carlo
Goldoni (1707 -- 1793)
“The Comic Theatre”
(treatise, 1750)
moves
towards realistic comedies, sentimentalism
The Servant of Two Masters (1745)
The Mistress of the Inn (1753)
Vittorio
Alfieri (1749 -- 1803)
serious
drama
politically
motivated plays
Innovations
in Italian scenic design
the Bibiena family, among them:
Ferdinando
Galli Bibiena (1656 – 1743); his three sons also designers
Francesco
Galli Bibiena (1659 – 1739); Ferdinando’s brother
Carlo
Galli Bibiena 1728 – 1727); Ferdinando’s grandson
Bibienas introduce
scena per angolo (approx. 1703)
more
than one vanishing point
monumental
effect, settings seem to reach beyond the proscenium
Bibiena family members
spread out through Europe
Filippo
Juvarra (1678 -- 1737) - creates a curvilinear use of angled scenery
Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720 --1778)
paints mood
onto settings through light and shadow (chiaroscuro)
domestic & rural settings require
increasing “local color” & realistic touches
Theatre
throughout the Rest of Europe during the Eighteenth Century
Social and historical background
Hapsburg
Empire
local
kings and dukes (electors) vote on the emperor
Europe
looks to Italy and France as cultural models
Influence of the opera
Middle class, sentimental dramas
Causes for the proliferation of
theatre through the Germanic states
Jesuit
theatre
English
touring companies
“Hanswurst”
– best performed by Joseph Stranitzky (1676 -- 1726)
Plays and Playwrights
Neoclassicism
Johann Christoph Gottsched (1700 -- 1766) - The Dying Cato (1731)
Carolina Neuber (1697 -- 1760)
creates
theatrical reform with Gottsched
builds
a disciplined theatre company
Johann Friedrich Schönemann (1704 -- 1782) - Neuber’s
actor, form own troupe
the
Hamburg National Theatre (opened 1767)
German
Sentimental drama
Gotthold Ephraim Lessing
(1729 -- 1781)
Miss Sara Sampson (1755)
Minna von Barnhelm (1767)
Nathan the Wise (1779
the Sturm und Drang movement
F.M. Klinger (1752 -- 1831) Sturm und Drang (1776)
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
(1749 -- 1832)
Goetz von Berlichingen (1773)
Friedrich Schiller (1759 -- 1805)
The Robbers (1782)
Weimar
Classicism – Goethe and Schiller as primary writers
focuses
on beauty, “truth” over realism
duchy as arts colony
Goethe
appointed theatre director in 1791
Iphigenia in Tauris (1787)
Faust (1808, part 1; 1831, part 2)
Schiller
Don Carlos (1787)
Maria Stuart (1800)
Wilhelm Tell (1804)
Melodrama
August Friedrich von Kotzebue (1761 -- 1819)
Misanthropy and
Repentance (1787)
theatre
at Weimar taken over by Caroline Jagermann, 1817 - actress and duke’s mistress
advocate of “dog” drama and other melodramatic forms
The Romantic Era
Social and Historical Background
Romantics reject reason for higher truth
Rousseau advocates return to nature
Political
rebellions throughout Europe
Romanticism and the Theatre
Neoclassical
rules rejected
tenets of
Romanticism include
search
for higher truth
to find higher truth, look to nature
body-soul duality
thru art we can transcend
artist/“genius” helps us transcend
Shakespeare
as model
The Birth of Romanticism in
Germany
August Wilhelm Schlegel (1767 -- 1845),
critic and translator
contrasts
“Romantic” with “Classic” in his criticism
translates Shakespeare
Plays and Playwrights in the
Germanic States
Franz
Grillparzer (1791 -- 1872) King Ottakar’s
Rise and Fall (1824)
Johann
Ludwig Tieck (1773 -- 1853) Puss in Boots, 1844)
Johann
Nestroy (1801 -- 1862) Out for a Lark (1842)
Heinrich
von Kleist (1777 -- 1811)
The Prince of Homburg (1811)
Georg
Buchner (1813 -- 1837)
Danton's Death (1835)
Woyzeck (1836)
Romanticism in England
S.T. Coleridge (1772 -- 1834) &
William Wordsworth (1770 -- 1850)
preface to The
Lyrical Ballads (1798) as Romantic manifesto
Coleridge:
"willing suspension of disbelief"
Romantic
drama
P.B. Shelley (1792 -- 1822) - The Cenci (1819)
Lord
Byron (1788 -- 1824) - Sardanapalus
(1821)
melodrama
Matthew Gregory "Monk" Lewis (1775 -- 1818) - gothic
melodrama
Ambrosio, or The
Monk (1795)
Douglas Jerrold (1803 -- 1857) - nautical melodrama
Black-Eyed Susan (1829)
James Sheridan Knowles (1784 -- 1862) – classical melodrama
Virginius (1820)
social melodrama
J.S. Knowles again, The
Factory Girl
F.S. Hill, Six
Degrees of Crime
The Romantic Movement in France
from the
revolution to Napoleon
boulevard
theatres
mélodrame
Rene
Charles Guilbert de Pixérécourt (1773 -- 1844)
Victor, or The
Child of the Forest (1798)
The Forest of
Bondy; or, The Dog of Montargis (1814)
"I write for those who cannot read”
background
to the Romantic movement
French writers favor Shakespeare over Neoclassic
Mme de Stael writes “On Germany”
Jean François Ducis adapts Shakespeare in neoclassic form
Stendhal compares Shakespeare with Racine
British acting troupes perform Shakespeare in Paris
Charles
Kemble’s Hamlet (1827)
Harriet
Smithson’s Ophelia
The Romantic Explosion in Paris
Victor Hugo (1802 -- 1885)
Preface to Cromwell
(1827) as manifesto
Hernani (1830)
Alfred de Musset (1810 -- 1857)
Les Caprices du Marianne (1833)
No Trifling with Love (1834) (1833)
Theatre Architecture, Staging
& Acting in the Romantic Era
moves
towards greater spectacle
height of
historical accuracy
German Romantics
Ludwig Tieck (1773 -- 1853)
returns to open stage
stages Antigone
in 1841
produces A Midsummer
Night's Dream 1843 (music by Mendelssohn)
Theatre Spaces in France
under
Napoleon (to 1815) theatre limited to:
four subsidized state theatres
four legal “minor” theatres
by 1855 there are 28
theatres in Paris
early
attempts at directing
Pixérécourt -- coordinates entire production
Hugo -- creates stage pictures
acting
François-Joseph Talma (1763 -- 1826)
Mlle Mars 1779 – 1847
Mlle Duchenois (c.1777 – 1835) vs Mlle George (1787 – 1867)
Jean-Baptiste Déburau (1796 -- 1846)
Frédérick LeMaître (1800 -- 1876)
Rachel (1821 -- 1858)
Louis-Jacques
Daguerre (1787 -- 1851) & technical advances
works with panorama
invents the diorama
“Midnight Mass at St Etienne du Mont”
at the
Opéra
Pierre Luc Charles Ciceri (1782 -- 1868), primary designer
A new building completed, 1822
lighting by gas
carbon arc &
limelight, 1840s
new
machinery for waterfalls, volcanoes
Theatre Spaces and Performance in England
country feels
effects of the industrial revolution
London population doubles between 1800 & 1843
2 subsidized theatres – Drury Lane &
Covent Garden
growth
of minor forms
continuing
panto and comic opera
burletta
The Theatre Regulation Act of 1843
repeals
the part of the Licensing Act of 1737 that limits theatres to two
many
new theatres open in the wake of the Theatre Regulation Act
melodrama
proliferates
hippodrama at Astley's Theatre - The Battle of Waterloo (1824)
dog drama - Pixérécourt, The Dog of Montargis (1814)
aquadrama at Sadler's Wells - The Siege of Gibralter (1804)
Neoclassical
actors
John
Philip Kemble (1757 -- 1823)
as actor
as
manager
Sarah (Kemble) Siddons (1755 -- 1831)
Charles Kemble (1775 -- 1854)
James Robinson Planché (1796 -- 1880)
C. Kemble’s designer/playwright
writes A History of
British Costume 1834
Romantic
actors
George Frederick Cooke (1756 --1812)
Edmund Kean (1787 -- 1833) – greatest of the Romantics
Master (William Henry West) Betty (1791 -- 1874)
Transitional actor/managers – from
Romantic to realistic
W.C. Macready (1793 – 1873) - Macbeth in kilts
Madame Vestris ((1797 --1856)
breeches
roles
uses a box set
early female actor/manager
American Theatre
to the Civil War
Social and Historical Background
the
first settlers in the American Colonies
basic
needs trump entertainment
The First Theatricals
Spanish
and French settlements
“Ye Bare
and Ye Cubbe” (1665)
Williamsburg
VA, first theatre, 1716
theatre
in colleges
Gustavus Vasa at Harvard College
William & Mary
College
Early acting companies
Murray
and Keane Co., 1749 – 1752, establishes a circuit, little else known about them
the
Hallam troupe, 1752
first long-standing company
regularly tours a circuit of cities along the eastern
seaboard
Mrs. Hallam (? -- 1774)
Lewis Hallam Jr. (c.1740 -- 1808)
returns from Jamaica, re-names
itself The American Company
David
Douglass builds theatres
Southwark,
Philadelphia, 1766
The Prince of Parthia, Thomas Godfrey
(1767)
John
Street, New York, 176
An expansion of theatre after the
Revolution
Chestnut
Street, Philadelphia, 1794
Park Theatre, New York, 1798
Three Early American Playwrights
Royall Tyler (1757 -- 1826) - The Contrast (1787)
William Dunlap (1766 -- 1839)
André
(1798)
writes
the first history of American theatre
John Howard Payne (1791 -- 1852) - Brutus (1818), Clari (1823)
Two Early American Actors
Anne
Brunton Merry (1768 -- 1808)
Thomas Abthorpe Cooper (1776 -- 1849)
Design in
early American theatre - standard designs on simple roll drops
The Westward Movement
art vs.
business
Samuel
Drake (1769 -- 1854)
Noah
Ludlow (1795 -- 1886)
Sol Smith
(1801 -- 1869)
showboats
transportation
revolution – the railroad
New York becomes the theatrical
center of the U.S.
Larger
more sophisticated theatres
Lafayette Theatre (1826)
The Bowery Theatre, seats 4,000 in 1845
British Touring stars
G.F.
Cooke
Edmund
Kean
Junius
Brutus Booth (1796 -- 1852)
American talent
Edwin
Forrest (1806 – 1872), The “American” Tragedian
Astor Place Riots -- May, 1849
Forrest vs British star W.C. Macready
riots fomented by anti-British politicos
at least 22 killed; more than 150 injured
Charlotte
Cushman (1816 -- 1876)
Anna Cora
Mowatt (Ritchie) (1819 -- 1870)
writes as well as performs
Fashion (1849)
Melodrama and Comedy
American-style
Hippodrama
Mazeppa; or, The Wild Horse of Tartary
Ada Isaacs Mencken
Temperance
plays - William H. Smith, The Drunkard
(1844)
Indian
plays - John Augustus Stone (1801 – 1834) Metamora
(1829)
Yankee
Plays
Jonathan in The
Contrast as progenitor
character morphs from bumkin to clever Yankee trader
Samuel Woodworth (1785 -- 1842)
The Forest Rose (1825) introduces Jonathan Ploughboy
The People’s Lawyer (1839)
Two Yankee delineators
James Henry Hackett (1800 -- 1871)
George Handel (Yankee) Hill (1809 --
1849)
Plays
about the City B’hoy
A Glance at New
York (1848)
Mose, the Bowery B’hoy
Performed
by Frank Chanfrau (1824 -- 1884)
Caricatures
of immigrants
Irish
and German “types”
The Minstrel Show
T.D. Rice “Jim Crow” c. 1828
Virginia Minstrels (1843)
The African Company, established
c. 1821
William
Brown, leader of the company
writes King Shotaway
(1823) first known African American play
James
Hewlett (1778 – 1836) the star of the company
plays Richard III among other roles
Ira
Aldridge (1807 -- 1867) - “the
celebrated African Roscius”
successful
European, British tours
after
mid-century Uncle Tom’s Cabin most
popular play in America
played
by whites “blacked up”
Realism and
Naturalism
In France
the well-made play invented by Eugène
Scribe (1791 -- 1861)
plot-centered
logical
progression of events
each
scene builds to a climax
play
culminates in a grand climax, followed by a clear denouement
strong
emphasis on suspense, often via withheld information
A Glass of Water (1840)
Adrienne
Lecouvreur (1849)
Victorien
Sardou (1831 -- 1908)
Scribe’s successor, continues the well-made play tradition
A Scrap of Paper (1860)
Tosca (1887), vehicle for Sarah Bernhardt
the “thesis” play
Alexandre
Dumas fils (1824 -- 1895) - La Dame
Camélias (aka Camille) (1852)
Emile Augier (1820 -- 1889) - Olympia's Marriage (1855)
French naturalist drama
un tranche de vie - a "slice of life”
Emile
Zola (1840 -- 1902) - founds the naturalist movement; writes manifesto
Thérèse Raquin (1873)
Théâtre
Libre (founded 1887)
run by Andre Antoine (1858 -- 1943) who stages the new
naturalist plays
Opulence at the new Paris Opera
Opéra Garnier, completed in 1874
much
enlarged social space outside the auditorium; grand foyer and staircase
French Realist Actors
François
Delsarte (1811 -- 1871) - the "science" of acting
systematic
gestures & movements indicate inner emotional state
Constant-Benoit Coquelin
(1841 -- 1909)
Sarah
Bernhardt (1844 -- 1923)
In Italy
the
Italian Shakespeareans - Adelaide Ristori, Ernesto Rossi, Tommaso Salvini
feature the old style of acting
Eleonora Duse (1859-1924) moves
toward a new, more subtle acting style
major
rival of Sarah Bernhardt
In America
Dion
Boucicault (1822 -- 1890)
born in Ireland, popular on both sides of the Atlantic
writes realistic melodrama
The Poor of New
York (1857)
The Octoroon (1859)
champion of writer's rights; royalties
starts a trend toward the long run
“combination”
companies supersede stock companies
Actors
Edwin Booth (1833 -- 1893)
finest actor after Civil War
advocate
of “art” theatre
scenic innovations – free plantation
Laura Keene (1820 -- 1873)
successful female actor/manager
Our American
Cousin
Directors
Augustin Daly (1836 -- 1899)
writes Under the
Gaslight (1867), others
leads ensemble company, includes Ada Rehan, John Drew,
Clara Morris
David Belasco (1854
-- 1931)
writes Madame
Butterfly (1900), others
favors naturalistic staging
features stars: Blanche Bates, David Warfield
Steele Mackaye (1842 -- 1894)
writes
(Hazel Kirke, Paul Kauvar, others), also
a performer, inventor
invents
an early form of air conditioning for auditoriums
invents
an elevator system for fast scene changes
attempts
to build the Spectatorium, for sound and light shows
The birth
of the American musical
The Black Crook (1866) features dancing girls and spectacle
Evangeline (1874) features a dancing cow
burlesque & vaudeville as contributors
Actors
William Gillette (1855 -- 1937)
Sherlock Holmes (1899)
“the
illusion of the first time”
James O'Neill (1847 -- 1920)
The
Count of Monte Cristo
Richard Mansfield (1854 -- 1907)
The Strange Case of
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1887)
introduces George Bernard Shaw’s plays to the U.S.
In England
Henry
Irving (1838 -- 1905), finest actor of the era
manages the Lyceum
first British knighthood
Ellen Terry (1847-1928), finest actress, often partners
with Irving
Gilbert
(1836-1911) and Sullivan (1842-1900)
HMS Pinafore (1878), Pirates of
Penzance (1879), The Mikado
(1885)
Herbert
Beerbohm-Tree (1853-1917) actor/manager known for scenic realism
Trends in theatre at the end of
the century
moves
toward more intimate theatres
orchestra/balcony
versus pit, box & gallery in the auditorium
mainstream
realism versus anti-realist experiments
The Modern Era
Social and Historical Background
major
cultural changes
experimental
art movements through Europe
World War
I
Plays and Playwrights
Henrik
Ibsen (1828 -- 1906), the “father” of modern drama
three phases of writing:
romantic verse drama - Brand
(1866), Peer Gynt (1867)
realism - A Doll House (1879), Ghosts (1881), Hedda Gabler (1890)
symbolism - The Wild Duck (1884), The Master Builder (1892)
August
Strindberg (1849 -- 1912)
naturalist writings - The
Father (1887), Miss Julie (1888)
Strindberg writes himself
later "dream" plays anticipate expressionism
The Dream Play (1902)
The Ghost Sonata (1907)
George
Bernard Shaw (1856 – 1950) writes "useful" plays via comedies of
ideas
Arms and the Man (1894)
The Devil's
Disciple (1897)
Pygmalion (1913)
Heartbreak House (1914-19)
Saint Joan (1923)
Oscar
Wilde (1854 -- 1900), writes "art for art's sake"
An Ideal Husband (1894)
The Importance of
Being Earnest (1895)
A Brief History of Russian Theatre
skomorokhi
Alexander
Griboyedov (1795 -- 1829), neoclassical - Woe
from Wit (1822 -- 25)
Alexander
Pushkin (1799 -- 1837). romantic - Boris
Godunov (1825)
Nikolai
Gogol (1809 -- 1852), realist - The
Inspector General (1836)
Ivan
Turgenev (1818 -- 1883) - A Month in the
Country (1850)
Alexander
Ostrovsky ((1823 -- 1886) - The
Thunderstorm (1859)
Lev
Tolstoy (1828 – 1910), The Power of
Darkness (1866)
The
Bolshoi Theatre
The Maly
Theatre
Russian
ballet
Marius Petipa (1822 -- 1910)
Anton
Chekhov (1860 – 1904)
The Seagull (1896)
Uncle Vanya (1899)
The Three Sisters (1901
The Cherry Orchard (1904)
Maxim
Gorky (1868 -- 1936)
The Lower Depths (1902)
The Independent Theatre
Movement
Théâtre
Libre -- Paris, 1887 - Andre Antoine (1858 -- 1943), director
Freie Bühne -- Berlin, 1889) Otto Brahm (1856 -- 1912), director
opens with Ghosts
Gerhardt Hauptmann (1862 -- 1946), its only German writer
of note
The Weavers (1892)
The Independent Theatre -- London, 1891
- J.T. Grein (1862 -- 1935), director
opens with Ghosts
stages first of Shaw’s
plays
The Court
Theatre (1904 -- 1907) - Harley Granville-Barker (1877 -- 1946), director
writes Prefaces to Shakespeare
writes plays - The
Madras House (1910), Waste
(1906-07)
creates
modernist, anti-realistic stagings of Shakespeare
The
Moscow Art Theatre (1898)
Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko (1858 -- 1943)
Konstantin Stanislavsky (1863 -- 1938)
(for more
independent theatres, e.g. Théâtre de L'Oeuvre, The Abbey Theatre,
others, see below)
The rise of Modernism in Directing
and Design
Richard
Wagner (1813 --1883)
gesamtkunstwerk
theatre at Bayreuth (1872 -- 76)
"classless"
auditorium
mystic chasm
The
Meiningen Players (1866)
Georg II, the Duke of Saxe Meiningen (1826 -- 1914)
Ludwig Chronegk, Ellen Franz
features ensemble acting
tours through Europe (1874-1910)
Adolphe
Appia (1862 -- 1928), designer
Wagner’s operas as catalyst for his new ideas
“suggestion”
vs pictorial realism & historical accurcy in design
importance and centrality of light in design
primarily a theorist, designs few productions
Gordon
Craig (1872 -- 1966) designer
designs practical applications of Appia’s theory
spurns the “literal” in design
focuses on the director as central
actor as übermarionette
Modernist Experiments with
Anti-realist Work
In France
symbolism
Maurice Maeterlinck (1862 --
1949) - Pelléas et Mélisande (1892)
Aurélion-Marie Lugné-Poe
(1869 -- 1940) manages Théâtre de L'Oeuvre
Alfred Jarry (1873 -- 1907) - King Ubu (Ubu Roi, 1896)
Cabarets
- Le Chat Noir, Paris (1881) is the first
followed
by Els Quatre Gats (Barcelona 1897), Die Elf Scharfrichter (Munich 1901), Schall
und Rauch (Berlin 1901), Die Fledermaus (Vienna 1907), the Lukomorye and Crooked
Mirror (St Petersburg, both opened 1908)
cabarets are centers for
avant-garde experiments in performing arts
In German-speaking countries
Frank Wedekind
(1864 -- 1918) influences expressionism
Spring’s Awakening (1891)
the Lulu plays (Earth Spirit, 1895; Pandora’s Box, 1903)
Arthur
Schnitzler (1862 -- 1931) - Reigen
(1900)
Max
Reinhardt (1873 -- 1943), quintessential early professional director
at ease in several styles
fits the play to an appropriate space
In England
William
Poel (1852 -- 1934) re-thinks Shakespearean staging
In Ireland
The Abbey
Theatre (1904)
W.B. Yeats (1865 -- 1939) Cathleen ni Houlihan (1902)
Lady Gregory (1863 -- 1935) Spreading the News (1904)
John
Millington Synge (1871 -- 1909)
Riders to the Sea (1904)
Playboy of the
Western World (1907)
Anti-realist Theatre in Russia
Sergei
Diaghilev (1872 -- 1929) creates The Ballets Russes
The Rite of Spring (Stravinsky, 1913)
major choreographers, dancers, artists as designers
Vsevelod
Meyerhold (1874-1940)
experiments with symbolism, cabaret in St Petersburg
use of circus, commedia techniques
The "Business" of
American theatre
The Theatrical
Syndicate (1895 – 1915) monopolizes the “road”
David
Belasco holds out against Syndicate
Minnie Maddern Fiske (1865 -- 1932) opposes the Syndicate,
acts Ibsen in America
The
Shuberts (1916 forward) oppose, then outdo the syndicate
Lee, Sam and J.J., “the boys from Syracuse”
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