Theater HistoryTHE AGE OF REALISM

Nineteenth Century Charles Darwin’s Theory of Evolution / which made many people question God’s existence, and there fore place more responsibility on mankind for enforcement of values and proper behavior.

America’s emergence as a credible country / America succeeding without royalty, education available to everyone: common people became more interested in reading about other common people and their and their challenges.

Novelists, like Charles Dickens (England), started dealing with these themes and so did other playwrights.

So the Age of Realism –the age of the common man- began.

Founding PlaywritesHenrik Ibsen of Norway: (considered father of realism) The Pillars of Society, A Doll’s House, and Enemy of the People.

Arthur Miller: (student of Ibsen) Death of a Salesman

Anton Chekhov of Russia: The Cherry Orchard, The Seagull, and Uncle Vanya.

George Bernard Shaw: Pygmalion, Man and Superman, and Arms and the Man.

Theater in India Sanskirt Theater / a heroic, romantic drama Shankuntala, a heroic, romantic drama, was a form of Sanskirt theater

Emergence of Directors Ensemble work being more important than ever, someone needed to mold and direct the acting into a single, unified, whole, thus the position of Director emerged. Duke of Saxe-Meiningen / started the “star system” star actor played all the leading roles. Also taught the actors to work as a tight knit group, or ensemble. Constantin Stanislavski / Method Acting by which actors brought forth honest characterizations from within themselves, rather than resorting to the commonly used external characterization. Teaching them to listen and react to other characters, instead of only acting when they spoke.

Non-Realistic Theatre Theater of Symbolism / showed meaning and emotion through their non- realistic plays. American’s Thornton Wilder / Our Town

Theatre of the Absurd / tried to find meaning in a world that has no meaning. America’s Samuel Becket / Comédie

Asian TheatreAncient China placed such high emphasis on entertainment in A.D. 714, the emperor established a school for training. “The Pear Garden”, had over 11,000 students at one time.

In 1790, performers were summoned for all over empire to celebrate the emperor’s birthday, which is know to westerners today as The Peking Opera, the national theater of China.

Asian Theater cont. Japanese Theater has produced the finest theatrical heritage in the Orient. There are 3 types of Japanese Theatre:NOH THEATER / was developed by a father and son team.Japanese actors are considered some of the most disciplined, controlled actors in the world. DOLL THEATRE /imported from Korea. Uses four foot high puppets.KABUKI THEATRE / Mix of several oriental theaters, and is the most popular in Japan. Chickamatsu wrote between 25 and 50 plays and is considered Japan’s great playwright.