20 th century theatre an overview – the rise of the director
TRANSCRIPT
Where are we now?
Doug Hughes – Tony Award winning Director:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MslAUPmTkbI
Pre-late 19th Century: Who needs a director?
Master of the play/Supervisor
Co-ordinate the scenario, choose jokes
Overall, lacked overall conceptual elements to create mis-en-scene
Role of director fulfilled by profession’s knowledge of and respect for theatrical tradition
To be “right” the play must be as close to the original production as possible
Pre-late 19th Century: Who needs a director?
Actors copied performances of their predecessors
Set rules dependent on character’s moral and social wealth
Conventional scenery/set piecesCostumes weren’t deemed important and
were selected by the actorNo rehearsals, everyone knew the rules
-Director was unnecessary
Change is in the air –Mid 18th Century-19th Century
Technical and scenic innovationDevelopments in dramatic writingChanges in acting styleSocial, political and scientific issues affect
theatrical representation
David Garrick (1717-1779)
An actorCoached his actors“Directed” a play in which he didn’t performEmployed a French designer – directional
lighting, 3D setsActors no longer limited to the apronChanged acting conventionsInside a construction as opposed to in front
of a static pictureActing style based on observation of othersHeralded the rise of the actor-manager
Technical Developments
Gas light, limelight and electric light –directional lighting, atmospheric lighting
19th century craze for the pictorial, people would pay to see dioramas
An outside eye is needed to view stage from audiences’ perspective and “direct” actors into most appropriate/meaningful positions
Actor-Manager
Valuable in the rise of the director
Actor responsible for every aspect of production: -theatre building
-leading roles -backstage -FOH -actors -finance
Interpretation of the text based entirely on their own interpretation of the leading role
TW Robertson
Created his own works on social issuesTopics relevant to middle class (theatre-
going) audienceReflect as opposed to reformInnovative in that realism of play placed
new demands on actors & setActors behave “naturally”Set must be practical and useableExtensive stage directions, rehearsalNew mode of mis-en-scene
George Bernard Shaw
“Directed” own playsPublished works on directingEmphasised the importance of
castingThorough preparation prior to
rehearsals
Henry Granville-Barker
Paralleled StanislavskiBelieved the script was sacrosanctWished to represent the inner truth
of characterBuild up character bio - like StanFocus on Tempo/RhythmDirector’s role “to suggest, to
criticise, to co-ordinate”
Theatre Movements 20th C
Looked at how the role of director came to being
Can recognise the modern day director
Look at how the role has changed over 20th century
Romanticism
Actors stood centre stage -near prompt, good light
Less important characters on either side
Address audience directlyGesturing occasionally Aesthetics most important
Emile Zola
French novelist credited with bringing naturalism to the theatre
The true subject of art is mankind in everyday life
Not the grand, beautiful but in the ordinary
The job of the dramatist is to record, not moralise.
Naturalism
Naturalism is the more extreme form of realism
Seeks to replicate an everyday realityIt almost obliterated the distinction
between life and artIn theatre – a perfect illusion of reality -
detailed sets, un-poetic literary styles and an acting style that tries to recreate reality.
See the real suffering of mankind on stage
Realism
Realism was the theory of naturalism put into practice.
‘Slice of life’ reproduced on stage – truthful but heightened.
Emphasis on subtext (what is under the text
Realism: the selection and distillation of the detailed observation of everyday life, not the life itself.
Majority of theatre today works on the principle of realism.
Andre Antoine - Theatre Libre
Represent life as accurately as possible
Detailed plans for the whole stageCostumes to fit, not glamoriseEnsemble acting - company to
represent mankind in the social context of the time
Symbolism
Emphasis on internal life of dreams and fantasies
Reaction against realism and naturalism
Maeterlinck - Belgian playwright symbolist who influenced Stan
Expressionism
Modernist movement developed principally in Germany
Often dramatise the spiritual awakening and sufferings of protagonists
Explore the struggle against bourgeois values and established authority
Speech is heightened
Surrealism -Theatre of Cruelty
“resolve the previously contradictory conditions of dream and reality”
Developed out of Dada (WWI) -anti-war movement believed “reason” and “logic” of Capitalist society led to war
Methods to liberate imaginationTheatre of Cruelty - emotions, feelings and
the metaphysical expressed not through language but physically creating a vision closely related to world of dreams
Primal sense of reality“Impossible theatre” - vague and not practical
Epic Theatre
“Theatre should be political and force people to think” - opposed theatre as escapism
Incorporates mode of acting called “gestus” Audience should be aware they are watching a
playFourth wall often broken by actors both in and
out of characterAlienation - audience feel estranged, seperate so
as to remain objective and learnEpisodic - short episodes broken up by narrator,
song, dance, visual images/signs
Experimental Theatre –Theatre of the Oppressed
Theatre to promote social and political change
Dialogue and interaction between audience and performer
Audience becomes active: spect-actors
Explore, show, analyse and transform the reality they are living
Framework for the development and evolution of stronger ideas
Experimental Theatre -Poor Theatre
Experimental theatreCo-create the event of theatre with
spectatorsActor is at the core of the theatre artExplore and utilise basic dramatic
elementsShortage of money not an excuse for poor
performanceMulti-skilled actorStyle imitated by variety troupes