The Purpose of Theatre during the 20th Century

When people think of theatre they usually think of acting, directing, and maybe script writers. They would correct, all of those disciplines are part of theatre but there's more to theatre than just that; however, due to personal interests those specific disciplines will be exactly what this essay is about. What most people don't think of when they think of theatre is how much thought is put into it. The different type of methods, not just for acting but, for directing, and script writing as well. Everyone has a different method of running a show but this paper will discuss some of the legendary people that have influenced theatre the most.

“Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more; it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” – William Shakespeare

rom the mid-17th century through early 18th centuries, theatre was revived. Previously, theater had been vested in medieval themes. Liturgical drama, namely morality plays, was common along with other religious plays that seemed to have an air of mystery and was mainly fixated on emotions. However, as a way to refrain from presenting drama in a traditional Roman way, neoclassical ideal was formed in Italy and eventually spread throughout Europe. Dissimilar to previous eras, neoclassicism focused on presenting drama as realistically as possible. Playwrights sought out the truth and believed that the main reasons to produce a play was to not only entertain, but to teach lessons as well. They wanted their characters to not only represent what was typically seen in everyday life, but also to adhere to the social norms and traits of members of their social class. Two major concepts from this time, verisimilitude and decorum, portray this.

Theater was expected to raise spirits of people, an escape from life. Musical theater brought the

During the beginning of the 17th Century neoclassical thought began to dominate the stage in France. In the domain of theatre, this meant that neoclassical writers began to look back to the ideals and beliefs of classical times, accentuating the classic ideas of rational control and discipline. It was an age intrigued with regularity as the ideas stemming from this period insist upon certain norms of behavior in society. Throughout the

In the 19th and 20th century, realism in theatre was a common occurrence. Realism is presenting a person, thing, or event in its true colors (“Realism”). Even throughout the Great Depression, Broadway and theaters managed to stay afloat. Its popularity began to surge, and there were 200 to 275 new shows coming out per year (Early 20th Century Theatre). Most of these shows were strictly for entertainment. Themes were often romantic, about happy endings and true love. However, some productions began to turn away from the stereotypes of shows during this time. In the 1920s and ’30s, shows became more extravagant and helped influence some of the most iconic American productions (Theatre of the 20th Century and Beyond). As a result, shows like

There were many physical changes that took place with the theatres and the productions. Depression hit New York pretty hard, 1.6 million out of 7 million people were in some sort of welfare programs, as well as one third of the city’s factories were forced to be shutdown. Theatres were either closed down or were tuned into movie houses. Production output slowed down, before the depression there were 264 productions between 1927-28 and then during the depression, (1930-31) there was only 187 productions, because it was difficult to fundraise money. It was also very difficult to get a job in a theatrical field during the recession, there were about five thousand people that were jobless.

“Social Issues in Theatre” How has theatre reflected social issues throughout time? Olivia Little W.B. Ray High School Candidate Number: 006241-0009 Session: May 2015 Category: Theatre Supervisor: Mr. James Stroud Word Count: 3,092 Citation Style: MLA Abstract

In the 1920's, the theater was considered the scene of a " 'curious conflict' between realism and a freer form of theatricality". (MacGowen, viii) There were many famous playwrights of the era. Among these were Thornton Wilder and, probably the most prominent playwright, Eugene O'Neill. These two authors used many of the same themes in their writing; romanticism was a popular one. However, they each also used themes and styles of writing that set them apart from other writers.

In the nineteenth century, many movements arose in the field of theatre both in the United States and in Europe. Some of the movements that took place in the west together with the melodrama includes the plays o naturalism, Romanticism, well-made plays of scribes and Sardou, Wilde’s drawing-room comedies, symbolism and the farces of Feydeau as depicted in the late works of Henrik Ibsen. Melodrama is a collective name to refer to open group of films that the majority of reviewers refers to as romance, thrillers, and drama. The melodrama as a source of entertainment is believed to have spread rapidly in the nineteenth century due to the growth of industrial revolution and urban development (McHugh 41). It is important to note that this genre is multi-disciplinary in its nature as it accepts elements from another category of films, hence the open name category. Therefore, melodrama is one of the widely most appreciated and has attracted the interest of many reviewers since the nineteenth century, hence the rapid rise.

In the words of Gay McAuley, “for an activity to be regarded as a performance, it must involve the live presence of the performers and those witnessing it…” (McAuley, 2009, cited in Schechner, 2013, pp.38). This statement recognises the importance of both the actor and the audience for something to truly function as a performance. In addition, Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones highlights the significance of the theatrical space and how it can influence an audience stating that “on entering a theatre of any kind, a spectator walks into a specific space, one that is designed to produce a certain reaction or series of responses” (Llewellyn-Jones, 2002, pp.3). The relationship between actor, audience and theatrical space is no less important today than it was at the time of theatre during the Spanish Golden Age and the creation of Commedia dell’arte in Italy. Despite being very close geographically with theatre thriving for both in the same era, sources that explore the social, cultural and historical context of these countries and the theatre styles will bring to light the similarities and differences. This essay will analyse the staging, the behaviour of the audience as well as the challenges the actors faced, and how this directly influenced the relationship between actor, audience and theatrical space.

“In roughly built playhouses and cobblestone inn yards, an extraordinary development took place in England in the 1500s.” (Yancey, 8). At that time, an opportunity combined to produce literature achievement never before witnessed in the history of drama and theater. The renaissance, helped spark this movement by inspiring scientific and artistic creativity throughout the land. Models began writing dramas that portrayed life in both realistic and imaginative ways. This created work later captured the attention of the world that changed the English drama. The many aspects of Elizabethan theater helped to shape the acting and theater world forever.

The history of theatre in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries is one of the increasing commercialization of the art, accompanied by technological innovations, the introduction of serious critical review, expansion of the subject matters portrayed to include ordinary people, and an emphasis on more natural forms of acting. Theatre, which had been dominated by the church for centuries, and then by the tastes of monarchs for more than 200 years, became accessible to merchants, industrialists, and the less privileged and then the masses.

In today's busy world, people usually struggle to find time for fun and a way of relaxation but when it happens, they often spend it on entertainment. One of those forms of entertainment is watching stage or film productions. Theatre and film have lots of aspects in common and depend on each other, however, they involve differences. People choose between theater and film based on factors and their own preferences. The purpose of this essay is to compare and contrast between those two forms of art.

In terms of writing and dramatic style, naturalism is a heightened form of realism. Naturalistic dramas generally follow guidelines created by Aristotle, the Greek philosopher. These rules are known as “the three unities”: action, place and time. The general rule is that the events of the play should take place in the same location over a single day. Naturalism was made popular by the French writer Émile Zola, and his principles were modified by the French for the stage in the late nineteenth-century. Zola’s rules, known as “the three principles of naturalism” formed the basis for the naturalist movement in theatre. The first principle, faire vrai, was that the play had to be realistic and be as close a study of the human condition as possible. The second principle, faire grand, was that the play had to be meaningful and each theme or event had to be of some significance. And lastly, the third principle, faire simple, was that the play had to be simple and the writer should not to clutter the play with unnecessary sub-plots or dialogue. Naturalism spread through Europe in the twentieth-century until it reached the USSR. Stanislavski, a Russian theatre producer, thought that melodrama was unrealistic and unbelievable. Therefore, he set up the Moscow Art Theatre, in which he created new rules for theatre which all of his actors had to follow. In naturalistic acting, characters had to be realistic and believable, and the costumes needed to reflect the different character’s