Overview of Realism

Modern Theatre, Realism

The movement that has had the most pervasive influence on modern theatre is realism, the trends toward which began with the rejection of neoclassical form through 18th-century sentimental dramas and comedies and continued in the artistic rebelliousness of Romantic drama. Likeness to life is realism's goal, and although it has sought to create a drama free of conventions and abstractions, it bears as many contrivances as any other dramatic style. Realism did achieve a reassessment of all aspects of production, however, and was conceived as a kind of laboratory where the "scientific method" would allow an "objective" presentation of the nature of relationships or the ills of society. Every aspect of the theatre was fashioned into apparent lifelikeness. Its evidence offered from the surface of life, however, prompts its viewers to delve into the mysteries below such surfaces and into the complex human lives it portrays. Henrik Ibsen launched the movement in 1879 with a trio of plays whose psychological detail and social concern other playwrights soon began to emulate across Europe.
As a concurrent but essentially independent movement, naturalism was an attempt to present human reality without any appearance of dramatic convention. Basing their ideas in the approach of scientists of nature, such as Charles Darwin, the naturalists conceived of human beings as biological phenomena, entirely determined by their heredity and environment. Naturalist plays, therefore, reject the elements of conventional dramatic structure, such as climaxes and conclusions. Instead, the theatre was to offer an unadulterated "slice of life."
Although Henrik Ibsen's dramas brought realistic theatre to prominence, those of Anton Chekhov became the most carefully crafted examples of its style. By creating deeply complex character relationships and developing the plots and themes between the lines, Chekhov created intricate plays that are still performed today. Looking in depth at his drama, The Three Sisters, reveals the qualities of his technique that were a revelation to audiences when the play was first performed by the Moscow Art Theatre in 1901.
Since the United States is a relatively young country, its major dramatic development took place during realism's rise to prominence. Eugene O'Neill, America's first master dramatist, as well as Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams, and other mid-twentieth-century playwrights wrote works that reveal the social and personal characteristics and issues of America. Such works helped make realism the basic language of the American stage today.
Source

The Modern Theatre

One of theatre's greatest periods continues today. The modern period and its drama were shaped by world-changing forces, such as industrial-technological revolution, democratic revolutions, and an intellectual revolution that would disrupt earlier conceptions of time, space, the divine, human psychology, and social order. As a result, a theatre of challenge and experimentation emerged.
Realism, the movement with the most pervasive and long-lived effect on modern theatre, was conceived as a laboratory in which the ills of society, familial problems, and the nature of relationships could be "objectively" presented for the judgment of impartial observers. Its goal, of likeness to life, demanded that settings resemble their prescribed locales precisely and seem like rooms from real life in which one wall have been removed. The playwright Henrik Ibsen initiated the realistic period with plays focused on contemporary, day-to-day themes that skillfully reveal both sides of a conflict through brilliantly capturing psychological detail. Anton Chekhov, in Russia, would bring the form to its stylistic apogee with plays whose even minor characters seem to breathe the air we do and in which the plots and themes are developed primarily between the lines. An independent but concurrent movement, naturalism, would be an even more extreme attempt to dramatize human reality without the appearance of dramaturgical shaping. While realist plays would address well-defined social issues, naturalist plays offered a simple "slice of life" free from dramatic convention. With the same reverence for nature, the human being was conceived as a mere biological phenomenon whose behavior was determined by heredity and environment.
Source

Understanding Realism

Realism was a theatre movement that came to the forefront in the early 20th Century. It  was the theory of Naturalism put into practice. It aimed to take a ‘slice of life', as such, and reproduce it on the stage. The proscenium arch acted as the fourth wall of a room, and the audience looked into this ‘laboratory-type' set up and examined what may happen to a real person.

The movement was interested in looking at the complexity of the human psyche; analysing why it is humans act the way we do, thus the main challenge of the actor was to be as realistic and as close to life as possible.

Now that we have had a very basic look at realism, we can understand that its premise was to take a ‘slice of life' and reproduce it on stage, as close to life as possible. To achieve this, certain guidelines or principles were established. For example, actors did not address the audience, and instead were trained to ‘become' the character they were playing: to feel their emotion and believe that they were living the characters life. The theory being ‘I feel it, therefore I am it.'

The majority of mainstream theatre today works on the principles of realism.

Source

Realism

• Shows life as it really is
• "Problem Plays"- shed light on problems in life and society
• There is no right/wrong, bad/good, moral/immoral
• Average everyday people dealing with real life problems
• Ending is rarely happy
• Required actors to become the characters
• Set is usually realistic as well, often a "box set" with the fourth wall removed

Box Set

Example of a box set from "The Mousetrap"