ISMS, Epic and Absurd Theatre

Question 1

What is the Realism SoPoCo? (5)

Answer 1

1850s – 1900s
* Scientific Revolution
- objective, cause and effect, observation)
* Industrial Revolution -class divide, urbanisation, mechanisation
* Colonisation
- territorial expansion
* Victorian society
- conservative morality, class divide
* Compte, Darwin, Nietzsche, Freud, Marx

Question 2

What are Realism Intentions?

Answer 2

To solve social problems by showing an objective slice of life on stage. Challenged moral values and social norms.

Question 3

Realism Chracteristics (10)

Answer 3

4th wall
- Proscenium Arch +
box set
- Intensive structure
Linear and chronological
- Cause and effect (Compte)
- 3D characters
- Subtext (Freud)
- Detail in set and set
dressing
- Contemporary
themes
- Problem play
- Unity of time, place
and action
- Stanislavski

Question 4

Symbolism Year and place

Answer 4

1880s – 1900s France

Question 5

Symbolism SoPoCo (7)

Answer 5

First anti-realist movement
- Heightened theatricality
- Move back to subjective
- France
- Darwin, Nietzsche,
Einstein, Freud
- Industrial rev
- Capitalism

Question 6

Symbolism Intention

Answer 6

Substitute direct statement for suggestion through use of symbols (subjective). Dramatise thoughts, feelings and impressions, plays penetrate surface reality and become metaphors. No attempt to solve social problems.

Question 7

Symbolism Characteristics (8)

Answer 7

Simplicity
- Mood and atmosphere NB and created by lighting and colour
- Vague plots, poetic language
- Actors like puppets: shows effects of fate
- Movement dance-like
- Stock type characters
- Stage space still a proscenium but has a 3D fluidity
- Impressionistic sets

Question 8

Expressionism SoPoCo (4)

Answer 8

1910s Germany
- WWI 1914 - 1918 Technology used in war
- Russian Revolution 1917
- Industrial Age

Question 9

Expressionism Intentions

Answer 9

Protest against materialism, industrialism and effects of Capitalism – destroyers of human spirit. Said industrial age had turned humans into machines with conditioned responses and souls shrivelled by materialistic values. Wanted social change, so themes strongly represented

Question 10

Futurism SoPoCo (4)

Answer 10

1910s Italy
- WWI 1914 - 1918 Technology used in war
- Russian Revolution 1917
- Industrial age

Question 11

Futurism Intention

Answer 11

Saw machine age as key to enlightened future. Rejected the past as it stood in the way of progress. Glorified machines.

Question 12

Futurism Characteristics (8)

Answer 12

Synthetic drama (compressed time and space)
- Simple unrelated scenes shown simultaneously
- Amalgamate the arts
- Confrontations with
audience
- Mix of forms
- Broke 4th wall and
performed in
auditorium
- Multimedia
- Multiple focuses in
performance

Question 13

Dadaism SoPoCo (7)

Answer 13

1910s/1920s Switzerland
* Post WWI
* Roaring Twenties
* Economic prosperity * Rise of communism * 1929 Stock Market Crash: worldwide economic recession

Question 14

Dadaism Intentions

Answer 14

Anti-art, Nihilism: rejection of all certainties, in response to war. Disgust with war and artistic traditions. Spat in the eye of the world. Brought the nature of art into question. Protest against senseless brutality of war.

Question 15

What are 6 Dadaism Characteristics?

Answer 15

Calculated madness
- Variety of forms
- Simultaneity and
multiple focuses
- No order, no logic, no meaning, no
optimism
- Shock audiences
- Rejected
proscenium arch and all forms of traditional staging

Question 16

What is the Surrealism SoPoCo? (4)

Answer 16

1930s France
- Great Depression
- Rise of dictators in
Italy (Mussolini) and Germany (Hitler)
- Freud and psychoanalysis: importance of the subconscious

Question 17

What are the Surrealism Intentions?

Answer 17

Believed truth can be found in subconscious dream-state of the mind. Explore imaginative images of dreams and expose inner truths.

Question 18

What are some Surrealism characteristics?

Answer 18

Mixed familiar with the strange
Used dissonant images to subvert the subconscious mind
Words and images had free reign on stage to break natural censorship of the mind
- New spaces replaced traditional theatre buildings
- Theatre of Cruelty: Antonin Artaud
- Stark lighting, shrill sound effects
Looking for an instinctive reaction that goes beyond social conditioning
Words and images had free reign on stage to break natural censorship of the mind
- New spaces replaced traditional theatre buildings
- Theatre of Cruelty: Antonin Artaud
- Stark lighting, shrill sound effects
Looking for an instinctive reaction beyond social conditioning
Play with language - Assaulted
audience’s senses

Question 19

What is the Epic theatres SoPoCo?
(3)

Answer 19

• WWI, Great Depression,
  Weimar Republic,
  rise of Nazis, WWII
• Divide between left
  and right thinking
• Brecht: Marxist and
  Pacifist

Question 20

What are the intentions of Epic theatre? (7)

Answer 20

promote Marxist morality and concepts
- Didactic – links morals to class
- Social Action
- Engaged, objective
and active
audience
- Entertainment
(spass)
- Dialectics – thesis, antithesis, synthesis (seen in structure)
- Flux: working class can change their fate

Question 21

Why did Brecht make Epic theater?

Answer 21

Brecht blamed Capitalism and greed for war – had created social, economic and political divides
- Epic Theatre: Marxist theatre intended to create social change

Question 22

Name 5 Characteristics of acting in epic theater

Answer 22

Acting is role- playing – I am playing, not I am being
Masks and stilts
- Gestus in
costumes and
props
- Multi-rolling
- Split-role

Question 23

Describe the structure of Epic Theater (8)

Answer 23

Episodic structure
and montage
- Historification
Gestus
- Spass
- Stok characters
- Songs and music
- Narration
- Meta-theatre

Question 24

Describe staging of Epic Theater (9)

Answer 24

Projections
- Placards
Theatre in the round/thrust
- Revolving stage
- Half-curtain
- 1D backdrops
- Scaffolding
- Harsh, white, bright, light
V-effekt

Question 25

Describe Absurd Theatre SoPoCo (13)

Answer 25

1940s + 50s Europe
- Post-WWII
- Existentialism
- Vacuum/void
- Man’s inhumanity to man
- Angst, anxiety, fear (atomic
bomb, Holocaust)
- Disillusionment
- Futility
- Hostile universe
- Womb to tomb
- Paradigm shift (Religion –
Science – nothing)
- Insignificance of human life

Question 26

Describe Absurd Theatre’s Intentions

Answer 26

Theatre of situation, gives audience a heightened feeling of absurdity, makes a point about the chaotic world and meaninglessness of life. Explores human condition in a post-WWII context. Expresses feelings of helplessness and futility in a hostile universe that seems to have no purpose. Point out emptiness of daily life and futility of existence.

Question 27

Describe the structure of an Absurd play. (5)

Answer 27

Tragicomedy
- Cyclical structure
- No conflict
Time: double sense of time, aimless continuity/climax
- No plot

Question 28

Describe Staging of an Absurd Play

Answer 28

Space: setting and staging – either vacuum/void/empty or cluttered – both show isolation and metaphor for the world
Everywhere and nowhere
at the same time