1
Q
SOPOCO
A
- Period of GREAT CHANGE
- Each decade noted a new developement
- Exciting and turbulent
- Rapid developements in science and technology
- Paradigm shift changed the way people behaved and thought
- People started questioning and interrogating long held beliefs
2
Q
1880’s-1900’s: What did philosophers, theoriest/thinkers do for society?
Social
A
challenged the way people thought about religion, philosophy, physics etc
3
Q
DARWIN
Social
A
- The theory of evolution: We all came from a common ancestor
- Disputed creationism
- Believed we are made up of our genes and environment
4
Q
NIETZCHE
Social
A
- “God is Dead”: people have severed their relationship with God; God is no longer a ruling force in people’s lives
- Morality: The Church is morally wrong; each individual is to give their own meaning to life
- Moral dualism which leads to Nihilism; ways to overcome Nihilism
- Lead to developement of existentialism
5
Q
FREUD
Social
A
- Psychoanalysis, dreams and the subconcious
- We are driven by our instincts, impulses and defence mechanism
6
Q
EINSTEIN
Social
A
- Theory of RELATIVITY
- Revolutionised ideas of time, mass, distance and energy
- Understanding of the physical world changed
7
Q
Industrial Revolution
Political and Economic
A
- Major changes in transport, agriculture and manufacturing (TAM)
- Profound impacts on politics and economy: Capitalism, classes
8
Q
Capitalism
Political and Economic
A
- Private ownership
- Consumerism
- Class divide
9
Q
NEW IMPERIALISM: COLONISATION
Political and Economic
A
- Aggressive competition for overseas territory
- Exploitation of resources and slave labour
10
Q
MARXISM AND KARL MARX
Political and Economic
A
- Criticised the capilast system: Saw it in all it’s flaws of dehumanisation adn explotaion
- Proposed a new classless society
11
Q
1910
Political and Economic
A
The age of European Militarianism
12
Q
WW1: 1914 – 1918
Political and Economic
A
- First time tech used exstensively (tanks, shells, machine guns)
- People dies in millions
- War to end all wars - they belived a war like this would never occur on this scale again
13
Q
What happened between WWI and WWII
A
- 1917: The Russian Revolution
- 1920’s: The Roaring 20’s
- Age of economic prosperity (US: Rapid urbanisation, stock market, wealth; RUSSIA: Rise in communism; GERMANY/ITALY: Rise in facism)
- 1929: Stock market crash, great depression; women voting rights
- 1930’s: World economic crisis
14
Q
1930’s: Effects of The World Economic Crisis
What happened between WWI and WWII
A
- High unemployment rate
- US implemets progressive reforms
- Italy + Germany = Rise of the dictators
- Radio as a dominant media form
- WWII breaks out and ends the recession
15
Q
WWII: 1939 -1945
A
- USA, Britain, Russia against Germany, Italy, Japan
- Holocaust, Blitz, Atomic Bomb
- 50-70 million deaths
- Increased independence of women: encouraged to work
16
Q
COLD WAR: 1946 – 1991
A
- US capitalism vs. USSR communism
- Ideological/Proxy war: space race, arms race, propaganda
17
Q
POST-WWII: Existentialism
A
Rise of feelings of fear and despair, existence of God called into question, life seemed meaningless, science has failed us, loss of external organising principles
18
Q
What were the ISMS?
A
- Symbolism
- Expressionism
- Futurism
- Dadaism
- Surrealism (Epic Theatre)
19
Q
What did the Symbolists and Expressionists want?
A
Wanted to add new meaning to theatre by going beyond the surface reality of Realism
20
Q
What did the Dadaists, Futurists and Surrealists want?
A
They completely renounced traditional theatre and created an entirely new form
21
Q
SYMBOLISM: Time and Place
A
1880’s France
22
Q
SYMBOLISM: Response to Context
A
- Began in the literary world: TS Elliot and Yeats
- First movement to rebel against Realism (Anti-realist movement)
- Avoided any attempt to solve social issues
- Little impact on mainstream theatre, however profound impact on future movements
- Used symbols in replacement for direct statements
- Simplified settings
23
Q
SYMBOLISM: Aims/Intentions
A
- Dramatise thoughts and feelings - create a subjective reality
- Suggest a universal truth that of which cannot be defined by logic
- Therefore logical though communicated ONLY by symbols
- Appreareance is a minor aspect of reality; reality is found in the unknowable and mysterious forces that control reality
- Play becomes a metaphore: uses symbols to evoke feelings and emotions
- Penetrates beyond the surface reality; expressed inner meaning of life
24
Q
SYMBOLISM: Key Features and Characteristics
A
- Keynote: SIMPLICITY
- Mood and atmosphere: created by lighting, colour, shapes, lines
- Lighting UNIFIED stage + actor + set
- Plays were delibirately artificial - intended to mystify the audience so the audience could look for a deeper meaning
- Did not adhere to 3 unities
- Actor akin to sculpture: rhythmic, dance-like movement
- Stock type: Controlled by fate
- Proscenium arch allowed a 3D fluidity
- Set: impressionistic to capture the spirit of life, not the form; Complimented the actor - focus remained on the actor
25
EXPRESSIONISM: Time and Place
1910 Germany
26
EXPRESSIONISM: Response to 20th century context
- **Protest against materialism**, industrialism and effects of **capitalism**
- Saw these things as **destroyers of the human spirit**
- Used **sarcasm** and **satire**
- Expressionist said industrial age had turned **humans into machines:** with conditioned responses and **souls shrivelled by materialistic values**
- There was **no absolute truth** – truth found within **humankinds** (spirits, desires and visions) – **subjective**
27
EXPRESSIONISM: Aim/Intention
- **Protest against social order**, **paternalistic** family structures and **ethics of capitalism**
- Wanted to **reshape the external world**
- Explore the **subjective reality** of humankind
- Expose **inner feelings** and experiences of characters
- Wanted **social change** – therefore **themes** were strongly represented
28
EXPRESSIONISM: Key Features
- Focused on how the **human spirit** has been distorted by false values - **DISTORTION**
- **Protagonist** (**author-hero – mouthpiece of the playwright)** – searching for **identity** and fulfilment or a **means to change the world**
- **Warped by materialism and industrialism**
- As they become **more tortured** and disturbed by external world, the **more distorted and exaggerated** the scenery, lighting, sound and costumes become
- **Staging:** anti-realist sets, shapes that are altered and exaggerated **(sharp angles)**, abnormal colour, mechanical movement
- **Actor’s Schrei:** an exaggerated facial expression showing a silent scream **(dissatisfaction with bourgeois complacency)**
- **Speech exaggerated:** varied from long speeches and prose to short, rhythmic staccato bursts of speech – reinforces the **offbeat atmosphere and dehumanised characterisation**
- **Theatrical devices:** narrators, soliloquies, music, dancing, unusual sound and technical effects
- Unity of time, place and action is disrupted – **episodic** structure
- **Stock characters:** strong themes and messages, emphasis on essential experiences of masses, **simplified plot**, **communicate the protest message**
- **Grotesque** imagery and a satirical mood
- Dark and Light contrast
29
FUTURISM: Time and Place
1910 Italy
30
FUTURISM: Response to 20th century context
- Futurists: saw **machine age as the key to an enlightened future**
- They **glorified machine age** rather than focusing on psychological **introspection**
- **Rejected the past** because they believed it **stood in the way of progress**
31
FUTURISM: Aims/Intention
- **Replaced existing drama** with a synthetic one that **compressed time and space**
- By showing **simple, unrelated scenes simultaneously** in **one dramatic setting**
- **Amalgamate the arts** (liked circuses and musicals and anything that **broke the tradish proscenium arch setting)**
- **Sought confrontations with the audience** and **challenged their prejudice about what art is**
32
FUTURISM: Key Features
- Performances were a **confrontational mix of forms**: visual events, dancing, displays performed simultaneously or in succession – **result was quite chaotic**
- Actors sometimes performed in the **auditorium**
- **Opposed traditional conventions** and employed a **variety of art forms** - **multimedia** techniques
33
DADAISM: Time and Place
Switzerland 1920's
34
DADAISM: Response to 20 th C context
- Began in **1916**
- **Based on philosophy of nihilism** (belief in nothing, rejection of all certainties, structures, extreme scepticism)
- Grounded in a **rejection of values** that had **provoked WWI**
- Because **insanity seemed to be the world’s state** they replaced logic, reason and unity with illogic **‘calculated madness’**
- **Expressed disgust** with social and artistic traditions: ***“spat in the eye of the world”***
- **Tristan Tzara (manifesto):** Dada is everything, dada doubts everything,** the real Dadaists are against dada”**
- **Destroyed old forms** so that **new forms** could truly **represent the human condition**
- **Succeeded in bringing into question the nature of art**
35
DADAISM: Aim/Intention
- **Protest against the senseless brutality of war,** where all **moral and aesthetic values** were **meaningless**
- Spread **anti-art** and **non-sense** to show that **art depended on chance alone**
- **Did not try to suggest how to improve the world, they just questioned everything that existed**
36
DADAISM: Key Features
- Used a **variety of forms:** visual art, dance, lectures, short plays to convey their philosophy
- Like Futurists, they used **simultaneity and multiple focuses**
- Believed that **theatre was an illogical arrangement of unrelated objects and events**
- Motto was **“nothing” – Grosz** – our symbol was nothingness, a vacuum, a void
- **No order, no logic, no meaning, no optimism**
- Staging intended to **shock** audiences
- **Rejected the proscenium arch**
- **Against ALL forms of traditional staging**
- **HUGO BALL – nonsense sound poems**
37
SURREALISM: Time and Place
France 1930's
38
SURREALISM: Response to 20 th C Context
| [4]
- **Dadaism was absorbed into Surrealism** (also a revolt against Realism)
- **Andre Breton** launched it in a manifesto in 1924
- Wanted to **express real process of thought**
- Wanted a **new reality** based on artistic truth, using the **subconscious dream- state of the mind**
- Emphasised importance of **subconscious** **(Freud)**
39
SURREALISM: Aim/Intention
| [3]
- Explore **imaginative images of dreams** and **subconscious mind** and **not be limited by reality**
- **Expose “inner truths”**, and to do this the **conscious mind must be subverted**
- **Go beyond the normal perceptions of the outside world**
40
SURREALISM: Key Features
- Staging drew inspiration from **dream-like images**
- Words and images had free reign on stage to **encourage the breaking of the natural censorship** of the mind
- Sentences **without grammatical structure,** **juxtaposed** with situations that seemed to **have nothing in common** – but they have a **connection in the subconscious**
- **Theatre of Cruelty**: Antonin Artaud
- Used **new spaces to replace traditional theatre** buildings
- **Stark lighting, shrill sound effects**
- **Appeals to the rational mind** were useless because people were **conditioned** by society to **ignore their impulses**
- **Language seen as having too close a connection with rational thought**
- Broke down the audience’s defences by **assaulting their senses**
- **Became v influential after WW2** (bitter and **disillusioned**) and in 1960s (**Grotowski** and Poor Theatre)
Drama
flashcards
Decks in class (7)
# Cards
