9780230 361089 01 Pre - macmillanihe.com · tively. In both cases, the words were used as a ‘term in religious and philosophical arguments’ which, as Williams notes: followed

Contents

List of Illustrations viiiList of Boxes xAcknowledgements xiTimeline for Naturalism xii

Part I INTRODUCING NATURALISM 1

1 Initial Definitions 3 Scribe and the well-made play 7 T. W. Robertson 11 Chapter summary 13 Seminar and workshop topics 13 Further reading 14

2 Manifestos 15 Émile Zola 15 August Strindberg 26 Chapter summary 32 Seminar and workshop topics 33 Further reading 33

Part II NATURALISM IN ITS CONTEXT 35

3 The European Scene 37 A world in flux 37 The great Naturalist 41 The study of the mind and the development of psychology 44 The subjection of women 46 Nations, empires and revolutions 53 ‘Have you read Nietzsche?’ 55 Chapter summary 57 Seminar and workshop topics 57 Further reading 58

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4 Naturalism in the Theatre: The Search for Truth 59 From romance to realism: Irving and the elevation of melodrama 59 Melodrama and the advance of theatre technology 62 Naturalism and staging 66 Stage lighting 67 Art and photography 72 Opera and Naturalism 74 Terrible truthfulness 76 Acting as an art and science 78 Delsarte 81 The imitation of nature 84 The truth of the passions 86 Truth in context and action 93 Chapter summary 95 Seminar and workshop topics 96 Further reading 96

Part III PLAYS, PLAYERS AND PLAYHOUSES 99

5 Meiningen – A Prelude to Naturalism 101 The Meiningen Company 101 Working with actors 102 Historical truth and accuracy 103 Scenic structures 104 Meiningen and the new drama 106 Chapter summary 108 Seminar and workshop topics 109 Further reading 109

6 André Antoine and the Théâtre Libre 110 Early days and development 111 The birth of Théâtre Libre 113 Théâtre Antoine 128 Chapter summary 129 Seminar and workshop topics 129 Further reading 130

7 Otto Brahm and the Freie Bühne 131 The development of Naturalist drama 132 The founding of the Freie Bühne 138 Chapter summary 142 Seminar and workshop topics 143 Further reading 143

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8 Moscow Art Theatre 145An overview of the Russian theatre 145The founding of the Moscow Art Theatre 149Chapter summary 160Seminar and workshop topics 161Further reading 161

Part IV THE LEGACY 163

9 The Immediate Legacy 165The quintessence of Ibsenism 165London 165The problem play and the Manchester School 171The Abbey Theatre 173Glasgow Rep and Joe Corrie 175D. H. Lawrence 178The United States: ‘Art for Truth’s Sake’ 187Chapter summary 195Seminar and workshop topics 196Further reading 196

10 The Royal Court Again 198The English Stage Company 199The English Stage Company at The Royal Court Theatre 201 ‘New-wave’ dramatists 202 Arnold Wesker 202 Bertolt Brecht 206Chapter summary 209Seminar and workshop topics 210Further reading 210

11 Verbatim Theatre 211Peter Cheeseman and the origins of verbatim theatre 211 Alecky Blythe 214 Nicolas Kent and the Tricycle Theatre 215Documentary theatre and authenticity 215Chapter summary 217Seminar and workshop topics 218Further reading 218

Bibliography 219Index 225

C O N T E N T S | vii

CHAPTER 1

Initial Definitions

Naturalism is one of the most intriguing and enduring developments in thehistory of the theatre. Like so many of the ideas and ‘isms’ helping to shape thecreation, description, discussion and analysis of works of art during the last 150years or so, Naturalism had its origins in France. It was the French novelist anddramatist Émile Zola (1840–1902) who first articulated the concept of Naturalismas it is understood today in relation to theatre and we shall be investigating hisideas in detail at a later stage.

That ‘Naturalism’ is a problematic term is something acknowledged in themajority of texts dealing with the subject. The immediate problem facing mostpeople is how to distinguish between ‘Naturalism’ and ‘Realism’, a situation notmade any easier by the confusion the Naturalists and commentators of the mid-nineteenth century also appear to have had in this respect. Furst and Skrine in theirbook Naturalism (1971) provide an interesting analysis of the usage of these termsin the nineteenth century which tended, even then, to be used interchangeably, notleast by Émile Zola from whom we would expect to find some degree of clarity.For some critics writing about ‘Naturalism’ the terms were synonymous, ‘merelyone and the same thing’, and to illustrate this point Furst and Skrine cite the criticBrunetiere who, in his book Le Roman Naturaliste (The Naturalist Novel), refersto Flaubert’s Madame Bovary as both a ‘masterpiece of the realistic novel’ and laterin the text as ‘the true harbinger of naturalism’ (1971: 6). Since then, of course,scholars and critics have attempted to make these distinctions a great deal clearerfor the individual, and one of the most useful explanations of the term ‘Naturalism’is one provided by Raymond Williams in his book Keywords: A Vocabulary ofCulture and Society. Williams’s writing on Naturalism, and his reflections on thedevelopment of the form into the twentieth century are extremely enlighteningand we will return to consider them at various stages throughout the book.

Raymond Williams (1921–1988) novelist, literary critic, cultural historian andacademic produced an extensive body of work during his lifetime. The range ofhis work is as ‘unclassifiable’ as the range of titles we might confer upon him. Afounder member of the Socialist Society, and regarded as a ‘leftist intellectual’ hiswork has had an important influence on the ideas and work of many key figures.Stuart Hall in his obituary for The New Statesman (1988) acknowledges that thefield of ‘cultural studies’ as we know it today ‘would have been impossible withouthis path-breaking work’. In terms of his contribution to the study of drama,

3

Williams, who was a Professor of Drama at Cambridge in the mid-seventies,produced a number of essays and books on the subject, amongst which thefollowing essays are of particular value in the study of Naturalism, ‘Theatre as aPolitical Form’, ‘The Case of English Naturalism’, and ‘Strindberg and ModernTragedy’. Williams’s books on drama include Modern Tragedy, Drama in Perform-ance and Drama from Ibsen to Brecht.

Williams, in his introduction to Keywords (1976), describes for the reader the‘new’ and ‘strange’ world in which he found himself upon his return to Englandin 1945 at the end of the Second World War. This was a world in which attitudeshad clearly changed, but more significantly for Williams, he felt he was in aworld where ‘they just don’t speak the same language’ (1976: 11). He increasinglybecame preoccupied with what he perceived to be more regular use of the word‘culture’. At the time it seemed to him that he was now hearing the word usedin two distinct and more developed senses. Where previously it had been anactive word concerned with writing, making and working in the arts, and alsoin a different sense the ‘preferred’ word to indicate a social superiority in rela-tion to behaviour, he was struck by its new use to ‘indicate, powerfully, but notexplicitly some central formation of values’ and in more general discussion itwas used to indicate ‘society: a particular way of life – American culture,Japanese culture’ (1976: 12). From our own perspective this may seem rathercurious because we have, of course, assimilated these senses into our own usageof the word but, within the specific conditions and context of the time, Williamswas not alone in his preoccupation with the word ‘culture’. The term was tobecome central to post-war discourse, and as we see later in the book, becomesa key concern in relation to post-war drama. Williams’s preoccupation with theword eventually resulted in the publication of his book Culture and Societywhich he completed in 1956. Keywords, published 20 years later, is in fact theappendix he was forced to omit from Culture and Society prior to publication.As he says, it is not a dictionary or glossary, but rather ‘the record of an inquiryinto a vocabulary: a shared body of words and meanings in our most generaldiscussions, in English, of the practices and institutions which we group asculture and society’ (1976: 15).

For our purposes Williams provides an extremely useful account of his enquiryinto the word ‘Naturalism’, contextualising the emergence and usage of the wordbefore going on to situate it in relation to the form of theatre representation weare exploring in this book. As Williams points out, ‘Naturalism’ is a ‘more complexword’ than is generally recognized and the tendency to regard it as simply ‘a styleof accurate external representation’ is to neglect the ‘philosophical and scientific’sense of the word which is fundamental to our understanding of ‘Naturalism’ asa form of theatre representation.

Williams traces the first appearance of the words ‘naturalist’ and ‘naturalism’in English from the late sixteenth century and early seventeeth century respec-

4 | I N T R O D U C I N G NAT U R A L I S M

tively. In both cases, the words were used as a ‘term in religious and philosophicalarguments’ which, as Williams notes:

followed a particular sense of NATURE (q.v.) in which there was a contrastwith God or Spirit. To study the natural causes of events, or to explain orjustify morality from nature or human nature, was to be a naturalist and topropound naturalism, although the actual terms seem to have beenconferred by their opponents. (1976: 216)

It seems that the word ‘Naturalist’ becomes a ‘common C17 term for natural

philosopher’, those individuals who, as Williams points out, we would morereadily recognize as ‘physicists or biologists’: ‘As late as mC19 these senses of natu-

ralism and naturalist (either (i) opposition to supernaturalism or (ii) the studyof natural history – now mainly biology) were predominant’.

Williams identifies three specific effects of the prevailing senses of natural,

natural history and naturalism, which have a bearing on the development of artand literature. The first of these effects relates to the sense of ‘natural’ to imply a‘simple and natural manner of writing’. The second ‘effect’ is of the sense of naturalhistory, specifically ‘in its special characteristic of close and detailed observation’.What Williams argues tends to be omitted in the history and critical discussion,and thus our understanding, of ‘Naturalism’ is:

[…] the third effect, from naturalism in the general philosophical and scien-tific sense, itself much influenced by the new and controversial develop-ments in geology and biology and especially by Darwin’s theory of natural

selection in EVOLUTION (q.v.). (217)

As we will discover the Naturalists were particularly influenced by this sense of‘Naturalism’:

[…] by the idea of the application of scientific method in literature: specif-ically the study of heredity in the story of a family, but also, more generally,in the sense of describing and interpreting human behaviour in strictlynatural terms, excluding the hypothesis of some controlling or directingforce outside human nature.

This naturalism was the basis of a major new kind of writing, and thephilosophical position was explicitly argued: cf. Strindberg: ‘the naturalisthas abolished guilt by abolishing God’; ‘the summary judgments on mengiven by authors […] should be challenged by naturalists, who know therichness of the soul-complex and recognize that “vice” has a reverse side verymuch like virtue’ (Preface to Lady Julie, 1888). A new importance was givento the environment of characters and actions. (Environment in its special and

I N I T IA L D E F I N I T I O N S | 5

now primary sense of the conditions, including the physical conditions,within which someone or something lives and develops, was an associatedeC19 development from the earlier general sense of surroundings.) Characterand action were seen as affected or determined by environment, which espe-cially in a social and social-physical sense had then to be accurately describedas an essential element of any account of a life.This connected with the senseof careful and detailed observation, from natural history, but it was not (aswas later supposed) detailed description for its own sake, or from someconventional plausibility; rather it rested on the new and properly naturalist

sense of the determining or decisive or influential effect of an environmenton a life (in the variations between determining and influential much of thesubsequent development can be understood) […] (218–19)

Williams, in his essay ‘Social Environment and Theatrical Environment – TheCase of English Naturalism’ provides a more concise overview: ‘there are threerelevant senses of Naturalism and the associated “naturalist” and “naturalistic”’(1980: 125). The first and probably most commonly used relates to: ‘a method of“accurate” or “lifelike” reproduction’ which we might more usefully consider astechnical Naturalism. The second relates to ‘a philosophical position allied toscience, natural history and materialism’ (125). These then are individuals orgroups of individuals whose understanding and view of the world is inextricablylinked to the ‘material substance’ of this world, its natural and physical laws. Thethird sense ‘indicates a movement in which the method of accurate productionand the specific philosophical position are intended to be organically fused’ (125)and it is this third sense which is ‘the most significant in the history of drama’(125), and which distinguishes realism from Naturalism. It is this ‘third sense[that], in specific application to a particular kind of novel or play, and thence toa literary movement, appeared in French in the late 1860s and is common inEnglish from the 1880s’ (125).

Williams notes that aspects of ‘naturalism’ start to become ‘habitual’, certainlyin English bourgeois drama, from the middle of the eighteenth century. In hischapter ‘Theatre as a Political Forum’ in The Politics of Modernism he identifiesfive influential factors which emerge, and become increasingly more evident inthe different stages of the ‘long and slow lines of development through’ to thetwentieth century:

First, there was the radical admission of the contemporary as legitimate mate-rial for drama. In the major periods of Greek and Renaissance drama theinherent choice of material was overwhelmingly legendary or historical, withat most some insertions of the contemporary at the margins of thesedistanced events. Second, there was an admission of the indigenous as partof the same movement; the widespread convention of an at least nominally


exotic site for drama began to be loosened, and the ground for the nowequally widespread convention of the contemporary indigenous began to beprepared. Third, there was an increasing emphasis on everyday speech formsas the basis for dramatic language: in practice, at first a reduction from theextraordinary linguistic range, including the colloquial, which had markedthe English Renaissance, but eventually a decisive point of reference for thenature of all dramatic speech, formal rhetorical, choral and monologicaltypes being steadily abandoned. Fourth there was an emphasis on socialextension: a deliberate breach of the convention that at least the principalpersonages of drama should be of elevated social rank. As in the novel, thisprocess of extension moved in stages from the court to the bourgeois homeand then, first in melodrama, to the poor. Fifth, there was the completionof a decisive secularism: not, in its early stages, necessarily a rejection of, orindifference to, religious belief, but a steady exclusion from the dramaticaction of all supernatural or metaphysical agencies. Drama was now, explic-itly, to be a human action played in exclusively human terms.(1989: 183–4)

What we find, increasingly, in the development of bourgeois drama is an attempttowards ‘positive interventions in its own images, sentimental and conformist asthese undoubtedly were’ (183). What we have yet to find in the development ofthis earlier drama is the ‘production’ of character and action determined by thephysical and social environment. For Williams, late nineteenth-century Natu-ralism is a ‘shocking intensification’ of these five factors and, ‘in practice’, the firstphase of a Modernist theatre (183).

Scribe and the well-made play

As we shall see, the drama produced by the Naturalists in the late nineteenthcentury was both a response to the ‘spirit’ of the time and a determined attemptto break with existing theatre conventions. In order to fully comprehend and inter-rogate the work of the Naturalist playwrights, it is important to understand thedrama against which they were reacting. We will briefly consider the work ofEugène Scribe (1791–1861), the dramatist who developed the ‘pièce bien faite’(well-made play), and whose plays not only dominated the French stage in thefirst half of the nineteenth century but were regularly translated for the Europeanstage where they, similarly, enjoyed enormous popularity. Scribe’s influence isevident not only in the drama of his immediate successors, the French playwrightsSardou, Augier and Dumas fils, but also in the work of successive foreign play-wrights.

Orphaned at the age of 15 Scribe inherited enough money on his mother’s deathto permit him a degree of freedom in life, he was thus in the enviable position of


being able to choose the path of his career. Scribe’s passion for theatre was suchthat the only career he had in mind was to be a dramatist and whilst his earlyattempts at playwriting were not entirely successful, someone with less determi-nation and commitment might well have abandoned the profession. He perse-vered, and these formative years clearly served him well in relation to thedevelopment of his dramatic skills when at the age of only 24, he finally achievedsuccess with Une nuit de la Garde Nationale at the Vaudeville theatre (Koon andSwitzer, 1980:14).

Although never his intention, Scribe was, in his own way, affecting a ‘transfor-mation’ in the conventional theatre of the time. As Koon and Switzer note, theplay proved to be:

an innovation in his own work and on the boulevard stage. Scribe hadapplied his ‘theatrical technique’ in a manner that was quite distinct fromthe fanciful pastorals: the subject was contemporary, the treatment realisticand the language colloquial. (1980: 15)

We should note here that the play was the result of a collaboration, which at thetime was common practice and, indeed, a practice Scribe, for the most part,continued throughout his career. This probably accounts for the prodigiousnumber of plays he was able to produce in his lifetime, which number some fourhundred. The range of work he produced is, similarly, quite extraordinary, andalongside the comedies for which he is best known, we find operas, historicalplays and tragedies. As Cardwell notes in his article ‘The Well Made Play ofEugene Scribe’ in The French Review, Scribe also produced a melodrama and ‘apre-naturalist play that traces in dismal detail the decline and death of a womanwho falls under the influence of wrong friends’ (1983: 877).

Scribe’s rise to fame was speedy and within five years of his initial success atthe Vaudeville in 1815, he had become the most popular dramatist in Paris. Anacute business man, he was a millionaire before he reached the age of 40 and ‘thefirst Frenchman to get rich by writing plays’ (Cardwell, 1983: 876) For John RussellTaylor, author of The Rise and Fall of the Well Made Play, Scribe’s unique abilitieslay both in his realization that ‘the most reliable formula for holding an audience’sattention was a well-told story’ and his recognition that ‘performance, is an expe-rience in time, and that therefore the first essential is to keep one’s audience atten-tive from one minute to the next’ (1967: 11–12). This was precisely what Scribeexpertly achieved in his pièce bien fait – the well-made play.

Whilst Scribe’s plays very much depend on the basic structure of exposition,action, denouement and resolution, it is important to recognize that within thisstructure his dramatic approach varies from work to work. Critics have attemptedto ascribe a formula seeking out the key features that recur in Scribe’s plays but,for Douglas Cardwell, ‘the search for a formula that will explain the structure of


the well made play is doomed to failure’ (1983: 877) Cardwell goes on to arguethat whilst common practices and tendencies can be found in Scribe’s work thereis ‘no general structure that is common to all such plays’ (877). The term ‘well-made play’ has come to have rather negative associations; contrived, formulaicand favouring ‘form over substance’, with the result that Scribe is a much misun-derstood dramatist.

Scribe’s play Le Puff – ou Mensonge et Verité (The Puff – or Falsehood andTruth), written in 1848 and translated into English by Ranjit Bolt with the titleBelieve it or Not (2004), provides us with a fine example of Scribe’s work. AsNicholas Dromgoole notes in his introduction to the play, ‘to puff ’ meant in bothEnglish and French ‘“to praise unduly” and “to bring to the public’s attention”’(2004: 7). As Dromgoole notes, the significance of the title relates to the increasing‘power of the press’ in which ‘reputations were boosted or blasted’ (7), somethingakin to what we are familiar with as ‘spin’.

DESGAUDETS: […] You seem to be the only person who hasn’t found outthat in this whole, gigantic metropolis, there isn’t a word oftruth to be had. Puff is kind, my boy. Puff and publicity.

ALBERT: Puff?DESGAUDETS: Puff, or ‘peuff ’, as our friends across the Channel would say

– the art of promulgating, for financial gain, that which …erm … isn’t exactly so. It’s lying carried to the level of specu-lation, for the greater good of society and the capitalistsystem. The rhapsodising of poets; the posturing of politi-cians; the fashionable lady, feigning a headache so her lovergives her diamonds; the merchant, hawking his wares; theminister threatening to resign; the industrialist touting hislatest venture; the stockbroker peddling his new shareoffering; the connoisseur; the philanthropist – they’re all justdifferent types of puff. (Scribe, 2004: 22)

What we find in the play is a representation of reality to the degree that Scribe isdealing with contemporary matters, and setting up for his characters situationsin which he primarily exposes the ‘manipulation of the press’ for both personalsuccess and financial gain. Generally, Scribe avoided exploring ideas that mightpotentially ‘displease’ the audience but we find in this play a number of aspectswhich the middle-class audience would recognize if not identify with, these wereas Dromgoole notes: ‘well aimed and serious truths, admittedly wrapped aroundwith the appropriate humour that made them palatable, but only just’ (Scribe,2004: 15).

The play centres on the character of Albert d’Angremont, a cavalry captain,who has returned to Paris after five years’ service in Algeria to seek justice for the


widow of his commander. The exposition in the first act occurs within the settingof a bookshop, which facilitates the coming and going of the characters as theyare introduced to the audience. Whilst Scribe’s characters grew increasingly more‘realistic’, they remain undeveloped, serving primarily to further the action.Although, as Koon and Switzer point out, it is a mistake to judge them by the pagealone because: ‘in the theatre they come to life in a remarkably rich and distinctivemanner’ (1980: 38). Information relating to the characters’ situation, backgroundevents and the two female characters, who have yet to be introduced, emergesthrough the dialogue, which is carefully constructed to ensure that there are noexchanges of information which are already known to the characters. As Cardwellnotes, one of the Scribean principles of the exposition is that it ‘must be complete’to the extent that there is an ‘allusion to every previous event’ (1983: 877). Scribe,of course, uses a range of dramatic devices and in the first act, Albert unexpectedlymeets his old friend Maxence who is entering the shop just as he is leaving itwhich, of course, is entirely plausible given the setting. It transpires from theirconversation that Albert is in love with Maxence’s sister. The subsequent actionof the play largely revolves around Albert’s attempts to overcome the obstacleswhich prevent him from marrying Antonia. The various twists in the plot areexecuted with ingenuity, and whilst Scribe is drawing on a number of recognizabletechniques, secrets, misunderstandings and so on, these are carefully orchestratedwithin the overall structure of the play. The obstacles increase in complexity, andalthough tantalizingly near to resolution at times, finally reach the ‘climax’, thescene a faire which paves the way to the denouement. As Dromgoole notes, thisis ‘stock stuff ’, where the innovation lies is in Scribe’s ability to integrate his formu-laic ‘tendencies’ with a degree of criticism and thus ‘every twist of the plot seemsto depend, not on the interaction of one character with another, but on the abilityor failure of the main personages to manipulate the media or stock exchange effec-tively enough’ (Scribe, 2004: 16). The denouement which completes the actionand resolves the situation is problematic in that Albert’s integrity is compromisedwhen he must choose whether to expose the Count’s historical writings as a pieceof fiction or keep quiet to ensure the ‘happy ending’ which he agrees to: ‘alrightthen. But the moral of all this … because there has to be a moral … ’ (124).

We should not underestimate the importance of Scribe’s contribution and influ-ence on drama both in France and elsewhere in Europe. Despite the protestationsof the newly emerging Naturalist playwrights that they were responding to theplot-driven drama of the well-made play, they were to a large degree reliant uponit. If we consider Zola’s first attempt to produce a Naturalist drama we find ThérèseRaquin bears the hallmark of the well-made play as much as any of the innovationswe might also detect. Ibsen, who had spent his formative years producing anddirecting Scribe’s plays in Norway, drew on the conventions of the well-made playfor his Naturalistic drama. Interestingly, George Bernard Shaw in The Quintessenceof Ibsenism notes:


This, then, is the extension of the old dramatic form effected by Ibsen. Upto a certain point in the last act, A Doll’s House is a play that might be turnedinto a very ordinary French drama by the excision of a few lines, and thesubstitution of a sentimental happy ending for the famous last scene: indeedthe very first thing the theatrical wiseacres did with it was to effect exactlythis transformation with the result that the play thus pithed had no successand attracted no notice worth mentioning. But at just that point in the actthe heroine very unexpectedly (by the wiseacres) stops her emotional actingand say: ‘We must sit down and discuss all this that has been happeningbetween us.’ And it was by this new technical feature: this addition of a newmovement, as musicians would say, to the dramatic form, that A Doll’s Houseconquered Europe and founded a new school of dramatic art. (1913: 192)

T. W. Robertson

One of the most accomplished and successful exponents of the well-made play wasthe dramatist T. W. (Tom) Robertson (1829–1871) who, through a series of playsdepicting ordinary people in recognizable domestic situations, established impor-tant foundations for the development of Naturalism in the English theatre.Robertson was steeped in the theatre practice of his day; he was, at one time, stagemanager for Madame Vestris (see p. 66) and a sympathetic portrait of him isprovided in the character of Tom Wrench in Arthur Pinero’s play Trelawney of the‘Wells’ (1898). Robertson was responsible for encouraging the young W. S. Gilbert(see p. 69) to turn to writing plays and libretti, but it is his nickname ‘doorknobsRobertson’ and the labelling of his plays as ‘cup and saucer dramas’ that provideclues to his innovative nature. Robertson was passionate about the physical detailof his plays; their setting and actions. His stage directions provide the most preciseinstructions for the construction and décor for the domestic interiors, includingthe nature of the door handles and the way in which the setting could be accom-modated on a stage still utilizing grooves and shutters (see p. 63). Furthermore, hedraws on his work as an actor and stage director to specify stage business, the useof properties (props), gestures, facial expressions and mime. Many of his plays do,indeed, require homely activities like drinking tea, all of which contribute to thereality of the situations. The single-word titles of his most famous plays are signif-icant: Society (1865), Ours (1866), Caste (1867; see Illustration 1), Play (1868),School (1869) and The M.P. (1870). These are a far cry from the elaborate titles ofthe popular melodramas of his day and suggest an engagement in the problems ofthe contemporary world. Robertson’s plays are, by no means, profound and retainsome of the characteristics of gentle comedy and melodrama, but they mark aconsiderable progression towards a less escapist and more relevant form of dramaof ideas. This is best exemplified in his most enduringly popular play: Caste.


This play was first staged by the Bancrofts, who, in partnership with Robertsonbrought new standards of realistic production to London through their manage-ment of the Prince of Wales’ theatre between 1860 and 1880. The production ofCaste was notable for its understatement and the way in which emotions wererevealed through the representation of the detail of everyday, domestic life. Theplay is set in the world of the theatre and, importantly, its most powerful and spir-ited characters are the two young women, both actresses, around whom the actionrevolves. The theme is snobbery: described as recently as 2012 by the BritishDeputy Prime minister as ‘our national pastime’! Esther Eccles, who works in thetheatre (regarded then as very low status) has captivated the Hon. George d’Alroy,an army officer and they embark on a marriage which breaks all the ‘rules’ of rela-tionships across the social classes and provokes the fury of d’Alroy’s mother. Weshall encounter this play again when we discuss the development of the railways,but at this point it is worth noting that the juxtaposition of a number of charactersfrom varying social strata is the main source of the play’s interest. The real climaxcomes when George is reported missing in action in India and his mother appearsin Esther’s humble home, to demand that she relieves her of the responsibility ofbringing up her infant son in an ‘appropriate’ way. Esther’s rebuttal of her mother-in-law’s attitudes and the warm support of her actress sister, Polly, demonstratesome of that strength and independence that was to typify the women in subse-


ILLUSTRATION 1Play bill for a performance of T. W. Robertson’s Caste (1872), courtesy of University of Kent,Special Collections

quent naturalistic plays. When George makes an unexpected re-appearance at theend of the play and Esther’s and Polly’s infuriating and devious drunken father iseventually packed off to Jersey, the play shows its melodramatic legacy but thereis no doubt that those who saw it realized that a new kind of play drama wasinvading the English theatre in the 1860s.

CHAPTER SUMMARY

● In general terms there is a tendency to view ‘Naturalism’ as simply a belief that

works of art should reproduce the reality of the natural world as accurately as

possible.

● As Williams notes, the term ‘Naturalism’ is more complex when applied to

theatre representation.

● A ‘Naturalist’ play must represent on stage the factors that determine the

behaviour of the characters and provide a detailed picture of the environment

they inhabit, not simply as a ‘backdrop’ but rather, as Williams notes, because ‘it

is a causal or symptomatic feature’ (1980: 127).

● When applied to drama this means that a play must show all the factors that

determine the behaviour of the characters and provide a detailed picture of the

world they inhabit as objectively as possible.

● Raymond Williams, a major figure in the development of Cultural Studies,

provides an extensive survey of the apparently conflicting definitions of Natu-

ralism and Realism.

● Naturalistic plays usually employed the structure of the ‘well-made play’ which

was popularized by the playwright Eugene Scribe in the mid-nineteenth

century.

● Scribe’s formula was: exposition; action; denouement; and resolution.

● Through the use of colloquial language and other techniques he achieved a

representation of reality that laid the foundation for Naturalism.

SEMINAR AND WORKSHOP TOPICS

1 Consider the definitions offered by Raymond Williams and arrive at your own,

initial understanding of the term Naturalism when applied to the theatre.

2 In order to achieve Naturalism a play might involve a great deal of realistic

detail: how does this affect your understanding of the difference between Natu-

ralism and Realism? Give examples of plays that appear to depend on

presenting substantial realistic detail.


3 Identify plays that seem to you to be naturalistic and state why this is the case.

4 Provide an example of a ‘well-made play’ and present scenes from it that illus-

trate the features of exposition; action; denouement; and resolution.

5 Identify plays which contain scenes that depend on building to a climax and/or

deliberately concealed information.

FURTHER READING

Cardwell, D. (1983) ‘The Well Made Play of Eugene Scribe’, The French Review, 56:6 (May), pp.

876–84.

Koon, H. and Switzer, R. (1980) Eugene Scribe, Boston, MA: Twayne Publishers. A helpful intro-

duction to this influential dramatist.

Russell Taylor, J. (1967) The Rise and Fall of the Well Made Play, London: Methuen. An extremely

useful book charting Scribe’s influence on the work of a number of British dramatists.

Scribe, E. (2004) Believe it or Not, trans. Ranjit Bolt, London: Oberon. This new version of

Scribe’s Le Puff demonstrates his skills and characteristics admirably.

Williams, R. (1976), Keywords : A Vocabulary of Culture and Society, London: Fontana. This

remains an invaluable guide to students of drama and the arts.


Abbey Theatre, 171, 173–6,180, 186

act: single continuous act, 30acting, 11, 21, 33, 46, 56, 62,

66, 77, 78–95, 110, 112,116–17, 124–5, 132,146–7, 149, 151, 153,155–6, 159, 193–4, 214

art of acting, 84‘ensemble’ acting, 21, 119,

148plot driven drama, 10, 21truthful acting, 125

action, 6, 7–8, 10, 12, 19–25,30–1, 72, 76, 93–5, 102,116, 121, 124, 139, 151,158–9, 170, 183, 192,195, 204, 208–9

dramatic action, 7, 22, 43human action, 7 simplicity of action, 25

actor, 11, 30, 53, 59, 64, 65–8,71, 75, 77–9, 82–3, 86–7,101–9, 112, 120, 126,128, 146, 149, 153, 155,161, 165, 169, 187–8,198, 203, 207, 214

actor training, 82, 86, 112,146–7, 161

amateur actor, 77, 149 ‘star’ actor, 198

Adler, Stella, 193Africa, 38–9, 112 Alexandrinsky Theatre, 150Alexis, Paul, 113–14 Altrincham Garrick Society,

181American Theatre, 33, 68, 84,

188 American Dramatic Art,

189 American Laboratory

Theatre, 193American naturalistic

drama, 190American playwright, 57

Ancey, Georges, 123The Grandmother, 123

Antoine, André, 26, 67–8, 70,72, 101, 108, 110–30,148, 158, 165, 201

authentic costumes, 119,122

backs to the audience, 77,121

Théâtre Libre, 26–7, 32, 67,70, 110–30, 165

Memories of the TheatreLibre, 110

The Butchers, 122The Death of the Duke of

Enghein, 122Anzengruber, Ludwig, 131Appia, Adolphe, 75, aristocracy, 28, 48, 72Aronson, Arnold, 158Arnold, Matthew, 37Arts Council, 198, 200auditorium, 32, 68–9, 75, 112,

115, 121, 148, 152 Augier, Émile, 7, 24, 119Austria, 45, 101Ayckbourn, Alan, 212Ayres, Alfred, 84

The Essentials of Elocution,84

ballet, 30–1 Baptists, 51Barrie, J.M., 171

The Twelve Pound Look, 171Baston, 118BBC Radio Ballads, 213 Beaumarchais, 24Becque, Henri, 27Behaviourism, 45Bernard, Claude, 16

Introduction a l’etude de lamedicine experimentale(Introduction to theScientific Study ofMedicine), 16

Bernheim, Hyppolite, 29Becket, Samuel, 202Belasco, David, 68, 189Belgrade theatre, 203Bell, Alexander Melville, 83

Bell’s Standard Elocutionist,83

Bentley, Eric, 138, 178, 194Beque, Henri, 123

The Woman of Paris, 123–4Bergman, Ingmar, 165Beveridge report, 202Billington, Michael, 23, 186Biograph Company, 74biology, 5, 44Birmingham Repertory

Company, 176Bizet, Georges, 76

Carmen, 76Blythe, Alecky, 214–15, 217

Come Out Eli, 214London Road, 214Where have I been all my

life?, 214Bohemia, 52Bolt, Ranjit, 9Bond, Edward, 201, 205

Saved, 205, 210Booth, Edwin, 64bourgeois, 132, 134, 139–140

drama, 6home, 7

Boyd, William, 46brain, 28–9, 44–5, 51

brain functions, 44Brahm, Otto, 108, 131–43,

210Brecht, Bertolt, 140, 171, 194,

196, 206–10, 218Alienation, 206Aristotelian theatre, 206Berliner Ensemble, 207,

209‘Distancing’ effect, 206Epic theatre, 206–7 gestus, 209

225

Index

226 | I N D E X

Brecht, Bertolt – continuedMessingkauf Dialogues,

196, 207Mother Courage and her

Children, 209The Good Person of

Setzuan, 206Brereton, Austin, 60, 78Brieux, Eugene, 122–3, 128,

169, 207, 211Damaged Goods, 42, 128,

211Maternity, 128Woman on Her Own, 128

Brighouse, Harold, 172Hobson’s Choice, 172

Brittain, Victoria, 215Broadway, 190Brockett, Oscar, 65Bronte, Charlotte, 50

Jane Eyre, 50Brown, Ford Maddox, 72Browne, William, 44, 200–1Brunetiere, Ferdinand, 3

Le Roman Naturaliste, 3Brussels Exhibition, 73Büchner Georg, 133–4, 211

Danton’s Death, 133, 211Woyzeck, 133–4

Buckhill, 44Psychological Medicine, 44

Byl, Arthus 113–14, 117 Byrne, Patsy, 204

Cambridge University, 4, 42Cardwell, Douglas, 8, 9–10Carlson, Marvin, 110–11,

119, 125, 127Caste, 11–12, 40census, 37Cercle Gaulois, 112–14, 118Cercle Pigalle, 113–14character, 6–7, 10, 25, 42–3,

49, 60, 63, 79, 83–4, 85,87, 91, 102, 106, 116,120, 122, 124, 146, 170,175, 195

character types, 47principal characters, 22psychological problems,

87secondary characters, 22total identification, 87

Chartist movement, 53Cheeseman, Peter, 211–17

musical documentary, 211Stoke method, 211

Hands Up – For You theWar is Ended, 213–14,217

The Jolly Potters, 212, 217The Knotty, 213, 217

Chekhov, Anton, 45–6, 52,55, 65, 77, 79, 86–7,145–7, 149–61, 169, 171,176, 187, 190, 192, 194–5, 207

A Boring Story, 146Ivanov, 154 Platonov, 153The Cherry Orchard, 52,

55, 157, 207The Fatherless, 153The Seagull, 52, 79, 86–7,

149–55, 160, 176, 192The Wood Demon, 154Three Sisters, 52, 155–6,

158, 161Chestnut Street Theatre,

68Christiana Theatre, 70, 188Christianity, 41

Christians, 43fundamentalist Christians,

43class conflict, 28Clifford, W.K., 44climax, 10, 12, 14, 186, 190

scène a faire, 10Clurman, Harold, 193coal, 38, 48, 140, 176 Cole, T., 59, 67, 72, 87, 169

Playwrights on Playwriting,33, 43

colony, 39, 52comedies, 8, 124Comédie-Française, 25, 68,

112, 120Conservatoire, 112Cook, Dutton, 60Copernicus, 46Corrie, Joe, 175–7

Hogmanay, 176In Time O’Strife, 176

corsets, 50costume, 24, 25, 58, 60, 65,

75–6, 87, 103–4, 106,108–9, 116, 119–22, 148,151–2

Conrad, Michael Georg, 131,134–5

concentrated form, 30consumerism, 38

consumer culture, 202

convention(s), 6–8, 10, 19,22–3, 55, 132, 135, 138,187

break with convention, 31conventionally structured,

204conventional theatre, 19,

25, 31, 75, 117, 216conventions of monologue,

22coronation, 202Corneille, Pierre, 24Court Theatre, 65, 132, 169,

173, 176, 186, 195–6,200, 201, 216

Craig, Edward Gordon, 65Craven, Hawes, 60criticism, 10, 18, 26, 56, 135,

139, 169, 208cultural studies, 3, 13culture, 4, 111, 202, 208, 211

Daguerre, Louis, 64Damaged Goods, 42, 128Darwin, Charles, 5, 15–16,

28, 33, 37–8, 41–7, 51,54, 56–8, 133, 189, 192

On the Origin of Species,41–3, 80

The Expression of Emotionin Man and Animals, 44

Voyage of the Beagle, 42Darzens, Rudolphe, 118, 126décor, 11, 31, 149, 186, 201Denmark, 27Delsarte, Francois, 81–4, 209

artistic use of voice, 81–4breath control, 81paraphrase, 82rules of elocution, 81rules of gesture, 81–3, 85,

88–92The Delsarte System of

Oratory, 81Depression, the, 177determinism, 17, 28, 32–3,

43, 133, 187, 189Devine, George, 199–201,

203, 206, 209–10director, 11, 67–8, 70, 75–8,

86–7, 101, 108–9, 114–15, 119–20, 128, 131–2,138, 145, 147, 149, 157,169, 176, 180, 186, 188,192, 196, 200–1, 207–9,211, 214, 217

director – continueddirecting, 5, 10, 79, 102,

106, 109–10, 148–9, 156,201, 214

governing idea, 101documentary, 74, 133, 142,

211–18 social documents, 72

drama, 3–4, 6–7, 10–13, 15,19, 21, 24–9, 41, 47–8,52, 56, 60, 62, 65, 68, 76,80, 103, 106, 108, 110,115–17, 125, 127, 131–43, 145–7, 152, 154–5,157–9, 165, 167, 170–8,180–1, 183, 186–7, 189–91, 193, 194, 198–200,206–7, 211, 216

apollonian drama, 56, 192bourgeois drama, 6–7, 132Greek and Renaissance

drama, 6romantic drama, 24, 62

drama schools, 80 dramaturgy, 56dreams, 45, 52, 112, 192, 195Dromgoole, Nicholas, 9–10Duke of York’s theatre, 203Dumas fils, Alexander, 7, 24,

119Duncan, RonaldDrury Lane theatre, 63

Eastlake, Lady Elizabeth, 72Eaton, Clifford Walter, 190Edinburgh, 42, 44, 181Edison, 69electricity, 38, 68–70empire, 53, 55

Austro-Hungarian Empire,46, 53

British Empire, 53German Empire, 131Ottoman Empire, 53Russian Empire, 53

English Stage Company, 198–201, 209

environment, 57, 72, 75–6,93, 95, 104, 110, 116,119, 124, 129, 131, 139–42, 159, 170, 174–5, 184,186–7, 191, 200, 201,204–5, 216

environmental setting, 184Erckmann, Emile, 62

Le Juif Polonaise, 62Esdaile, Alfred, 199–201

eugenics, 43European, 7, 26–7, 33, 37, 73,

75, 105–6, 108, 131, 145,154, 185, 187, 196, 209

European scene, 37–58, 96European stage, 7European theatre, 26, 33,

101, 144evolution, 5, 15, 24, 32–3, 41,

43–4, 54, 56–7, 69, 81,146

experimental formula, 26experimental method, 16–18

facial expressions, 11, 32, 84Fechter, Charles, 66feminism, 48Figaro, Le, 114–15Fight for Shelton Bar, 214, 217Finland, 52, 79First World War, 47, 171, 176Fjelde, Rolfe, 29flats, 63, 103

canvas flats, 63wooden flats, 63

Flaubert, Gustave, 182footlights, 32, 68, 71, 77, 115form, 3–4, 9, 11, 16, 18–19,

24, 26–7, 30, 33, 86, 110,133, 143, 157–8, 180,186, 203

Fort, Paul, 158France, 3, 10, 37–8, 53–5,

66–7, 73–4, 112, 120,126, 128, 131, 138, 165

Freie Bühne, 131–44, 189, 195

Freud, Sigmund, 44–7, 52, 56,58

dreams, 45 ego, 46, 56, 193id, 46, 56psychoanalysis, 45, 52repression, 45–7sexual and relational

energies, 45slips of speech, 47super-ego, 46On the Interpretation of

Dreams, 45, 52Frith, William Powell, 72Furst, Lilian and Skrine,

Peter, 3, 15, 19, 22, 128,136, 141

Gaiety theatre, 171–2, 175,180, 197

Galsworthy, John, 53, 170–1,181

Justice, 171Strife, 171, 180, 196,The Silver Box, 170

Galton, Francis, 42–3, 45Ganguli, Usha, 165

The Journey Within, 165Garnett, Edward, 180

A Collier’s Friday Night,179–81, 186

General Strike, 176Germany, 38, 40, 45, 53–4, 57,

66, 69, 101, 106–7, 131–44

German Reich, 54Gesamtkunstwerk, 75, 104Gassner, John, 43Gestalt psychology, 45Gilbert, W.S., 11, 59, 76, 102Gilbert and Sullivan, 59, 69,

77Gielgud, John, 65Glasgow Unity Theatre, 177Glaspell, Susan, 191, 196–7

Trifles, 191Goethe, 131, 133Gorky, Maxim, 77, 155, 190Granada Television, 186Greenwood, Walter, 179

My Son’s My Son, 179Greek tragedy, 126Grundy, Sidney, 48

The New Woman, 48Guantanamo, 215, 217Guildhall School of Music, 83

Haeckel, Ernst, 54Hall, Stuart, 3Hamilton, Cicely, 171

Diana of Dobson, 171Hanover, 40Hanseen, Asta, 50Harden, Maximilian, 138, 143Hart, Heinrich, 135, 138Hart, Julius, 135, 138Harwood, Ronald, 165, 167,

194–5All the World’s a Stage, 165,

195Hauptmann, Gerhart, 133,

135, 138–44, 169, 190,207, 211

Before Sunrise, 139–40 Hannele, 128, 148The Weavers, 42, 127, 129,

139–43, 211

I N D E X | 227

Hebbel, Friedrich, 134Maria Magdelene, 134

Hennique, Leon, 113–14Herbert, Jocelyn, 200, 204heredity, 5, 15–19, 22, 30, 32,

41, 44–5, 126, 189, 216Herne, James A., 189–90, 195historic setting, 103historical accuracy, 102–3,

109Historisches Museum, 40histrionic methods, 80Holmes, Richard, 37, 58, 60,

73Horniman, Annie, 171–3,

180, 195–7Holtz, Arno, 135–6, 143Hugo, Victor, 24human, 5, 7, 16, 18–19, 27,

29, 33, 38–9, 42, 44, 46,56, 67, 74, 80, 86, 139,150, 152, 169–70, 194,205, 207

human behaviour, 5, 6, 28,32, 41, 43, 45, 57, 59, 81

human nature, 5human study, 22human subject, 15, 158,

160–1, 216Huxley, Thomas H., 43–4hypnosis, 29, 46

author-hypnotist, 29power of suggestion, 29waking suggestion, 29

Ibsen, Henrik, 4, 10–11, 27,29, 38, 47, 49, 52–3, 57,64–5, 70–1, 77, 93–5,105–8, 125–7, 134, 137,142–3, 157, 165, 167,169, 171–2, 174–5, 181–2, 187–90, 192–5, 207

A Doll’s House, 11, 52, 65,70, 106–7, 137, 149, 160,165, 167, 169, 190

Brand, An Enemy of thePeople, 52

Ghosts, 42, 48, 50, 70, 72,93, 96, 103, 105–8, 125–7, 129, 137–8, 143,165–8, 187–90, 195

Hedda Gabler, 49, 52–3,166, 172, 193

Love’s Comedy, 52Nora, 52, 107, 137, 165,

167The Lady from the Sea, 52

The Master Builder, 52–3The Pillars of Society, 38,

50, 106, 137, 167The Wild Duck, 65–7, 72,

127, 192When We Dead Awaken,

39, 52idealism, 134illegitimacy, 51illiterate audiences, 62illusion, 30, 32, 63, 72, 75,

115–16, 188, 206–8imagination, 17, 32, 45, 60,

64, 77, 112, 124, 136,174, 206

Imperial Court, 145, 160Impressionist painters, 32, 74 industrial society, 37, 72, 74,

172industrialization, 37, 38, 41,

58, 131, 140interior setting, 31, 63Intimate Theatre, 32, 87, 137 Irving, Sir Henry, 59–62,

64–6, 68–9, 72, 78, 80,83, 97, 101, 108, 122,189

Italy, 38, 53, 57

Jacques Damour, 113–14, 116,123

Joseph, Stephen, 211–12, 217Jullien, Jean, 119

The Master, 119Jung, Carl, 46

Kent, Nicholas, 215King Ernst August, 40Kingsway theatre, 181, 200–1Kodak, 73

La Boheme, 76Lacey, Robert, 202Lacey, Stephen, 202Laisné, Marius, 112Lamont Stuart, Ena, 177

Men Should Weep, 177landscape painters, 74, 104law of genetics, 28laws of acting, 79

colloquial language, 7–8,13, 119

dramatic language, 174language, 25, 81, 124, 139psychological, 25, 29, 46,

79, 87, 119, 160–1stage language, 25, 70

Lawrence, D.H., 52, 170, 173,178–97, 203–4

Lady Chatterley’s Lover,178

Sons and Lovers, 178, 183The Daughter in Law, 179The Rainbow, 178The White Peacock, 179,

181Women in Love, 178

Lawrence Jerome, 43Inherit the Wind, 43

Lee, Robert E., 43leftist intellectual, 3Lessing, Gotthold, 131–4,

138Lewenstein, Oscar, 199–200Lewis, Leopold, 59, 61

The Bells, 59–64, 66, 68, 77,95

lighting, 60, 64, 70–2, 76, 95–6, 118, 121–2

carbon arc lamp, 69dimmer board, 69electric lighting, 68–9, 75follow spot, 69‘fresnel’ spotlight, 69gas lighting, 63–4, 72gas mantle, 69gas table, 68illusions of moonlight,

sunlight, 69lenses, 69light bulb, 69limelight, 69‘out of door’ light, 75‘profile’ spotlight, 69reflectors, 69, 71side lights, 32, 71spotlight, 68, 69stage lighting, 67–8, 209

Lindau, Paul, 132, 135Little Theatres, 190, 193

Art Theatres, 190community theatres, 190

lived in space, 159London Theatre Studio, 199Ludwig, Otto, 134Lugné-Poë, Aurélien-

François, 158Lutherans, 51Lyceum Theatre, 59, 64, 66,

122Lyric Hammersmith, 205

Madame Bovary, 3Madison Square Theatre, 63

228 | I N D E X

Magarshack, David, 77, 97,145–9, 151, 153–5, 160–1

Mahler, Gustav, 75–6manufacturing, 38, 131marriage, 12, 49, 151, 55, 58,

94, 107, 165, 171loveless marriage, 52

Marriage de Convenance, 52Marx, Karl, 134, 167

materialism, 6, 59, 72, 80McColl, Ewan, 213Medan literary circle, 113medicine as science, 16,

154Mehring, Franz, 140–1Meiningen company, 77,

101–9, 120–1, 125, 129,131, 148, 160

Bruckner brothers, 104director’s theatre, 101Duke of Saxe-Meiningen,

95, 209egalitarian ensemble, 102historical accuracy, 102–3,

109movement of characters,

103natural picture, 103–4reforms, 102resident company, 108stage groupings, rehearsal,

102melodrama, 7–8, 11, 59–66,

77, 80, 95, 187–9, 193boulevard melodrama, 25gothic melodrama, 23music drama, 62

metaphysical, 7, 24Meyer Michael, 52, 106–7 Mill, John, Stuart, 46, 54, 55,

57On Liberty, 54Principles of Political

Economy, 54System of Logic, 54The Enfranchisement of

Women, 55The Subjection of Women,

49, 51, 55Utilitarianism, 54

Miller, Arthur, 188, 194–5anti-communist hysteria,

194McCarthy hearings, 194Socialist ideas, 194The Crucible, 201

miners, 38, 176–7, 185mining, 176, 183, 185–6, 196,

203–4mise en scène, 60, 156Mitchell, Katie, 208Modernist theatre, 7Molière, 24, 52, 101, 115

Les Femmes Savantes (TheIntellectual Ladies), 52

Monet, 74Moscow Society of Art and

Literature, 77music, 30, 56, 65, 68, 75, 16,

171, 214musicians, 11, 50, 65, 101

pit musicians, 65mythology, 72

Nadar, Felix, 73National Theatre, 23, 86, 146,

177, 205, 214natural, 5, 21, 23–9, 41, 59,

62–3, 67–9, 71, 73–4,76–7, 81, 84, 87, 103–4,129, 136, 154, 174–5,204, 207

natural history, 5–6natural philosopher, 5natural selection, 15, 42

naturalist, 4–6, 10, 13, 15, 18–19, 24–8, 32, 37, 41–2, 55, 110, 112, 116,132–44, 157–9, 174, 177,183–4, 205–7, 216

Naturalist playwrights, 7,10, 31, 49, 63–4, 72, 76,104, 128–44, 170, 178,195, 208

naturalistic acting style, 66,161

naturalism, 3, 5–11, 13, 15–19, 24–7, 30, 32–3,37, 40, 43, 47, 53, 57,59–60, 62, 66–7, 70, 74–5, 77–80, 83, 86, 95,101, 106–8, 110–11, 115,119, 128, 129, 131, 133–44, 157–8, 161, 165,167, 169, 171–2, 175,177–8, 186–8, 191, 195–6, 202–3, 205–11,216, 218

nature, 5, 27, 41, 43, 74, 78,81, 84, 86, 88–92, 95,136, 143, 170, 188, 207,209

Nelson, Gwen, 204

Nemirovich-Danchenko,Vladimir, 79, 147, 149,160

neo-classical tragedy, 24Nerval, Gerard, 37, 60neurology, 30, 46neuroses, 46neurotic behaviour, 46Nietzsche, Friedrich, 55–7,

134, 167, 192apollonian drama, 56, 192dionysiac drama, 56, 192Dionysus, god of revelry,

56God is Dead, 56nihilism, 56Thus Spake Zarathustra, 55

Norton, Caroline, 51Norway, 10, 38, 51–3, 93,

106–7, 188novel, 3, 6–7, 15, 18–19, 22–3,

32, 53, 67, 72, 76–7,113–15, 125, 131, 179,181

adaptation of novels, 15,19, 23, 77, 113, 115, 119,126

O’Casey, Sean, 174–5, 186–7Juno and the Paycock, 174The Plough and the Stars,

174The Shadow of a Gunman,

174–5Odets, Clifford, 195Oedipus complex, 46–7off-stage, 139, Oh What A Lovely War, 213,

217Old Vic Theatre Centre, 199O’Neill, Eugene, 187, 191–2,

194Dynamo, 194Long Day’s Journey into

Night, 187Olympic Theatre, 66opera, 8, 59, 63, 68–9, 74–6,

96–7, 119, 147, 167, 186Orchardson, William Quiller,

52orchestra, 32, 127Osborne, John, 107, 109, 132,

134–7, 139, 141, 144,201, 209

Look Back in Anger, 201–2,209

Ostrovsky, Alexander, 146, 150

I N D E X | 229

Pantomime, 30, 82Papa Hamlet, 137

Paris, 8–9, 37, 48, 54, 60, 62–3, 66–8, 70, 73–4, 77,80, 111–12, 117, 123–4,128–9, 148, 160, 189,203, 211

Parker, Charles, 213Paxman, Jeremy, 50–1, 58

The Victorians, 58Paz, Émile, 117performance, 8, 21, 29–30,

32, 43, 60, 72, 75–81, 86,95–6, 104, 106–8, 116

chance performances, 147platform performance, 86

philanthropy, 48photography, 27, 72–3, 95, 97

photographic realism, 74portraiture, 73wet-collodian

photographic plate, 73phylum, superior race, 54physicist, 69physiology, 16–18Pissarro, 74plot, 141, 158, 195, 214, 217

lack of plot, 23plot-driven drama, 21

political theatre, 215post-war drama, 4poverty, 43

poor, 7, 76, 203poor living conditions, 55

Powell, Robert, 213Prével, Jules, 114proscenium arch, 66prostitutes, 51Protestant, 51, 190Prussia, 54, 131psychic phenomena, 29psychology, 30, 37, 44–5, 57

child and animalpsychology, 44

Functional Psychology, 45psychological drama, 29psychological contest, 29psychological school, 149,

160psychological study, 80Structural Psychology, 45

Puccini, Giacomo, 76

race, milieu et momente, 15,54

Racine, Jean, 24railways, 12, 37–8, 40, 58, 74

realism, 27, 37, 59–60, 76, 79,87, 95, 120, 122–4, 133–4, 136, 157, 189,193–6, 202, 208

American realism, 189photographic realism, 27,

74pictorial realism, 59, 72,

101realistic novel, 3realistic settings, 60, 75social realism, 80, 132, 134,

137, 196visual realism, 72

Rebellato, Dan, 196recitals, 80

public readings, 80reform, 32–3, 48, 131, 147,

160dress reform, 50educational reform, 48social reform, 202

rehearsal, 102–4, 113–14, 118,123, 125, 148, 154, 156,186

religion, 37, 43, 75, 169, 193religious belief, 7, 57Renoir, Pierre Auguste, 72reproduction, 6, 25, 41–2, 59,

87, 216resident writer, 212rights, 48, 53, 55, 206

political rights, 52social rights, 54voting rights, 53women’s rights, 51, 172

Robertson, Tom, 11–12, 40Caste, 11–12, 40

Robins, Elizabeth, 53, 171Ibsen and the Actress, 53The Convert, 53Votes for Women, 53, 172

Rodney, Jack, 204Romanticism, 37Rothwell, Andrew, 72Royal Academy of Music, 80,

83Royal College of Music, 83Royal Court, 169, 178, 186,

196–218Ruskin, John, 51Russell Taylor, John, 8, 14

Saint-Cere, Jacques, 125Saint-Denis, Michel, 199Sarcey, Francisque, 117–18,

120–1, 123, 125

Sardou, Victorien, 7, 119Savoy Theatre, 69scenic designer, 60, 148scenography, 158Schiller, 131, 133

Love and Intrigue, 133Schjoett, Matilda, 51

Conversation of a Group ofLadies about theSubjection of Women, 51

Schlaf, Johannes, 137, 139Schlenther, Paul, 138Schumacher, Claude, 16,

26–7, 33, 146science, 6, 15, 16, 37, 42–3,

56–7, 78, 133, 136experimental science, 16scientist, 16–17, 44scientific enquiry, 18, 59,72scientific methodology,

15–16, 129scientific truth, 17

Scribe, Augustine-Eugene, 7–14

well-made play, 7–8, 10–14, 33, 132

Believe it or Not, 9, 40Le Puff – Ou Mensonge et

Verite, 9, 40Une nuit de la Garde

Nationale, 8secularism, 7self-deception, 29self-improvement, 80self-help books, 84sert theatres, 146servant, 27–8, 47, 93set, 25, 32, 63, 67, 106–7, 118,

151box set, 31, 66, 95–6, 104,

108Shakespeare, William, 64, 80,

103, 115, 167, 187Hamlet, 64, 182King Lear, 64Macbeth, 64, 105, 122, 182Shylock, 64

Shaw, George Bernard, 10, 53,57, 64–5, 137, 143, 167,169, 171–2, 181, 187,190, 192–3, 195–6

Candida, 169, 172The Quintessence of

Ibsenism, 10, 165, 167,169, 187

Widower’s Houses, 169Shaw, Glen Byam, 199

230 | I N D E X

Shchepkin, Mikhail, 77–8,146, 160

Shideler, Ross, 27–9Slovo, Gillilan, 215Soans, Robin, 212–17social, 4, 6–7, 12, 19, 24,

26–8, 37, 41–3, 50, 53–4,57, 62, 72, 74, 83, 127,129, 131–4, 139, 140,142, 146, 167, 169–72,186, 202–7

socialism, 3, 177society, 4, 11, 37, 40–1, 43–7,

51, 54, 57, 72–4, 94, 128,135, 139, 146–8, 172,191, 194

sound effects, 60, 77, 87, 106,214

speech, 21, 25, 47, 54, 81, 83,91, 95, 97, 134, 137, 173,183, 185, 214

everyday speech forms, 7speech therapy, 83

Spencer, Herbert, 42, 44Sprinchorn, Evert, 26, 29–30,

33stage, 7, 11, 13, 19, 20–1, 25,

32, 53, 56, 60, 63–5, 67,80, 87, 102–4, 108, 118,122, 129, 142, 146, 187

downstage centre, 102revolving stage, 75small stage/auditorium, 32,

115–16stage design, 64–5, 67, 106stage direction, 11, 23, 33,

59, 66, 71, 93–4, 96, 118,169, 183, 191, 194

stage extras, 101stage naturalism, 67, 72,

95, 101, 107–8, 186stage tableux, 72

Stanislavsky, Konstantin, 43,46, 77–9, 82, 86–7, 95,97, 102, 108, 124, 145,147–52, 155–7, 160–1,193, 196, 206

An Actor Prepares, 79Building a Character, 79Creating a Role, 79My Life in Art, 79, 147,

150–1, 161System and Methods of

Creative Art, 87Strasberg, Lee, 193

Method acting, 79, 87, 193

Strindberg, August, 4–5, 26–33, 43, 45, 52, 63, 71,87, 95, 102, 118, 127,157, 181, 186–7, 190,207

struggle of minds, 30Miss Julie: A Naturalistic

Tragedy, 48, 52, 71, 127,143, 192, 194

The Father, 139structure, 8–10, 13, 132, 158,

159, 169, 206, 216actiondenouement, 8, 10, 13–14resolution, 8, 10, 13–14,

207structure of exposition, 8

sub-text, 78, 210suffragette movement, 53supernaturalism, 5survival of the fittest, 28, 42–3Sweden, 52, 101symbolism, 47, 75, 190, 194Synge, J.M., 173–5, 181–2

Riders to the Sea, 174The Playboy of the Western

World, 174

taboos, 46Taine, Hippolyte, 15–16, 111Talking to Terrorists, 212, 216technology, 56, 58, 60, 62–3,

67–9, 71–2, 74–6, 95–6,122, 129, 216

The Actor’s Art, 83–4The Descent of Man, 43The Experimental Novel, 15,

18, 136, 216The First Independent

Theater Association, 189The Mikado, 59, 77The New Statesman, 3The Power of Darkness, 119,

126, 129, 148The Tricycle Theatre, 215The Weavers, 42, 127, 129,

139–43, 211The Writer’s Group, 201Théâtre d’Art, 158Théâtre de l’Oeuvre, 158Theatre Guild, 191theatre-in-the-round, 217–18theatre language, 25theatre technology, 56, 62, 67,

95coloured glass, 68diorama, 64

fly tower, 63grooves, 11, 63–4lifts, 63moving panorama, 63–4pillars, 63props, 11, 20, 65, 114, 129,

148, 152ramps, 63realistic fountains, 63rostra, 63scenery, curtains, drops,

60, 63–4, 75, 96, 103–6,115, 118

shutters, 11, 63spectacular effects, 63, 65stage braces, 63stage weights, 63three-dimensional staging,

63trapdoor 63treadmills, 63water system, 63waterfalls, 63

Théâtre Libre, 26–7, 32, 67,70, 110–30, 138, 143,148, 158, 160, 165, 189,195, 211

theatre voice, 25Théâtre de la Renaissance,

19Thérèse Raquin, 10, 15,

18–19, 23–4, 27, 30, 32–3, 45, 72, 76, 129,139

Tolstoy, Leo, 87, 119, 126,129, 139, 148, 150, 152,207

The Fruits of Knowledge, 148Tsar Fyodor, 150, 152Tovstonogov, Georgi, 157tragedies, 8, 56tragic framework, 25transport, 37, 66

coal, 38, 48, 140, 176steam, 37–9, 63, 74steam engines, 38new modes of transport,

39, 53, 57 truth, 17, 24, 40–1, 59, 67, 74,

76–7, 85–6, 93, 95, 103,106–7, 116, 124, 142,161, 165, 169–70, 188–90, 193

artistic truth, 73, 75, 87entertaining lie, 59truthfulness, 59, 70, 76–7,

95, 161, 188–9, 190

I N D E X | 231

unconscious mind, 46, 57,124

Une nuit de la GardeNationale, 8

Union Square Theatre, 63unsanitary conditions, 41urbanization, 37, 57, 72, 131

Vaudeville theatre, 8verbatim theatre, 211–18verisimilitude, 87

artistic verisimilitude, 59verismo, 76

Victoria Theatre, 211, 214,217

Vidal, Jules, 113–14, 117Vienna, 45–6, 52, 76, 131voice, study of the voice, 25,

64, 77–91, 93, 151, 204correct breathing, 83elocution, 78, 80–4, 97laryngoscope, 80operation of the larynx,

vocal chords, 80–1Professorship of Elocution,

80Voltaire, 24

Wagner, Richard, 56, 75–6,104, 167

wall, 70, 93fourth, 67, 77, 95, 129, 191,

208solid, 63

Wallace, Alfred

well-made play (pièce bienfait), 7–10, 11, 13, 14,33, 132

Wesker, Arnold, 43Chicken Soup with Barley,

202–3, 205, 209Chips with Everything, 205I’m Talking About

Jerusalem, 202–3, 209Roots, 202–4, 209–10The Kitchen, 205

When We Dead Awaken, 39,52

William Tell, 120–1Williams, Raymond, 3–7, 13,

20, 139–40, 157–8, 174Drama from Ibsen to

Brecht, 4Keywords: A Vocabulary of

Culture and Society, 3Modern Tragedy, Drama in

Performance, 4‘Social Environment and

Theatrical Environment– The Case of EnglishNaturalism’, 4, 6

Theatre as a Political Form,4

Williams, Tennessee, 194–5A Streetcar named Desire,

194Wilson, Angus, 201

The Mulberry Bush, 201,209

Wolff, Theodor, 138

Wollstonecraft, Mary, 48Rights of Woman with

Strictures on Politicaland Moral Subject, 48

Thoughts on the Educationof Daughters, 48

Women, 12, 38, 46–58, 80, 85,142, 156, 170–3, 192,196, 207

women’s equality, 52Women’s Reading Society,

51women’s rights, 51, 172women’s suffrage, 52, 53,

170, 172Woodworth, Robert, S., 44working class, 25, 132, 140,

172, 174–5, 177, 184,186, 203–5

Wright, Nicholas, 195Changing Stages, 195

Young Communist League,203

Young Germany, 134Youngest Germans, 134Young Vic company, 200

Zeitgeist, 37, 56Zola, Emile, 3, 15–26, 32–3,

42–3, 45, 48, 59, 73, 76–7, 111, 113–16, 119,123–5, 134, 136–7, 142–3, 174–5, 187–8,194, 202, 207, 216–17

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9780230 361089 01 Pre - macmillanihe.com · tively. In both cases, the words were used as a ‘term in religious and philosophical arguments’ which, as Williams notes: followed