Realist Era Theater

Background

• In general, the Realism period was a reaction to (against) the Romantic period. – Realists sought the truth

• Beauty was not found in the extraordinary, but in the ordinary, commonplace things and people. – The individual worker in a factory was, therefore, a

reasonable theme for a Realist painter or author.• Seeks the truth• Beauty in the commonplace • Focus on Industrial Revolution• Focus on conditions of working class

Realism Defined

• Depiction of subjects as they appear in everyday life, without embellishment or interpretation.

• Also, works of art which, in revealing a truth, may emphasize the ugly or sordid.

Theater in the Realism Era

• Continued to be popular • Realistic portrayal of characters and

problems found within society– Happy endings no longer– “Serious drama”

• Focused on social problems, specifically:– Women’s rights– The role of class in society

Henrik Ibsen

• “Father of Modern Drama”

• Examined the realities that lay behind many social facades, most often gender inequality

• Hedda Gabler• The Doll’s House

A Doll’s House

• Ibsen’s most famous play

• First truly feminist play

• Nora leaves husband, Torvald, after he accuses her of bringing shame to his family name.

Quote from play, A Doll’s House

• NORA: "I was simply your little songbird, your doll, and from now on you would handle it more gently than ever because it was so delicate and fragile… I realized that for eight years I'd been living with a strange man and that I'd borne him three children. Oh, I can't bear to think of it - I could tear myself to little pieces!" Act III

George Benard Shaw• Nobel Prize winner (1925)

• Playwright of Pygmalion

• Shaw’s work – Before WW I, light and

clever– After WW I, dark and

clever

Pygmalion

• Protagonists—Eliza Doolittle and Dr. Henry Higgins

• "I have to live for others and not for myself: that's middle class morality."

• "I sold flowers. I didn't sell myself. Now you've made a lady of me I'm not fit to sell anything else."

• " . . . the difference between a lady and a flower girl is not how she behaves, but how she's treated."