REALISM/NATURALISM IN

THE THEATER
 REALISM IN THE THEATER IN GENERAL

• Mass audiences generally preferred romantic melodramas and variety shows

• Physical structure of theatre remains fairly consistent from developments made in the
Romantic style, raked orchestra, U-shaped balconies
• Increasing attempt to present plays based on careful historical research
• Romantic melodramas were presented with a Realistic style
• Actual realism plays (Ibsen, Strindberg, Hauptmann, Becque, Brieux, Chekhov) usually
performed in smaller independent non-commercial theatres in Paris, Berlin and Moscow
(think of Broadway vs. regional theatres today)
• 1830’s – the first box sets on stage (creating a working room, with working doors, windows,
walls, etc.).
• 1860’s – Started to bring audiences into living rooms where people began talking like they
do in everyday life (characters speaking not in verse and elevated prose but in the speech of
everyday life)
• 1870’s – Ibsen writes plays about families speaking in their own living rooms, in prose with
fewer and fewer asides and soliloquies
• Ibsen’s A Doll House (1879) – solidifies realistic vision on the stage where it will stay
dominant for the next hundred and fifty years. [See sketch of first production]
• Zola’s Naturalist “manifesto” written right after that (1881, two years after A Doll House.)
DALY’S THEATRE, NEW YORK 1879
 1ST MODERN DIRECTOR
• George II, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen is credited with
developing such an integrated approach
• He worked out blocking and picturization in
conjunction with his designs for sets, costumes and
lighting
• In an article for the Deutsche Buhne (Braun 1986:37),
the Duke outlined his principles for directing a play,
the most important were:
•  the creation of a Stage Picture (the pictorial effect
created by the synthesis of the actors with the set and
props)
• historical exactitude in the mise en scene
• an acting style which used Precise Gestural and Vocal
Imitation
• the use of Period or Authentic Clothing and Costumes
• the use of Group Orchestration by precise planning and
direction of all group and crowd scenes (Braun 1986)
 THE DUKE’S INFLUENCE

• "He (Duke George II) eventually convinced every director in Europe... that the fundamental
problem to be answered by the scene designer is not, What will my setting look like and
How will the actor look in it but What will my setting make the actor do?" (Braun 1986:38).

Crowd scene from

Meiningen’s Julius
Caesar
 EMILE ZOLA

• Emile Zola (1840-1902) – French

naturalist writer considered to be
the “Father of Naturalism.”
• French novelist, journalist,
playwright, the best-known
practitioner of the literary school
of naturalism, and an important
contributor to the development of 
theatrical naturalism.
• Wrote the naturalistic novel
Thérèse Raquin (published in
1867), then made it into a play
(first performed in 1873).
• Wrote “On Naturalism in the
Theatre” (1881) Luc Barbut-Davray, Portrait of Zola
 “ON NATURALISM IN THE THEATRE”
(1881) BY EMILE ZOLA

• Naturalism: “Direct observation, exact anatomy, the

acceptance and depicting of what is”
• “Nature is sufficient…it has its own beginning, middle
and end…”
• “Novelist should equally keep to known facts, to the
scrupulous study of nature…He himself disappears, he
keeps his emotions well in hand, he simply shows what
he has seen.”
• “We tell everything, we do not make a choice, neither
do we idealize…idealists pretend that it is necessary to
lie to be moral; the naturalists affirm that there is no
morality outside of the truth.”
 AUGUST STRINDBERG

• August Strindberg (1849-

1912) – Swedish
playwright who wrote
Miss Julie (1888), for
which he wrote a preface
that has come down as a
major theoretical work
about Naturalism in the
theater.
 STRINDBERG AND NATURE VERSUS NURTURE

• Where is accountability if we
are exactly who we are based
on nature and nurture? Where
does human choice come in?
• In Preface to Miss Julie:
Strindberg goes so far as to say
“there is no such thing as
absolute evil,” implying that
everything is complex and has
multiple motives and influences
from both nature and nurture.
He also says the “Naturalist has
abolished guilt,” which goes
hand in hand with loss of First Miss Julie production, November 1906,
accountability. The People's Theatre, Stockholm. Manda
Björling as Miss Julie (left), Sacha Sjöström as
Kristin, and August Falck as Jean
 PREFACE: OTHER IDEAS AND QUOTATIONS

• Complexity of motive and influence on people.

Strindberg says this about Miss Julie in the Preface:
• “I see Miss Julie’s fate to be the result of many
circumstances: the mother’s character, the father’s mistaken
upbringing of the girl, her own nature, and the influence of
her fiancé on a weak, degenerate mind. Also, more directly,
the festive mood of Midsummer Eve, her father’s absence,
her monthly disposition, her preoccupation with animals, the
excitement of dancing, the magic of dusk, the strongly
aphrodisiac influence of flowers, and finally the chance that
drives the couple into a room alone – to which must be added
the urgency of the excited man.”
 STRINDBERG’S PREFACE TO
MISS JULIE

• This preface is viewed today, along with Zola’s, as a

manifesto for Naturalism. From this preface it is clear
he was writing Miss Julie as a model for Naturalism,
which was at the time a relatively new way of thinking
about plays for the stage.
• Zola and Strindberg call for speech like everyday
speech, not elevated speech. There is beautify in
everyday speech, even with our non-sequiturs,
dialogue that wanders, with its illogical leaps.
• Also, much happens in silence. Rise of subtext as an
on-stage factor.
 NATURALIST PESSIMISM

• A pessimistic outlook seems to accompany the overwhelming

majority of Naturalist plays and novels. They often end in
suicides, murders, or utter despair.
• The Naturalism tends to have a “downward curve” in the
progress of the action. Things go from bad to worse.
• Enlightenment and Romanticism, on the other hand, have a
fundamentally optimistic outlook:
• with the Enlightenment, there is the triumph of reason and ideals or a new
understanding of life.
• With Romanticism, there is death but also a triumph of the soul or spirit
that seems to endure bodily death or suffering. For example, Cyrano
bodily death is followed by the ascension of his spirit in his final
line…”My white plume…”(with upward inflection)
• With Naturalism, the lid of the coffin seems to get screwed on tighter and
tighter as the play goes on.
 NATURALIST THEORY

• In order to make sure people don’t think that the Naturalistic

artist is making choices to beautify and idealize, artist must
choose subjects that do not look arranged, that are ugly, raw,
diseased, immoral activities, death, the unkempt and lowly etc.,
stuff that had been left outside of art in earlier years (think how
the French Academy wanted violence left off the stage, etc.)
• Put on stage a raw “slice of life.” Perfect rendition of beautiful
people or landscape makes the viewer feel subjective choices
are winning out over objective ones; we are not seeing
objective reality in its raw, formless state except through rose-
colored glasses of artist
• Look at the Naturalist photographs and paintings and how it
takes us in this new more objective direction.
 TWO 19TH CENTURY THEATER GENRES
THAT CONFLICT WITH PURE
NATURALISM

• “Well-made Play” – All about selecting and structuring to

make something that looks like everyday life perhaps but
which is structured toward maximum impact on audience.
• “Thesis Play” – Plays that intentionally identify a social
problem and provide a possible solution (e.g., A Doll
House).
• The more we utilize well-made Play and thesis play
techniques, the more theater moves away from pure
Naturalism and toward Realism.
• Stylistically: Ibsen is a Realist, with Naturalist touches and
with touches of “well-made play” and “thesis play” thinking
that lifts his plays away from Naturalism. Ibsen, like all
great playwrights, borrow from whichever style suits their
purposes. They wove it into a consistent style of their own.
 IBSEN’S A DOLL HOUSE (1879) – ORIGINAL
PRODUCTION ON A BOX SET. “FOURTH WALL
REALISM”
 IBSEN’S SET

• Idea of “fourth wall realism” is born. We have removed the

fourth wall so the audience can see into an actual room where
actual people talk and move as they do in life.
• Working doors and windows. Nothing painted tromp l’oeil to
appear three dimensional when it is actually two dimensional
• Props on set need to be usable; nothing decorative for
decoration sake. It all says something about the people living
in that room.
• Off stage room has actual staircase so can see characters going
up and down actual stairs to enter the room so it all looks real
 COMPARE WITH SCREEN SCENE FROM
SHERIDAN’S THE SCHOOL FOR SCANDAL
CONTRAST AND COMPARE
NATURALISTIC/REALISTIC
ACTING
 ENGLISH ACTING AND REBELLION
AGAINST ROMANTICISM

• Charles Kean, son of Edmund Kean,

brings a fierce antiquarian interest to the
theater. Accuracy so that Macbeth
would wear a real Scottish kilt, not a
pretend one.
• His programs were filled with curatorial
notes about his scenery, the props he
used, etc. He was well-received in the
United States.

Charles Kean and his wife as Macbeth and

Lady Macbeth, in costumes that aimed to be
historically accurate (1858)
CHARLES KEAN AS HAMLET
 NEW KIND OF ACTING STYLE

• Romantic acting style no longer fits the realistic play.

Stylistically must have speech and style of performance that
works with use of everyday objects and everyday characters in
everyday situations.
• Will need to find a technique to be real and believable on stage
• That doesn’t come about until the early years of the twentieth
century when Konstantin Stanislavski in Russia will begin his
experiments with finding a system or method for actors
• For thirty years (or so), actors were kind of on their own to find
a way to be believable on stage. Many were able to follow
their intuitions, many, on their own, started doing when
Stanislavski would later formalize and systematize with his
company, the Moscow Art Theatre.
 KONSTANTIN STANISLAVSKI AND
“STANISLAVSKI METHOD”

• Objectives and psycho-physical actions – actable

verbs!
• Inner monologue – thinking in character (saying lines
to yourself when not saying lines out loud while
listening)
• Images – seeing images as your character might be
seeing rather than pretending to see images.
• Character biographies – enhance your character’s story
• “flows of the day”–filling in day before and after on
stage
• Three books by Stanislavski which are the A, B, C’s of
realistic acting technique, all translated into English:
• An Actor Prepares
• Building a Character
• Creating a Role
 STANISLAVSKI HERITAGE IN
AMERICA

• Two Stanislavski actors stayed in America after the Moscow

Art Theatre visited the United States in the 1920’s:
Boleslavsky and Madame Ouspenskaya
• They influenced a whole generation of great American
directors and actors who became teachers from the 1940’s
through 1970’s:
• Harold Clurman (director)
• Lee Strasberg (director) – father of “Method Acting” which includes
Emotional Memory (applying your own emotional memories). Rejected
by the others .
• Stella Adler (actress) – study given circumstances of play closely and
stick tightly with those.
• Stanford Meisner (actor) – “Meisner Technique”–repetitions, etc.
OTHER NOTABLE FIGURES IN
THEATER, LATE 19TH CENTURY
 DAVID BELASCO

• American theatrical producer, impresario, director,
and playwright
• Pioneer of modern stage lighting and stage effects;
stage naturalism… electric lights!!!!!
• Adapted Madame Butterfly into a play and wrote the
play Girl of the Golden West. Both would go on to be
adapted into operas by Puccini
• first to develop modern stage lighting along with the
use of colored lights, via motorized color changing
wheels, to evoke mood and setting
• He is even said to have purchased a room in a 
flophouse, cut it out of the building, brought it to his
theater, cut out one wall and presented it as the set for
a production. 
BELASCO’S NATURALISM
 SARAH BERNHARDT

• Actress, director, producer, artist’s muse

• Famous for playing roles such as Phaedre, Hamlet,
Cordielia (her first big success), Violetta in The Lady
of the Camellias (Play version of opera La Traviata)
• Gained huge success in Paris and toured the world,
including the US and South America
• daughter of a Dutch Jewish courtesan
• Possibly the most famous and beloved actress to have
ever lived
• Acting style owed more to Romanticism than to
Naturalism
• Worked closely with Czech Art Nouveau illustrator,
Alphonse Mucha
•  Mark Twain wrote, "There are five kinds of
actresses. Bad actresses, fair actresses, good actresses,
great actresses, and then there is Sarah Bernhardt." 
 THE DIVINE SARAH

Phèdre by Racine at the ComédieTheodora, photo by Nadar (1884) Bernhardt in Hamlet (1899)

française, (1873)
SARAH AND MUCHA
NOT EVERYONE WAS A WHITE
GUY!
 WILLIAM WELLS BROWN

• Born ca. 1814 in Kentucky, died 1884 in Massachussets

• First African-American to publish a novel, play and travel
book
• Self-educated
• Escaped from slavery in 1837 and took the name of the
Quaker abolitionist who helped him
• Wrote extensively on his experiences with slavery and
was active in the abolitionist and temperance movements
• His novel, Clotel, was a fictionalized story about the
granddaughters of Thomas Jefferson and his slave, Currer
• His only published play is The 
Escape; or, A Leap for Freedom (1858), a melodrama,
with notable comic moments, about two slaves who
secretly marry
 VICTOR SEJOUR

• Born in New Orleans in 1817 to wealthy

Creole parents
• Moved to Paris at 19
• First published writing, short story "Le Mulâtre
", in 1837. The story of a loyal slave exacting
revenge on his cruel master/father for the death
of his wife, "Le Mulâtre" contains an
indictment of New World slavery that is found
in none of Séjour's subsequent work.
• The Brown Overcoat (1858) is his most well-
known play, typical artificial comedy of the
time period with witty comments and puns
 IRA ALDRIDGE

• Born free in New York in 1807

• Began to gain some success as an actor, but
moved to England because US was so racist
• Became a VERY popular tragedian in England
and Europe, particularly popular in Poland
• Toured Europe several times
• Known for his roles as Othello, Oroonoko, and
other tragic roles.
• Played King Lear, Shylock and Richard III in
white face
• Was scheduled to tour= the US when he died in
1867 while on tour in Poland
• Was called the African Edmund Kean, more
Romantic acting style than Realist
Aldridge as Othello by William Mulready
 HENRIETTA VINTON DAVIS

• teacher, elocutionist, actress, playwright, and

political activist
•  "the premier actor of all nineteenth-century
black performers on the dramatic stage"
• Started her own theatre company in Chicago
in 1883
•  She is considered the first African
American after Ira Aldridge to have
successfully performed Shakespeare
• Leader, along with Marcus Garvey, of the
Pan-African Movement and the Universal
Negro Improvement Association and African
Communities League
A DOLL HOUSE (1879)
A DRAMA IN THREE ACTS

Written by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen

(1828-1906)
 HENRIK IBSEN

• 1828-1906
• Norwegian
• Most of his plays are set in Norway, but he lived most
of his adult life in Italy and Germany
• Most well-known works include:
• 1867 Peer Gynt 
• 1879 A Doll's House (Et Dukkehjem)
• 1881 Ghosts (Gengangere)
• 1884 The Wild Duck (Vildanden)
• 1886 Rosmersholm (Rosmersholm)
• 1888 The Lady from the Sea (Fruen fra Havet)
• 1890 Hedda Gabler (Hedda Gabler)
• 1892 The Master Builder (Bygmester Solness)
•
 IBSEN AND STYLE: THREE PHASES

• Ibsen’s early plays were Romantic: in verse, depicted idealists giving

their lives for their ideals (or falling short and we see dangers of
living without commitment to ideals: Brand, Peer Gynt).
• Ibsen changes direction in the 1870’s. Domestic snapshot of a
husband and wife in their own living room. Like looking at them
through a peephole and seeing domestic lives with all their problems.
• Talk in prose, not verse. Not the first play to be written in prose but
it does set the standard for writing in prose (not verse) for all
mainstream plays afterwards.
• Existence of subtext that can be more important than what the
characters are actually saying: See pp. 102-103
• Third phase of Ibsen: realistic plays that contain mysteries and
metaphysical aspects usually associated with Romanticism: domestic
house with steeple on top. For example, The Master Builder, which
most of you read in Play Analysis Class.
 IS IBSEN A NATURALIST OR A
REALIST?

• Ibsen is more a realist than a naturalist though Ghosts (1881),

his most controversial play, was the closest he ever came to
Naturalism, in part because he showed the main actor having a
mental and physical breakdown from syphilis on stage.
• Think of Naturalism and Realism as on a spectrum going from
a true slice of life on one end (virtually impossible) to
something so fully arranged and ordered to look like real life
but which is highly structured and closely tailored around a
playwright’s theme on the other end.
• A Doll House, then, is more toward naturalism than The Master
Builder, for instance, but is not a naturalistic play.