- Expressionist theater
Expressionist theatre is theatre with expressionistic goals in mind. As opposed to having the primary aim of creating theatre to educate (like Brecht), to entertain (like
Commedia dell'arte ), or to be realistic (likeStanislavski ); expressionistic theatre's main aim is to express emotion.Expressionistic theatre is different from
realism - actors will behave how most people wouldn't in real life, their physical andvocal qualities exaggerating their emotions; sets designs will be exaggerated to emphasise thetone of the setting, etc.History
There was a concentrated Expressionist movement in early 20th century
German theatre of whichGeorg Kaiser andErnst Toller were the most famousplaywrights . Other notable expressionistdramatists includedReinhard Sorge ,Walter Hasenclever ,Hans Henny Jahnn , andArnolt Bronnen . They looked back to Swedish playwrightAugust Strindberg and German actor and dramatistFrank Wedekind as precursors of their dramaturgical experiments.[Oskar Komb,m,bn,bn,mnb,mbn,nb,nb,mry dialogue and heightened intensity all would become characteristic of later expressionist plays.
tyle
Expressionist plays often dramatize the spiritual awakening and sufferings of their protagonists, and are referred to as Stationendramen (station plays), modeled on the episodic presentation of the suffering and death of Jesus in the
Stations of the Cross . August Strindberg had pioneered this form with his autobiographical trilogy To Damascus.The plays often dramatize the struggle against bourgeois values and established authority, often personified in the figure of the Father. In Sorge's The Beggar, (Der Bettler), the young hero's mentally ill father raves about the prospect of mining the riches of Mars; he is finally poisoned by his son. In Bronnen's Parricide (Vatermord), the son stabs his tyrannical father to death, only to have to fend off the frenzied sexual overtures of his mother.
In expressionist drama, the speech is heightened, whether expansive and rhapsodic, or clipped and telegraphic. Director
Leopold Jessner became famous for his expressionistic productions, often unfolding on the stark, steeply raked flights of stairs that quickly became his trademark. In the 1920s, expressionism enjoyed a brief period of popularity in theAmerican theatre , including plays byEugene O'Neill (The Hairy Ape ,The Emperor Jones and The Great God Brown), Sophie Treadwell (Machinal) andElmer Rice (The Adding Machine).ee also
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Theatre of Cruelty
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