Downloaded 38 times
G expressionism
- 1. Expressionism Early Expressionism inGerman Theatre
- 2. Lyrical plays ofsocial criticism, satire and protest existed before 1910.
- 3.
- 4. Georg BÜchner (1813-1837) • First modern playwright • Anticipated many modern techniques of Expressionism – Tried to find new ways of expressing fatalistic perception of society and events • Key works: – Dantons Tod(Danton’s Death, 1902) – Woyzeck, 1913
- 5. Georg Büchner’s KeyWorks • Dantons Tod, 1902 – Ambiguous – Dialectical • Woyzeck, – Written unfinished in 1836, published 1879 – Dialectical – Open structure
- 6.
- 7. Georg Büchner’s Effect •Experimental Approach • Demonstrated that a ‘history’ play could be presented dialectically • Introduced ballad on stage Influenced: Frank Wedekind, Bertolt Brecht, Ernst Toller etc
- 8.
- 9. Frank Wedekind (1864-1918) •Enthusiastic follower of Buchner – Broke taboos, outrageous stage effects – Attacked shams of bourgeois society – Inspired by Buchner
- 10. Frank Wedekind’s KeyWorks • FrÜhlings Erwachen (Spring’s Awakening, 1891) – First play in print – Not produced till 1906, in a cut version by Max Reinhardt – Constant attack on values of bourgeois family
- 11. Frank Wedekind’s KeyWorks • The “Lulu” plays – Erdgeist(Earth Spirit, 1895) & Die Büchseder Pandora (Pandora's Box, 1904) – Frank depiction of sexuality and violence
- 12. Frank Wedekind’s Effect •Anticipated Expressionism • Mixing bizarre with realism • Major influence for Epic Theatre • Adaption for 2006 Broadway musical Influenced: Bertolt Brecht, Carl Steinharm
- 13.
- 14. August Strindberg (1849-1912) • Father of Expressionism – Most frequently performed dramatist before World War 1 – Young German playwrights saw his work as a pointer
- 15. August Strindberg (1849-1912) •Strindbergian Expressionism – Splitting a single personality into several characters – Uses characters as agents who stand for a condition of mankind
- 16. August Strindberg’s Works •“A Dream Play”, 1902 – Prompted Expressionist revolution in European dramatic writing and practice. – Follows pattern of a Morality Play – ‘Polyphonic’ dialogue – Threw off every restriction of realism – Considered unstageable till 1907 (attempted)
- 17. August Strindberg’s Works •Kammarspel(The Chamber Plays) – the Intimate Theatre, 1907 – Simple in theme and presentation – Emotion and atmosphere to dominate the play and presentation – Chamber Music The Storm The Burned House The Ghost Sonata The Pelican The Black Glove
- 18. These 3 men,or forerunners, led to what we now know as..
- 19.
- 20. Early Expressionism (1912-1923) •Initially confined to a single national culture • Georg Kaiser and Ernst Toller were the most famous playwrights.
- 21. Georg Kaiser (1878– 1945) • Plays of ideas • The Burghers of Calais (Die Bürger von Calais, 1913 / 1917) – Expressionist “New Man” • Highly influential
- 22. Ernst Toller (1893-1939) •After WW1 • Politically-inspired plays more acceptable • Masse Mensch (Masses Man, 1921) – Dramatic dialectic – Alternated forms of realism and expressionism
- 23. Early Expressionism: Characteristics • Abstract, unlocalised setting • Episodic • Characters as figures • Mechanical ‘crowds’ • Fragmented dialogue, Telegram Style • ‘Ecstatic’ style of acting
- 24. Key figures • GeorgBÜchner • Frank Wedekind • August Strindberg • Georg Kaiser • Ernst Toller
- 25. Kaiser & Toller “ Both believed in the necessity of an expressionist approach if the stage wanted to do ‘more than take photographs’…
Editor's Notes
- #2 WHO KNOWS WHAT IS EXPRESSIONISM
- #3 Applied to the theatre, it represented a protest against the existing social order. Initially it was concerned with spirit rather than with matter, and typically it sought to get to the essence of the subject by grossly distorting outward appearance or external reality. This “subjective” first phase of Expressionism began in Germany about 1910, though its forerunners had appeared earlier
- #5 Can be said to be placed at the beginning of ExpressionismWorks were not produced for 100 years.
- #6 Play ends ambiquously. Sheer pessimism was one reason it did not get production till 20th centuryPlay resembles a debate between those who held opposite view, what we know as a ‘dialectic’Woyzeck was found, deciphered and published in 187, based on a true story. Provide Buchner with the idea of a dialectical plaY.Due to the unfinished writing of the play resulting in this open structure (because nobody knows the true sequencing of the scenes, it allowed directors to continue experimenting and explore the expressionistic production of the play. New scenes, new juxtapositions, new meaning from the same material.
- #8 Showed that a play could be presented from the one point of view, then another, then another. In a form of dialectic. Also through introduction of ballad and the chorus, this influenced Brecht as he used this to make direct statements and distance realistic material.
- #10 His works were attractive to the young, and he introduced unthinkable subjects to the stage.Such as Sex! He made heroes of criminals and glamorised prostitutes.It was said that Buchner provided Wedekind with the stylistic device he was looking for (and in turn, used).This included way to counteract realism, “fragmented dialogue, modern technique of isolation (characters talked past one another), distortion of things to arrive at the true centre.
- #11 The play was about the wonders of sex in boys and girls and was a constant battle wth censor.When produced by Reinhardt, it was put up 321 times and from there, Wedekind could not be ignored.It was a Constant attack on values of bourgeois family and morality, esp its hypocrisy towards youthful sexuality
- #12 The frank depiction of sexuality and violence in these plays, including lesbianism and an encounter with Jack the Ripper (a role which Wedekind played himself in the original production),pushed the boundaries of what was considered acceptable on the stage at the time.
- #13 Skirting the boundaries of Naturalism, along with Man #3
- #15 Most frequently performed dramatist in German theatre before World War 1.Regarded the world as an asylum and peopled it accordingly.Young German playwrights saw his work as a pointer, pointing the way they should take, and they followed his lead.
- #16 They depict conflicts of the mind. A radical attempt to dramatise the workings of the unconscious by means of an rejection of conventional dramatic time and space and the splitting, doubling, merging, and multiplication of its characters.Characters are not used in the usual way as figures who are part of a story.
- #17 Dialogue in the play is increasingly polyphonic which is Strindberg’s term for the way in which one character picks up the thought of another.Distorted or deformed reality became the familiar mask of the new expressionism.
- #18 Founded the Intimiate theatre with August Falck in 1907Warehouse that could seat 161 people, where he could fully produce and direct hisplays, or the chamber playsAble to abandon demands of commercial plays, practiced absolute freedom from conventions of plot and characterEach dramatic theme would dictate its own shape and form. From here, Strindberg took up the notion of ‘musical’ that suit the play to ensure unity in styleThere was chamber music in which he added that created a hypnotic effect!Therefore there was a greater concentration of dramatic elements.
- #21 A handful of young men and women set their stamp upon modern German theatre with all the zest of political revolutionaries.Other notable Expressionist dramatists included ReinhardSorge, Walter Hasenclever, Hans HennyJahnn, and ArnoltBronnen. They looked back to Swedish playwright August Strindberg and German actor and dramatist Frank Wedekind as precursors of their dramaturgical experiments.ReinhardSorge (1892-1926)
- #22 The first success of Kaiser’s was in 1917, though it was written in 1913. Inspired by Rodin’s sculpture of same name Like Kaiser's other works of the period, it calls upon the modern individual to transcend mediocrity through extraordinary actions; the Expressionist 'New Man' became a commonplace of the genre.Kaiser's classic Expressionist plays, written just before and during World War I, often called for man to make a decisive break with the past, rejuvenating contemporary society. He rejected characterization, and particularly character psychology, instead making his protagonists and other characters archetypes/stereotypes or figures, employing highly anti-naturalistic dialogue often comprising lengthy individual speeches.highly influential on the German dramatists operating during the 1920s, including IwanGoll, and Bertolt Brecht, Ernst Toller
- #23 Plays appeared after WW1, caught the disillusionment of the times...due to the religious overtones. Speak to the whole condition of mankind and general human suffering.Not his first play (that one was autobiographical), but brought his name to international level.Drafter when he was in prisonDramatic dialectic, based on the interatcion of the individual and the mob, intellect and mass emotion.Scenes of stylised reality and “dream pictures”
- #24 The plays demonstrated characteristics of german Expressionism in its mature state.distorted, suggesting a bad dreamSeen as sequence of visions, seen through subconscious mind like a dream playAlways a representation, eg the Man, the DoctorImporsonalisedClipped and unreal, rain of punctuation marks on lines Intense, violent, expressed tormented emotions, might erupt in sudden passion and physically attackRaid speech, breathless, stacatto , e
- #26 The plays demonstrated characteristics of german Expressionism in its mature state.