Chapter 16-Modern Drama
Modern drama is much different than Shakespeare or some of the Edwardian dramas. Drama for many years stayed in a rather set form and then literature moved into the modern era and drama followed in the latter half of the 20th century and on into the present. Playwrights took a completely different twist in many ways than playwrights had before. The idea of realism took hold: plays shouldn’t provide an escape for the audience. The audience should not see unrealistic characters and unrealistic settings and unrealistic costumes. They should see characters and settings representing real life, which became, in some ways, even more dramatic than the kind of fantasy world plays had given the audience in the past. If the writer tries to show actual people acting the way actual people act, the play will be dramatic and realism changed how the theater looked because real life problems like alcoholism, child abuse, spousal abuse, or poverty came into the plays. Up until this time, all plays weren’t happy by any means. Shakespeare wrote many tragedies, but they had more of that feel of unreality. They weren’t the kind of things that were happening in normal life, and then the playwrights began attempting to show real life on the stage and that was a departure from the past.
Naturalism represents a branch of Realism. Around the 1900s, the school of Naturalism in drama and literature emerged. Naturalism believes instinct rather than reason determines one’s behavior, and also carries the idea that biology determines one’s future. A person doesn’t have hope of overcoming where they were born or the circumstances of their birth. Circumstances were destiny. Naturalism takes away hope of bettering one’s life. Books from writers who bought into this philosophy tend to be depressing, such as The Awakening by Kate Chopin or Maggie: Girl of the Streets by Stephen Crane. These writers were not writing to help the audience escape their lives. The books and plays, being depressing and sad, made the writers feel like they were being much more realistic. They believed people wanted and needed to see real things depicted on the stage rather than more of the fantasy world. Thes writers they wanted to reflect real, gritty life and so naturalism ends up being a little bit more depressing most of the time than the things that had been brought to the stage in the past.
The modern era brough all types of experimental theater. Some theaters use no proper, just a bare stage. Theater-in-the-round became popular and theater where audience members come down to the stage and participate emerged. Theater of the absurd remains popular. The play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead follows two Shakespearean characters and explores what they do in the sections where Shakespeare didn’t write anything for them. The play doesn’t ask about what the actors do when there’s nothing written for them but asks what the characters themselves do when Shakespeare didn’t write a part for them. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, minor characters in Hamlet, get completely lost when they have no lines. They don’t know what’s going on; they become fragmented and disconnected from their world. Waiting for Godot is another Absurdist play. Many different types of experimental theatre have been seen since about the 1940s. They look nothing like traditional theatre, so theater has taken plenty of twists and turns, and almost anything goes in experimental theater. Experimental theater can be fun! It can also be confusing.
Traditional, modern, and experimental theater are all enjoyable and many people enjoy watching all three of them. Some readers or viewers quickly decide they don’t enjoy a particular type and prefer a different form of theater. In today’s theater climate, everyone can find something they enjoy!
