DRAMA 101 Lecture Notes 2 PDF

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All material covered after midterm up to final; Guillaume Tourniaire Spring 2018...

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EPIC THEATRE AND BERTOLT BRECHT (5/2/18) Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956) ● German playwright, director, theatre practitioner, poet, Marxist ● Born in Germany/Bavaria in 1898 ● Germany declared war on Russia in 1914 ○ Was excited and wanted to support the war but was too young ○ Brecht started to write poetries ● Worked at a military hospital in 1917-1918 ○ Shattered his illusion of the war ● 1919: shifted his focus from medicine → general science → science → literature ● ● ● ● ●

1926: wrote A Man’s A Man 1933-1948: Brecht was in exile; completed the idea of “Epic Theatre” 1939: wrote Mother Courage and her Children 1944: wrote The Caucasian Chalk Circle 1948: returned to Berlin

Foundation of Epic Theatre (Influences of Brecht) ● “Storm and Stress” and Schiller ● Cabaret - revue-style theatrical event w/ music, song, dance, and comedy ○ Social and political critique ○ Casual and fun ■ Audience drinks, smokes, and discusses ○ Open to audience reaction and participation Characteristics of Epic Theatre ● German expressionism ○ After WWI (anti-war) ○ Criticized dehumanization ○ Characters lost their individual identity and their names (referred to as “man” or “woman”) ○ Plays and performances highly stylistic ■ Broke away from Realism ● Broke away from conventions ● Criticized the ruling class ● Aimed to change people’s behaviors and minds Bertolt Brecht, A Man’s A Man (1926) ● Man is changeable (in a negative way) ● One can do anything one wishes with a Man

● Man is like a machine ○ He can be taken apart, and put together ○ Man is a thing ● Foreshadows the alienation of the machine-made man ● Developed the theory of “estrangement” (“Verfremdung”) ● How could we make human and society’s transformation in a good way? ● What would a new theatre look like? “To think, or write, or produce a play also means to transform society, to transform the state, to subject ideologies to close scrutiny” - Bertolt Brecht Elements of Dramatic Theater vs. Elements of Epic Theater Elements of Dramatic Theater (Aristotle)

Elements of Epic Theater (Brecht)

Spectator immerses themselves and feels empathy for characters “I’m in a real world”

Spectator remains outside and studies “I’m in a theater”

Provides spectator w/ sensations

Forces spectator to make decisions

One scene makes another (cause and effect)

Each scene is independent of one another (lack of cause and effect)

Linear development

Non-linear development

Catharsis (feeling/purification)

Thinking (reason/change)

Man as a fixed point

Man is a process

Passive (“it’s only natural”; accepting conditions as it is)

Active

Cultural Hegemony ● Marxist philosophy ● Cultural hegemony - ruling class manipulates culture of a society, and ruling class worldview becomes the accepted cultural/social norm ● People justify social, political, and economic status quo as natural and beneficial for everyone, but actually only benefits the ruling class

Verfremdungseffekt (“The V-Effect”) ● V-Effect - a theatrical device that prevents the audience from losing itself passively and

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completely in the character created by the actor, and which consequently leads the audience to be a consciously critical observer; meaning “disillusionment”, “estrangement”, alienation effect, or defamiliarization Maintaining the aesthetic distance Telling the character’s story; actor is commenting on own character at the same time No illusions Disillusionment in performance ○ Against the idea that “they didn’t act Lear, they were Lear” Disillusionment in music ○ Opposition between music and text/story ○ Discordant, non-rhythmic ○ Reminds audience of aesthetic distance Disillusionment in set design ○ Minimalistic stage Disillusionment in signs and titles ○ Signs and banners introduce scenes ○ Provide spectators w/ each scene’s basic information at the very beginning ○ Spoilers THEATRE SPACES (5/4/18)

Representational Theatre ● Representational Theatre - action of the play is conducted as if no audience is present; actors never acknowledge the audience Presentational Theatre ● Presentational Theatre - no attempt to offer a realistic illusion; performers openly acknowledge the audience The Fourth Wall ● “Fourth wall” - the imaginary wall at the front of the stage in a traditional three-walled box set in a proscenium theatre, through which the audience sees the action in the world of the play Suspension of Disbelief ● Suspension of disbelief - we admit that what is happening is not real and we accept the play’s quasi-reality; we allow ourselves to invest emotionally in the characters Aesthetic Distance ● Aesthetic distance - the ability to remove oneself from a work of art, far enough to be able to contemplate it ● Allows an audience to remember what they are seeing is not real life

● Allows the audience to enjoy the performance, while still thinking about it critically Group Dynamics ● We become less intellectual and more emotional in a group ● When others react, we react Asides and Soliloquies ● Aside - meant only for the audience to hear; the other actors “can’t” hear it ● Soliloquy - the actor thinking aloud Proscenium Stage (Proscenium Arch)

● Surrounded on the top and sides by a physical proscenium arch and on the bottom by the stage floor itself, which serves as the frame (i.e. Meany Hall for the Performing Arts) Thrust Stage

● A stage that extends into the auditorium so that the audience is seated around three sides (i.e. Jones Playhouse) Arena Stage (“Theatre in the Round”)

● A theatre space in which the audience encircles the stage Black Box Theater

● A simple indoor performance space w/ plain black walls and a level floor, typically designed to provide flexibility in the configuration of the stage and the audience seating (i.e. Merchant of Venice at Seattle Shakespeare Co.) Found Space ● A theatre space converted from another space not intended for theatre Greek Theatre Roman Theatre Medieval Theatre Elizabethan Theatre Spanish Corrales

Japanese Noh 17th Cent. French Theatre French Neoclassicism and Moliere German 18th Cent. “Storm and Stress” Well-Made Play Melodrama Realism Symbolism Epic Theatre Johann Wolfgang van Goethe (1749-1832) ● Analyzing theatre ● Proposed 3 primary questions when analyzing a play: 1. What is the artist trying to do? 2. How well has the artist done it? 3. Is it worth doing? ● These questions can be asked of the playwright, actors, designers, and director Writing about Theatre ● When analyzing a production, ask yourself: ○ What is the director’s vision for the play? ○ Does each design element fit to this vision? ○ Do all the design elements work together? ○ What does the set design tell you about the play, even before the action begins? ○ What can the costumes tell you? ○ The lighting? ○ The sound?

Past vs. Present Tense ● Use present tense when writing about the events of a play ● Use past tense when writing about a specific performance

Four Levels of Critical Writing 1. Summary a. Describing the events 2. Analysis a. Breaking down events or your object of study into parts 3. Synthesis a. Assembling those parts into a coherent framework 4. Evaluation a. Assessment, critique, and ideas based on evidence gained from steps 1-3 Pitfalls of Writing about Theatre ● Summarizing the plot ● Stating opinions as fact ● Stating opinions w/o evidence ● Using vague or general statements ● Relying on thoughts or words of others AMERICAN REALISM (5/7/18) Freudian Topography of the Mind ● Sigmund Freud theory: everything we’re aware of is just the tip of the iceberg ● The unconscious mind (repressed drives) governs behavior to a greater degree than people suspect ● Realist plays often centered on the revelation of a deep-seated psychological secret ○ Plot mimics process of psychoanalysis Expressionism (Late 1800s-1920s) ● Expressionism - an exterior expression of inner psychic states ● Dramatists strove to emphasize humanity’s moral crisis ○ Confronted an industrial world and the loss of individuality Expressionism in Theatre and Film ● The world is subjective, appearing as seen through the eyes of the main character, reflective of their psyche American Realism ● American Realism - combination of Iconoclastic forms and Aristotelian principles ● Modern tragedy ● Borrowing from European art forms and traditions Eugene O’Neill (1888-1953)

● Developed that the concept of the world is subjective, appearing as seen through the eyes of the main character, reflective of their psyche ● Passion is the essence of all life ● The Hairy Ape (1924) ○ Portrays a primitive coal stoker on a passenger liner who awakened base emotions in the more refined passengers ● Desire Under the Elms (1924) ○ Explores the myth of Phaedra, centering on her incestuous love for her husband’s son ○ Set in rural New England ● Long Day’s Journey into Night (1941/1956) ○ An analysis of O’Neill’s own tortured family background (alcoholism and drug addiction) Arthur Miller (1919-2005) ● Son of Jewish immigrants ● Lived in Harlem and then Brooklyn ● Won university prizes for first plays ○ Supported/produced by Theatre Guild ● Worked in New York Federal Theatre Project ● All My Sons (1947) ○ Miller’s first successful play ○ Ran on Broadway for 300 performances ● Death of a Salesman (1949) ○ Focuses on American ideal of business success ○ Play in its conclusions challenged standard values ● The Crucible (1953) ○ Portrayed witch hunts of 17th cent. New England but was about contemporary anti-Communist witch hunts Arthur Miller’s All My Sons (1947) ● Play follows Aristotelian structure ○ Hamartia, Anagnorisis, Peripeteia, Catastrophe, Catharsis, (blood relation) ● Plot: Chris Keller returned from combat in WWII ● The secret: his father Joe, a supplier of airplane parts to the U.S. military, sold faulty parts ● 21 combat pilots killed when planes malfunctioned ● Chris confronts Joe ● Joe commits suicide Mis-en-Scène (“Placing on Stage”) ● Mis-en-scène - the process of realizing a theatrical text on stage and the particular

aesthetic/conceptual frames that have been adopted as part of that process Realism vs. Selective Realism Jo Mielziner (1901-1976) ● An American theatrical scenic and lighting designer who worked on stage plays and musicals; also pioneered Selective Realism in scenic design ● Considered the most successful set designer of the Golden era of Broadway Tennessee Williams (1911-1983) ● Poet turned playwright ● Work inspired by his own dysfunctional family ○ Abusive alcoholic father and Southern belle mother ● The Glass Menagerie (1945) ○ William’s most personal story ○ Ran on Broadway for 561 performances ● A Streetcar Named Desire (1947) ○ Ran on Broadway for 855 performances ○ Won the Pulitzer Prize ● Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955) ○ William’s personal favorite ○ Saga of a southern family Takeaways from American Realism ● American playwrights borrow from European traditions of Realism and Expressionism ● Modern tragedy of American Realism is a fuse of Iconoclastic forms and Aristotelian principles ● Stage design for American Realist plays borrows from European traditions, such as Realism, Expressionism, and Symbolism

METHOD ACTING (5/9/18) Konstantin Stanislavski (1863-1938) ● Director of Moscow Art Theater ● Developed acting method called “The Stanislavski System” based in Psychological Realism ● Author of An Actor Prepares, Building a Character, and Creating a Role ● Teacher to Michael Chekhov and Maria Ouspenskaya The Stanislavski System (Basis of Method Acting)

● Stanislavski’s System - method actors use to produce realistic characters on stage ● Emotional Memory ○ Draws on emotion rooted in actor’s own experiences ○ Leads to Realistic characterization ● The Magic “If” ○ “What if I were in the same situation as my character?” ○ Imagination → believability ● Objectives ○ Analyze character’s motivation ○ “What do I want?” ● Table Work ○ Study and break down the script ○ Units and beats Mikhail “Michael” Chekhov (1891-1955) ● One of Stanislavski's brightest students ● Acting studio in LA (1943-1950s) ● Emphasis should be on character’s feelings, not the actor’s ○ Opposite of “Magic If” ● Psychological gesture - expressing the entire character through an intuitive grasp of the character’s main desire, first developed by outward gesture, then internalized ● Teacher to Jack Nicholson, Marilyn Monroe, and Clint Eastwood Lee Strasberg (1901-1982) ● “Father” of Method Acting ○ Major contributor to Method Acting pedagogy in U.S. ● Affective Memory ○ The actor concentrates on an incident from their own life ○ The actor should “re-experience the sensory impressions surrounding a remembered emotion” ● Member of The Group Theater ● Student of Maria Ouspenskaya (Stanislavski’s student) ● Founded Actors Studio ● Teacher to Al Pacino, Dustin Hoffman, and James Dean Stella Adler (1901-1992) ● “Mother” of Method Acting ● Member of The Group Theater and worked with Lee Strasberg ● Visited Stanislavski in 1934 ○ Stanislavski abandoned emotional memory in favor of sociological research

○ Adler broke away from Strasberg ● Actor-Anthropologist - the actor must study the values of the character to understand what the dramatic situations mean ● “Drawing on the emotions I experienced… to create a role is sick and schizophrenic. If that is acting, I don’t want to do it.” ● Teacher to Robert De Niro, Mark Ruffalo, etc. Realistic Acting, Non-Realistic Set Takeaway from Method Acting ● Method acting is rooted in Russian acting tradition ● Through its teachers in the U.S., it transforms American Realism ● Infiltrated U.S. cinema, and distributed worldwide ● Gives us the option of employing a realistic acting style w/o a realistic set Physical Extremity ● Actors' bodies take a physical toil when they have to transform themselves (i.e. gain/lose weight) for a part IMAGING AND DIRECTING PLAY DESIGN (5/11/18) Elements of Design ● Line, shape, color, texture, space, proportion Principles of Design ● Balance, unity, variety, harmony, movement, rhythm, emphasis The World of the Play ● What is the space like? ○ Interior or exterior ○ Built or natural ○ Confined or open ○ Size Example of The World of the Play: A Streetcar Named Desire ● Interior, built, confined, small Imagining Space & Setting ● Who owns the space? ○ Private or public? ○ Is it shared?

○ Well-maintained or disheveled? ○ How do characters talk about their environment? Is there conflict? ○ How does setting of the environment impact the story? ● Does any of this change throughout the story? ○ Who changes it? Why? ○ Why does it stay the same? Imagining Space & Time ● Where does the story take place? ○ i.e. country, city, community, etc. ● What time is it? ○ Year, season, month, day ○ i.e. midnight, break of dawn, rush hour ● Are there social, political, cultural, or economic conditions that the play situates itself within? ○ i.e. civil unrest, elections, war, plague, unions, pop culture, etc. ● Time and space usually changes within a play Imagining Space & Action ● How do the characters interact w/ the space? ○ Is it a sanctuary, prison, etc? ○ Do they ‘respect’ the space, or revile it? ○ Is there conflict b/w characters about the space? ■ How is this manifested? ● What does the blocking tell us about the space? ● What is the necessary action in the play? Choosing a Direction ● Traditional (time-piece) ● Updated/re-imagined ● Abstract ● Minimalist ● Realistic ● Expressionist, surreal, symbolic, etc. Responding to the Text: Qualities of the World of the Play - Recurring (Thematic) ● Read through the play once, start to finish, w/o any interruptions ● On your second or third read, begin to address the questions concerning the World of the Play ○ Write a list of: ■ Repetitive dialogue or action

■ Necessary action or plot sequences/events ■ Evocative phrases, images, analogies, or metaphors that you come up w/ in response to the text What NOT to Do ● Clipart ● Generic and undetailed photos ● No sense of cohesiveness ● Use images from other theatrical productions Find ways to discuss how the images you choose respond to or interpret the script. Where to Look for Images ● Magazines ● Department store catalogs ● Vintage clothing templates ● Engravings, woodcuttings, architecture, paintings, art installations, dance ● Photography Image Research for Design ● Do not use images from other theatrical productions ● Use the descriptive adjectives you’ve written down while reading the script as initial search entries for image research ● Analogies and metaphors Takeaways from Imaging and Directing Play Design ● Directors and designers communicate the visual world of the play through image research and discussion ● All of collaborative artists involved are working to serve the script and to tell a story ● Staging any play within the original confinements of the given circumstances is just as challenging and compelling as reimagined and/or updated productions THEATRE OF THE ABSURD (5/14/18) Albert Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus (1942) ● “A world that can be explained by reasoning, however faulty, is a familiar world. But in a universe that is suddenly deprived of illusions and of light, man feels like a stranger. His is an irremediable exile, b/c he is deprived of memories of a lost homeland as much as he lacks the hope of a promised land to come.” ● “This divorce b/w man and his life, the actor and his setting, truly constitutes the feeling of Absurdity.”

World War II (1939-1945) ● Catastrophic and devastating destruction ● How could “civilized”, rational societies wreak such destruction? Martin Esslin’s Theatre of the Absurd (1961) ● Martin Esslin’s play Theatre of the Absurd based on Theatre of the Absurd ● Decline of religious faith was substituted by religions of faith in progress, nationalism, and totalitarian fallacies until the end of WWII ○ Shattered by the war ● Absurdity of the human condition itself in a world where the decline of religious belief has deprived man of certainties ● Theatre of the Absurd is a return to the original, religious function of the theatre; the confrontation of man w/ spheres of myth and religion Qualities of Absurdist Drama ● Works against “traditional” dramatic form ● Nonlinearity ● Antirealism ● Lack of traditional coherence ● Nonsensical language ● Absence of Aristotelian plot ● Unrecognizable characters ● Lacks a clear beginning or ending ● Reflections of dreams and nightmares ● Expresses the senselessness of the human condition ● Abandonment of rational and discursive thought ● Feeling of mechanical, half-unconscious lives ● Absence of cosmic system of values ● Often a mixture of tragedy, comedy, and farce Samuel Beckett (1906-1989) ● Playwright, poet, novelist, essayist, director ● Born in Dublin, Ireland ● Moved to Paris in 1937 ● Associate of James Joyce ● Worked for French Resistance in WWII ● Author of Waiting for Godot (1952) ● Author of Endgame, Krapp’s Last Tape, and Happy Days Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot (1952)

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Theatre of the Absurd Relationships and language are futile or nonsensical Characters fail to effectively communicate Nothing seems to “happen” or change Little information given about characters Plot of Waiting for Godot: ○ Two tramps, Vladimir and Estragon (Didi and Gogo), wait on a country road next to a tree ○ While waiting for Godot, they pass the time playing games ○ Their age and physical ailments exacerbate their waiting, but the pair are otherwise steadfast in waiting for Godot ○ The two contemplate leaving, but a little boy arrives at the end of Act One telling them that Godot will arrive tomorrow so they wait ○ Act Two essentially repeats ● Look for patterns, repetition, imagery, and language ● How does time and memory work?

Vaudeville ● Vaudeville - variety entertainment genre mixing comedians, trained animals, dancers, singers, etc. Characteristics of Beckett’s Plays ● A bleak, isolated world ● Anti-Realism ● Minimalistic settings ● Pessimistic ● V...