Practitioner unit notes

Historical context of Norway

-       At this time (early 1800’s) Norway was under Swedish rule with some autonomy

-       Norway was not completely independent until 20^th century

-       Norway faced economic hardships after 1851

-       Ibsen was born 1828

-       Theatre at this time was centered mostly on romanticism and melodrama style

o   Ibsen didn’t really like that so he developed realistic theatre modern theatre

Notes on Henrik Ibsen

-       father of modern theatre (realist theatre)

-       his plays were shocking

o   Feminist elements “A Dolls House”

o   Unconventional

-       Norwegian playwright

-       Hedda gabbler, pillars of society, a dolls house, the master builder, peer gynt, an enemy of the people, etc.

-       Born 1828 march in a little Norwegian village Skien

-       Praised the emancipation of the individual, especially women.

-       Emphasized heredity

-       Realism

-       Didn’t like any of the existing styles of theatre so created his own

-       Ibsen believed that honesty in facing facts was the first requisite of a decent life

-        Human nature has dark recesses which must be explored and illuminated; life has pitfalls which must be recognized to be avoided; and society has humbugs, hypocrisies, and obscure diseases which must be revealed before they can be cured. To recognize these facts is not pessimism; it is the moral obligation laid upon intelligent people. To face the problems thus exposed, however, requires courage, honesty, and faith in the ultimate worth of the human soul. 

-       Experience and life are a happiness in themselves

-        here, at about the age of twenty, he formed a friendship with Björnson. About 1851 the violinist Ole Bull gave Ibsen the position of "theater poet" at the newly built National Theater in Bergen -- a post which he held for six years. In 1857 he became director of the Norwegian Theater in Christiania; and in 1862, with Love's Comedy, became known in his own country as a playwright of promise. 

-        ^ Ibsen left after this because he was unhappy with the pay and all that stuff

-        he was starting to introduce a new kind of drama

-       Ibsen’s work influenced the great Russian playwright Anton Chekhov and English playwright George Bernard Shaw. Even Arthur miller in America.

-       ibsen was influenced by Dickensian realism

-       ibsen was into voltaires satire

-       Ibsen truly started to write plays in a modern theatrical style in Rome after leaving Norway. 

-       Ibsen was influenced by personal problems

o   Family went bankrupt         

o   Later he had an illegitimate child with a servant girl and the consequences influenced his writing 

-        Ibsen is perhaps best known for eight plays he wrote in Italy and Germany between 1877 and 1890. By separating himself physically from his homeland, he gained the freedom and perspective to criticize it. Dissatisfied with the heroic and mythic poetic dramas he had been writing, Ibsen embarked on a series of realistic prose plays exposing contemporary problems in contemporary Norwegian settings. Concentrating directly on bourgeois Norwegian society, he nevertheless addressed universal concerns, for the social problems that provide the context for these plays -- among them the question of women's rights in A Doll House (1879), hereditary syphilis in Ghosts (1881), and municipal corruption in An Enemy of the People (1882) -- were instantly recognizable to audiences throughout Western Europe and America.

-        Influenced august Strindberg (Strindberg was also kind of a rival.)

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People ibsen collaborated with

-       Edward Munch: did set design for Ibsen’s productions

-       Edward Grieg: did the music for Ibsen’s “Peer Gynt.”

Realism

-       Movement that had the greatest impact on modern theatre

-       Chekov later used realism elements

-       The theatre stage is more like an environment than an acting platform

-       Freudian psychology

-       Henrik Ibsen (Problem Plays)

-       Naturalism is an extreme form of realism

-       Stanislavsky method

-       Reaction to Romanticism

o   Romanticism focuses on the sublimity of nature, supernatural elements, life through a pink colored glass, focus on emotion, feeling, etc.

-       Realism in the arts is an attempt to express life truthfully while avoiding supernatural elements

-       To direct attention to the social and psychological issues ordinary people face

-        triggered by Stanislavski’s system of realistic acting at the turn of the 20th century, America grabbed hold of its own brand of this performance style (American realism) and acting (method acting) in the 1930s, 40s and 50s (The Group Theatre, The Actors Studio) - See more at: http://www.thedramateacher.com/realism-and-naturalism-theatre-conventions/#sthash.KeUyxel0.dpuf

-        settings for realistic plays are often bland (deliberately ordinary), dialogue is not heightened for effect, but that of everyday speech (vernacular) - See more at: http://www.thedramateacher.com/realism-and-naturalism-theatre-conventions/#sthash.KeUyxel0.dpuf

-        the drama is typically psychologically driven, where the plot is secondary and primary focus is placed on the interior lives of characters, their motives, the reactions of others etc. - See more at: http://www.thedramateacher.com/realism-and-naturalism-theatre-conventions/#sthash.KeUyxel0.dpuf

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realistic plays often see the protagonist (main character) rise up against the odds to assert him/herself against an injustice of some kind (eg. Nora in Ibsen’s A Doll’s House) - See more at: http://www.thedramateacher.com/realism-and-naturalism-theatre-conventions/#sthash.KeUyxel0.dpuf

-   the ‘box set’ is normally used for realistic dramas on stage, consisting of three walls and an invisible ‘fourth wall’ facing the audience - See more at: http://www.thedramateacher.com/realism-and-naturalism-theatre-conventions/#sthash.KeUyxel0.dpuf

Realism acting techniques

-·  little or no backs to the audience, unless stylised and briefly used for effect

·  loud vocal projection (louder than normal everyday conversation level)

·  appropriate stance and stage movements for the character being portrayed (remember, a young child may crawl, but an old man will walk slowly)

·  small gestures that add a convincing ‘extra touch’ to the character (also making this character unique from others on the stage in the drama)

·  suitable facial expressions at particular moments in the drama

·  stage movement that occurs naturally, usually based on certain lines

·  realistic props, costumes, lighting and sets- See more at: http://www.thedramateacher.com/expressive-skills-and-realism/#sthash.n8l9XXNP.dpuf

The actor's character, as described by Stanislavski, is the essence of the actor himself filtered through the situation and circumstances of the character, thereby joining together the qualities of the actor with the character described by a playwright. This alchemy, stressed Stanislavski, is what brings a character to real life.

Read more : http://www.ehow.com/info_8661728_acting-techniques-used-realism.html

-       observation

-       the magic “what if” ask yourself what you would do in the shoes of the character you are playing

-       MOTVIATION

o   Why does my character behave a certain way?

o   The actor must study the text intensely

-       Emotional memory

o   Stanislavsky emphasized that it was important to actually feel the emotion of the given scene.

o   Actors should draw upon their own personal experiences and mix their true selves with the character they need to portray

Relaxation

Concentration and observation

Importance of specifics

Psychological motivation is key

^ the reason the character is doing anything on the stage