Unit 104 Special Subject Investigation OVERVIEW

“Contemporary theatre requires a combination of naturalism and non-naturalism to appeal to their audience”
Throughout this research project, I was adding more information onto each post, therefore when wanting to find information on a specific topic, I knew which post I had included it in. I split this log into 10 different specific research points, which are:

• General notes
• Stanislavski
• Brecht
• Love Song notes + summary
• Things I know to be True notes + summary
• The Seagull audience reviews + summary
• Macbeth audience reviews + summary
• History
• Website references

I am planning on refining each post into powerpoint slides, with a couple other slides that don't require research (conclusion, introduction, applying these styles to my own previous work). 

Unit 104 Special Subject Investigation GENERAL NOTES

(Notes added throughout)

These notes are about both naturalistic styles and non-naturalistic styles. My hypothesis compares both these styles, so it is important to compare these two styles and understand them. In my powerpoint, I would do a slide describing both of these styles. This information is important because I can compare and contrast these styles. I will be able to apply this knowledge to analysing each style.

Naturalism notes

• in terms of style, naturalism is an extreme or heightened form of realism
• as a theatrical movement and performance style, naturalism was short-lived
• stage time equals real time – eg. three hours in the theatre equals three hours for the characters in the world of the play
• costumes, sets and props are historically accurate and very detailed, attempting to offer a photographic reproduction of reality (‘slice of life’)
• as with realism, settings for naturalistic dramas are often bland and ordinary
• naturalistic dramas normally follow rules set out by the Greek philosopher Aristotle, known as ‘the three unities’ (of time, place and action)
• the action of the play takes place in a single location over the time frame of a single day
• jumps in time and/or place between acts or scenes is not allowed
• playwrights were influenced by naturalist manifestos written by French novelist and playwright Emile Zola in the preface to Therese Raquin (1867 novel, 1873 play) and Swedish playwright August Strindberg in the preface to Miss Julie (1888)
• naturalism explores the concept of scientific determinism (spawning from Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution) – characters in the play are shaped by their circumstances and controlled by external forces such as hereditary or their social and economic environment
• often characters in naturalistic plays are considered victims of their own circumstance and this is why they behave in certain ways (they are seen as helpless products of their environment)
• characters are often working class/lower class (as opposed to the mostly middle class characters of realistic dramas)
• naturalistic plays regularly explore sordid subject matter previously considered taboo on the stage in any serious manner (eg suicide, poverty, prostitution)

Non-naturalism notes

When what is occurring on stage is not being portrayed as real life, with several techniques being used to provide a message to the audience. The below techniques are some examples:

Still Image

A form of tableau where actors invent body shapes or postures to portray something. Things can be changed from one into another: eg. Cinderella’s pumpkin turns into a coach. Useful technique where you have not staging (as you won’t have for 4x4)

Example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tynyQj8Jayg

Soundscape

Using voices or body percussion, create a ‘soundscape’ (like a landscape, only in sound) of a particular theme or mood. eg the city at night?

Example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSomWOUUCQ4

Slow Motion

Quite a simple one: how can you create an effect to communicate something significant about your drama by running something in slo-mo? 

Example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZXILfwlf4U 

Exaggeration

Does this need any explanation? I must have told you about this a million times already. Think exaggerated physical business; exaggerated voice

Example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YaKirQLv0eE

Mime

A complex and sophisticated art-form in itself - but useful at all levels especially where staging is minimal or non-existent.

Example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxmXnucXlMQ

Alienation

Also called Verfremdungseffekt - get used to this. You’ll be hearing a lot more about it when we go on to study Bertolt Brecht. Basically it means reminding the audience (often termed ‘spectators’ in this type of thinking to add to the sense that they aren’t really part of what is going on) that what they are watching is all made up and pretend. It involves the use of techniques designed to distance the audience from emotional involvement in the play through sharp reminders of the artificiality of the theatrical performance.

Examples of such techniques include explanatory captions or illustrations projected on a screen; actors stepping out of character to lecture, summarise, or sing songs; and stage designs that do not represent any locality but that, by exposing the lights and ropes, keep the spectators aware of being in a ‘false’ and non-real activity.

Example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWcoTXnrfkg

Soliloquy

Thinking out loud. Think Hamlet. Pretty non-natural but pretty damned important. If only I could think of ways to get this stuff over to my students more effectively...oh my, what a world this is...

Example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYZHb2xo0OI

Narration

Narration is a technique whereby one or more performers speak directly to the audience to tell a story, give information or comment on the action of the scene or the motivations of characters. Characters may narrate, or a performer who is not involved in the action can carry out the role of 'narrator'. Consider the opening scene of Henry V in which ‘Chorus’ introduces the audience to the play and outlines what is happening - and then reappears at points in the play to describe the change of scene.

Example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uDcIZAfegk

Split Scene

This is where two scenes go on at the same time on stage, one stage left and one stage right. The scene stage left will begin, for example and the actors in the scene stage right will be frozen. The actors stage left will then freeze and the actors stage right will resume the action and then freeze at the end. This may go backwards and forwards several times. It is used to show events that are taking place simultaneously. 

Example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ume-7YCUA5U

Breaking the Fourth Wall

A good reason to know what the Fourth Wall is - remember a week or so ago? - is consider it being broken (eg in a pantomime where the actors may ask the chilren in the audience for help as they look for the villain…”He’s behind you…”). ie speaking directly to the audience as if stepping momentarily out of they play. Woody Allen does this a lot: watch ‘Annie Hall’ if you haven’t already.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KncGldW1Nsw

Flashback

Familiar from film, television and literature. It can be done in a number of ways - eg. an old man on one side of the stage thinks back to events in childhood, played by another, presumably younger actor while he watches on as if watching his own earlier life. Flash forward also possible.

Example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U27UYw8ePYA

Marking the Moment

Is just a term used to identify where one of the strategies above has been used to draw particular attention to a point in the drama. eg using slow motion and exaggeration to highlight a key point in a murder scene?

Unit 104 Special Subject Investigation 8

History

(post made on 04/06)

It was important to research this because it informed me on how the styles fit into contemporary theatre. To understand the theatre audience preferences, I needed to understand how each of the styles became popular in the industry, and how the audiences were reacting to each of them at the time. I learnt a lot from this research, as prior to this, I didn't know that Brecht received negative feedback for his political theatre. I will include a slide about the history, as it contributes to the overall conclusion.

Broader notes

Naturalism is a movement in European drama and theatre that developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It refers to theatre that attempts to create a perfect illusion of reality through a range of dramatic and theatrical strategies: detailed, three-dimensional settings; everyday speech forms (prose over poetry); a secular world-view (no ghosts, spirits or gods intervening in the human action); an exclusive focus on subjects that are contemporary and indigenous (no exotic, otherworldly or fantastic locales, nor historical or mythic time-periods); an extension of the social range of characters portrayed (away from the aristocrats of classical drama, towards bourgeois and eventually working-class protagonists); and a style of acting that attempts to recreate the impression of reality (often by seeking complete identification with the role, understood in terms of its ‘given circumstances’, which, again, transcribe Darwinian motifs into performance, as advocated by Stanislavski).

Naturalistic writers were influenced by the theory of evolution of Charles Darwin. They believed that one’s heredity and social environment determine one’s character. Whereas realism seeks only to describe subjects as they really are, naturalism also attempts to determine “scientifically” the underlying forces (i.e. the environment or heredity) influencing the actions of its subjects. Naturalistic works are opposed to romanticism, in which subjects may receive highly symbolic, idealistic, or even supernatural treatment. They often include uncouth or sordid subject matter; for example, Émile Zola’s works had a frankness about sexuality along with a pervasive pessimism. Naturalistic works exposed the dark harshness of life, including poverty, racism, sex, prejudice, disease, prostitution, and filth. As a result, Naturalistic writers were frequently criticized for being too blunt.

Naturalism was criticized in the twentieth century by a whole host of theatre practitioners; Constantin Stanislavski, for example, argued for a puncturing of the illusion of the surface of reality in order to reach the real forces that determine it beneath its appearance; in place of the absorption within a fiction that Naturalistic performance promotes in its audience, he attempted to inculcate a more detached consideration of the realities and the issues behind them that the play confronts. His approach is a development, however, of the critical project initiated by Naturalism; it is a form of modernist realism.

Naturalistic performance is often unsuitable for the performance of other types of theatre—particularly older forms, but also many twentieth-century non-Naturalistic plays. Shakespearean verse, for example, demands a rigorous attention to its rhythmic sub-structure and often long and complex phrasings; naturalistic actors tend to cut these down to the far shorter speech patterns of modern drama, destroying the rhythmic support that assists the audience’s process of comprehension. In addition, Shakespearean drama assumed a natural, direct and often-renewed contact with the audience on the part of the performer; ‘fourth wall’ performances foreclose these complex layerings of theatrical and dramatic realities the game that are built into Shakespeare’s dramaturgy. A good example is the line spoken by Cleopatra in Antony and Cleopatra’s act five, when she contemplates her humiliation in Rome at the hands of Octavius Caesar, by means of mocking theatrical renditions of her fate: “And I shall see some squeaking Cleopatra boy my greatness in the posture of a whore”; that this was to be spoken by a boy in a dress in a theatre is an integral part of its dramatic meaning—a complexity unavailable to a purely naturalistic treatment.

Refined notes

• Naturalism is a movement in theatre that developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Interest in naturalism especially flourished with the French playwrights of the time, but the most successful example is Strindberg's play, Miss Julie.​
• Naturalistic writers were influenced by the theory of evolution by Charles Darwin​
• Non-naturalistic theatre has always been present in theatre, however the style developed in the early 1900's, with the impact of Brecht

Unit 104 Special Subject Investigation 7

Audience

(notes taken on 4/06 and 9/06)

This is an article written about the progressing audience of theatre. To understand the contemporary theatre audience, it was important to understand what the audience was. This article was important for understanding how naturalism and non-naturalism are being seen differently in contemporary theatre. 

Many people go to the theatre to escape the hustle and bustle of modern society and want to be taken on a journey, different from the life they live in. A vast percentage of those who go to the theatre enjoy to watch their evening/afternoon’s performance without the disruption of people talking, rowdy crowds, loud eaters and most of all, the bright screens of mobile phones. However, recently, regular theatergoers are finding themselves encountering more and more disturbances during performances, thanks to audience members around them. This raises the question, are theatre audiences changing?

I think one of the main reasons that there has been a rise in disruption within theatres, is because of the kind of productions that are touring, running within London’s west end or running on Broadway. There is a considerable amount of commercial productions showing, which will entice patrons who have never set foot within a theatre before. There are many screen to stage adaptations which are peaking the interests of people who love the film and want to see it live. Or there are shows which are biographical and follow mainstream artists; therefore, the fans of that artist come to the theatre to relive the nostalgia. And last but not least, everyone loves a jukebox musical for a night out, they are promised to be entertained.

So, you ask, why would these people cause disturbances within the theatre? Well, there are several reasons. Some patrons of the theatre expect these shows to be like a concert, so they can get up to dance or sing-along whenever they want, and they do this without realizing it’s not correct theatre etiquette. Some patrons are just there for a night out with friends, so their main aim is to have a great night, have a few drinks, plus spend time with pals, rather than enjoy the performance; this could cause them to get a bit too drunk and disturb the audience around them. However, of course, it is at this point that the front of house team will step in and make sure that your night is not spoiled. Then there is the final reason, where someone has booked a show, realized it’s not for them halfway through, got bored, started being disruptive, don’t particularly care about the people around them and end up ruining your night.

I know from my experience, and also hearing other people’s experience, that there is a lot of disruption within audiences of particular productions which peak the interests of pretty much everyone. It does mean that there is a high chance that there’s going to be issues with people who are not familiar with the theatre experience. Recently a patron asked me during a show I was front of house for, why no one was standing up, dancing and singing, this question was asked during the interval of a brilliant musical, I had to explain to him that this was not a concert and was, in fact, more like a cinema experience where you are watching a story unfold in front of you, however at the end you will have a chance to sing and dance. The patron understood, yet halfway through act two, I had to tell them several times to get their phone away. And they asked after the show why they were not allowed their phone out, and I explained that it disrupts the audience members around them and the actors on stage would be able to see the light from their screen. The patron was very apologetic, plus understood why we were very strict with phones and disturbances.

This is only one of mine and my colleague's experience of where it is obvious the patron has not been aware of what happens within a theatre environment. I would say there needs to be more education out there for audience members, but there are clear signs and announcements in the theatre I work in and also those I visit. So, it just appears that there is a lot of occasions where the audiences are ignoring the clear signs and causing issues for the front of house, plus the patrons trying to enjoy the performance.

Theatre is being made more accessible, which I think is absolutely brilliant, as it means our theatres are filling up with people who are viewing a show for the first time, and because of that, they may follow a career in the arts, or even just come back time and time again to see a production at their local theatre. But the feeling that some avid theatergoers are getting is that their local theatres are no longer a safe space, this is due to a minority of audience members being disruptive by talking, drinking heavily, using mobile phones and even in some VERY rare occasions there is fighting.

To me, it seems that theatre audiences have changed in recent years compared to the ones I had experienced when I was younger. This is because going to the theatre, is once again a popular activity, which we should all be so glad it is, as it gives our favourite theatres and productions a boost, and also introduces new people into the world we love. The 21st-century culture is clashing with the old-fashioned aura that comes with the theatre; it just means that there is always going to be some issues. However, rather than blame theatres or productions for matters which are completely out of their hands, just spread the word that the theatre is a place which deserves respect and good manners to the other audience members around you, as well as the building itself. I can ensure you that the front of house team at your local theatre will do the best they can to make sure that every patron gets the best experience while visiting the theatre.

On that note, if you’re unhappy with the way someone is acting around you, rather than waiting until the end of the show to report it, and ruin your overall experience, tell the front of house team immediately! They are there with the purpose of making sure that you get to see the show you have spent your hard-earned money on.

Also, if you have a friend going to the theatre for the first time, tell them what the experience is like, while also noting what's acceptable, and what’s not... just in case.

Unit 104 Special Subject Investigation 6

Macbeth

(Notes taken on 2/06)

These are links to different articles on the audience reactions and reviews of different versions of Macbeth productions. Macbeth is a non-naturalistic play, however the style of some monologues and characters allow actors to prepare naturalistically. I wanted to know which parts were picked by the audience, and what ha the most significance. I will do a summary paragraph on this in my powerpoint.

https://www.broadwayworld.com/austin/article/BWW-Review-MACBETH-Bewitches-Audiences-at-The-Curtain-Theatre-20191013

https://www.playshakespeare.com/macbeth/297-theatre-reviews/

https://www.theupcoming.co.uk/2020/05/13/macbeth-at-shakespeares-globe-online-theatre-review/

https://www.londontheatre1.com/reviews/play/macbeth-at-queens-theatre-hornchurch-review/

https://www.theatreinchicago.com/macbeth/reviews/2559/

Unit 104 Special Subject Investigation 5

The Seagull

(notes from 1/06)

Looking at the reviews of The Seagull meant I could understand the audience reactions of a naturalistic based performance. At the moment, I believe contemporary theatre requires both styles, and these reviews were important because it showed me how successful naturalism still is in contemporary theatre. 

Audience reviews

https://www.timeout.com/london/theatre/the-seagull-review

https://artsfuse.org/191178/theater-review-the-seagull-an-exceptional-staging-of-a-legendary-play/

https://chicagocritic.com/the-seagull/

https://www.londontheatre1.com/reviews/review-the-seagull-theatro-technis/

https://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/14/theater/reviews/14seag.html

https://www.redbrick.me/review-the-seagull-at-the-crescent-theatre/

https://dctheatrescene.com/2019/03/18/the-seagull-review-from-the-wheel/

https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2017/oct/12/the-seagull-review-lesley-sharp-chekhov-lyric-hammersmith

https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/reviews/the-seagull-0