Truth on Stage: The Rise of Naturalism in Theatre

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 (which bring Darwinian understandings of the determining role of the environment into the staging of human drama); 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).[2] Naturalistic role play is used within theatrical performances to demonstrate to the audience or show the audience how this would appear in real life. No still images are used as this does not show the full quality of the piece of drama. Naturalistic drama is used within many drama pieces to show the true feelings of the characters, this helps the characters to touch the audience with their feelings properly and appropriately.

PRACTITIONERS

Constantin Sergeyevich Stanislavski (Russian: Константи́н Серге́евич Станисла́вский, IPA: [kənstɐnʲˈtʲin sʲɪrˈgʲejɪvʲɪtɕ stənʲɪˈslafskʲɪj]; 17 January [O.S. 5 January] 1863 – 7 August 1938) was a Russian actor and theatre director.[b] The eponymous Stanislavski method or simply "method acting" has had a pervasive influence especially in the period after World War II.

Stanislavski treated theatre-making as a serious endeavour, requiring dedication, discipline and integrity. Throughout his life, he subjected his own acting to a process of rigorous artistic self-analysis and reflection. His development of a theorized praxis – in which practice is used as a mode of inquiry and theory as a catalyst for creative development – identifies him as one of the great modern theatre practitioners.

Stanislavski's work was as important to the development of socialist realism in the Soviet Union as it was to that of psychological realism in the United States.[1] It draws on a wide range of influences and ideas, including his study of the modernist and avant-garde developments of his time (naturalism, symbolism and Meyerhold's constructivism), Russian formalism, Yoga, Pavlovian behavioural psychology, James-Lange (via Ribot)psychophysiology and the aesthetics of Pushkin, Gogol, and Tolstoy. He described his approach as 'spiritual Realism'.

STANISLAVSKI'S SYSTEM

Stanislavski believed that if an actor completes the system, the desired emotion should be created and experienced. One earlier technique used for the system involved a "round the table analysis," a process in which the actors and director literally sit around a table and put forward their thoughts on the script and the characters until a clear understanding is formed. This technique involved breaking the script into sections. For the system to work, the structure of the script should be analyzed and sectioned based on the different characters of the play. Later, this technique was changed to instead immediately begin rehearsals after the main idea of the play had been discussed, but the sections are still evolved even through this practice.

Magic if

Stanislavski believed that the truth that occurred onstage was different than that of real life, but that a 'scenic truth' could be achieved onstage. A performance should be believable for an audience so that they may appear to the audience as truth. One of Stanislavski's methods for achieving the truthful pursuit of a character's emotion was his 'magic if.' Actors were required to ask many questions of their characters and themselves. Through the 'magic if,' actors were able to satisfy themselves and their characters' positions of the plot. One of the first questions they had to ask was, "What if I were in the same situation as my character?" Another variation on this is "What would I do if I found myself in this (the character's) circumstance?"[6] The "magic if" allowed actors to transcend the confinements of realism by asking them what would occur "if" circumstances were different, or "if" the circumstances were to happen to them. By answering these questions as the character, the theatrical actions of the actors would be believable and therefore 'truthful.'[1]

Motivation

Through the use of system, an actor must analyze their character's motivations. Stanislavski believed that an actor was influenced by either their mind or their emotion to stimulate their actions, and the actor's motivation was their subconscious will to perform those actions. Therefore, motivation has been described as looking to the past actions of the character to determine why they completed physical actions in a script.[1]

Objectives

The objective is a goal that a character wants to achieve. This is often worded in a question form as "What do I want?" An objective should be action-oriented, as opposed to an internal goal, to encourage character interaction onstage. The character doesn't necessarily have to achieve the objective, and the objective can be as simple as the script permits. For example, an objective for a particular character may simply be 'to pour a mug of tea.' For each scene, the actor must discover the character's objective. Every objective is different for each actor involved because they are based on the characters of the script.

Units and bits are the division of the script into smaller objectives. For example, the entire section of a scene during which the character searches for a tea bag would be a unit. When he decides to call on a neighbour is called a bit. The purpose of units is that they are used as reference points for the actor because every individual unit should contain a specific motive for the character.

Super-objective

The super-objective in contrast, focuses on the entire play as a whole. A super-objective can direct and connect an actor's choice of objectives from scene to scene. The super-objective serves as the final goal that a character wishes to achieve within the script.

Obstacles are the aspects that stop or hinder a character from achieving an individual objective. For example, while the character searches for tea bags to make the mug of tea, they find there are no teabags in the tin.

Tools or methods are the different techniques a character uses to surpass obstacles and achieve an objective. For example, the character searches around the kitchen, they walk to the shops, or they call on the neighbour so they can make the tea.

Actions are referred to as how the character is going to say or do something. More specifically, it as an objective for each line. Actions are how a character is going to achieve their objective. For example, a line in the script may read, '(whilst on the phone) "Hello, Sally. It's Bill from next door. You wouldn't happen to have any spare tea bags, would you? I know how well-organized you are." The Action for this line may be 'to flatter' in order to achieve the Objective of collecting the tea bags. Actions are different for every actor, based on their character choices

THEATRICAL CONVENTIONS

• Creation of the illusion of reality or "life as it actually is"

• Use of design (i.e.:costuming & make-up, set design, props, lighting and sound) that represents the historical era of the play's setting

• Use of design (i.e.:costuming & make-up, set design, props, lighting and sound) that represents the "real world of the characters"

• Acting that is emotionally precise

• Acting that is believable

• Use of believable, "everyday" dialogue

• Clear understanding of character's motivation

• Characters undergo significant change

• Use of the fourth wall

• Characters do not acknowledge the audience

• Importance of plot to construct the intended meaning

• Presentation of a secular world view (in other words, no use of supernatural forces such as ghosts, spirits or interventionist gods

• Use of multi-dimensional characters