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Edward Gordon Craig Presents the Director
Craig graduates from acting and takes on the development of his first show, Henry Purcell's "Dido and Aeneas." He suggested that a production should be under the control of one person as theater was its own art and should not be inflicted by anyone other than one person, even suggesting puppets instead of actors to prevent the actors from doing so much as to inflict themselves on a production. -
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Futurism, Dada, and Expressionism
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Strindberg Comments on a Change for Theater
"The Writer has tried to imitate the disconnected but seemingly logical form of the dream. Anything may happen; everything is possible and probable. Time and space do not exist. On an insignificant background of reality, imagination designs and embroiders novel patterns: a medley of memories, experiences, free fancies, absurdities and improvisations" (Brockett 175). This was to preface "A Dream Play" by August Strindberg where the POV of the dreamer was used to tell a story. -
Max Reinhardt Brings Style
Max Reinhardt graduated from acting to directing in the early 1900's after taking over the Neues theater and in doing so brought what he believed production needed. He would essentially work to immerse the viewer by transforming the same theater into a circus one night and a cathedral the next. If a play was similar to another he would unify them in these ways. -
The Futurists Want Change
Filippo Tommaso Marinetti was obsessed with the approaching age of machines. He felt that old ways of life stood in the way of the change that was needed in order to achieve an enlightened future. Those that followed this belief wrote manifestos, one that detailed how there would only be one theater and it would only be devoted to historical drama or photo productions of daily life. Marinetti thought that theater should serve as more an homage to the old way of life and only that. -
Expressionism Comes Into Play
Expressionism was made as an opposite to materialism and industrialism which expressionists thought was damaging to what the heart of theater was. The point was to "conform to what is best for the human spirit and thereby achieve the "regeneration of man"" (Brockett 175). This approach to theater took well, centering around a protagonist that had big dreams that they wished to fulfill. The shows used Edward Gordon Green's ideas of using lighting to further help the production succeed. -
The Futurists Are Still Here
The futurists pushed for change yet again when presenting the idea of multiple parts of a show would be playing out at once in order to move the production along as quickly as possible, appropriate for the futurists who of course were always looking forward, deeming the past irrelevant. Perhaps one area of the stage would be home to a musical number while the other, dialogue in such a show. Audiences however did not respond kindly and the futurists had less of a following after the first WW. -
The Dadaists Arrive
The dadaists looked to work with whatever futurists had caused by taking logic and reason in drama and replace it with just the opposite. They would use some of the same techniques that the futurists planned to use however. Multiple pieces of the show would happen at the same time. Productions called "chance poems" and "sound poems" would be performed. The productions would typically stay short because of this style of storytelling. -
Eugene O' Neill Wins Big
Eugene O' Neill won the attention of the nation and was the first American dramatist to do so. While he was helped by the influence of European theater as he first got his legs in the industry. He became a part of American playwright groups. He produced several shows in his career. It is these achievements and these productions that bring us to much of where we are today in modern theater. -
Ernst, Arp, and Barrgeld Do Something Unique
Max Ernst, Hans Arp, and Theodor Barrgeld put on a dada event in which guests entered through a man's toilet which would lead into an elegant courtyard. The productions that took place involved poems read by a young girl, a pool of blood that held a skull and a hand, and a large wooden sculpture with a hatchet attached. This was sort of a culmination of what Max Reinhardt intended for theater as well as the futurists and dadaists. -
Adolphe Appia Develops the Modern Stage
Adolphe Appia develops the first conception of the modern stage in his book "The Work of Living Art". He believed that there was lacking elements in theater that were limiting the art in ways that could be helped otherwise. Appia saw a way to help in making the stage the most immersive it could be for the actors and therefore the audience. Lighting and objects on the stage such as ramps and stairs would be used to develop the story, acting almost as a character and less of an object.