Styles of Theatre
There are a variety of theatrical styles used in theatre and drama. These include
- Absurdism – presents a perspective that all human attempts at significance are illogical. Ultimate truth is chaos with little certainty. There is no necessity that need drive us.
- Expressionism – anti-realistic in seeing appearance as distorted and the truth lying within man. The outward appearance on stage can be distorted and unrealistic to portray an eternal truth.
- Melodrama – sentimental drama with musical underscoring, often with an unlikely plot that concerns the suffering of the good at the hands of evildoers but ends happily with good triumphant. Featuring stock characters such as the noble hero, the long-suffering damsel in distress, and the cold-blooded villain.
- Modernism – a broad concept that sees art, including theatre, as detached from life in a pure way and able to reflect on life critically.
- Naturalism – portraying life on stage with close attention to detail, based on observation of real life.
- Postmodern theatre – originated in Europe in the middle of the twentieth century out of the postmodern philosophy as a reaction against modernist theatre. Postmodern theatre raises questions rather than attempting to supply answers or definitive truth.
- Puppetry– an ancient form where performers/puppeteers manipulate performing objects. Puppetry has many variations and forms.
- Realism – portraying characters on stage that are close to real life, with realistic settings and staging.
Read more about this topic: Outline Of Theatre
Famous quotes containing the words styles of, styles and/or theatre:
“... it is use, and use alone, which leads one of us, tolerably trained to recognize any criterion of grace or any sense of the fitness of things, to tolerate ... the styles of dress to which we are more or less conforming every day of our lives. Fifty years hence they will seem to us as uncultivated as the nose-rings of the Hottentot seem today.”
—Elizabeth Stuart Phelps (1844–1911)
“There are only two styles of portrait painting; the serious and the smirk.”
—Charles Dickens (1812–1870)
“To save the theatre, the theatre must be destroyed, the actors and actresses must all die of the plague. They poison the air, they make art impossible. It is not drama that they play, but pieces for the theatre. We should return to the Greeks, play in the open air: the drama dies of stalls and boxes and evening dress, and people who come to digest their dinner.”
—Eleonora Duse (1858–1924)