20th century american theatre: Expressionism

Emergence of American tragedy, expressionism, Machinal

Emergence of American Tragedy

* Genre of tragedy based on Ancient Greek tragedy
* Defining feature is conflict resulting in the hero-heroine’s downfall
* Desired effect of tragedy is catharsis - purging of emotions

Aristotle’s Poetics

Six dramatic plot elements in order of importance


1. Plot
2. Character
3. Thought
4. Diction
5. Music
6. Spectacle

Plot

* single, unified action
* serious, present moral, social, and psychological dilemmas
* Complete and hold magnitude
* Turns from good towards bad to achieve downfall
* Moment of recognition and suffering
* Plot must be logical and plausible

Character

* Hero’s traits and motivation affect the plot
* Decisions lead to preconceived fate set by divine
* Must be good, but not perfect
* Larger than life, noble

Thought

* Represents character’s rationale

Diction

* How the play is communicated
* Word choice, poetry, expression of the meaning of the words
* Way in which characters speak

To achieve ‘catharsis’

audience must

* grow attached to the hero
* fear what may happen to the hero
* Pity the suffering hero

American Tragedy

* Very few modern plays are considered true tragedy
* Critics believed that modern humans no longer valued themselves highly enough and too many socio'/ideological factors were impacting the ‘tragic temperament’
* Greeks were writing about heroes, modern dramatists were writing about their present society
* Realism represented complex and flawed people
* Naturalism investigated environmental effects on character and story, going against the notion of divine set fate
* Intention no longer to pity/fear, but to reflect on society
* Tragic elements, but not full dimensions of tragedy
* Still not a perfect recreation of Greek tragedy (biggest difference lies in the character and its nobility, American characters become tragic because the audience relates to them)

Eugene O’Neill

* Remember him from the Provincetown players (they helped launch his career by performing 2 of his plays in NYC)
* Considered first successful tragedian
* Investigated Freud’s concept of the subconcious and compared it with the Greek concept of fate
* Best demonstrated in his cycle of three plays, Mourning Becomes Electra, modeled after Aeschylus’ Oresteia and drawing from several other Greek tragedies

Expressionism

* movement in the avant-garde
* started in Germany at the beginning of the century
* Expressionists advocated for the externalization of the internal state
* Express subjective emotions, not objective reality
* Would distort or exaggerate to depict strong emotions and ideas
* sought to emphasize failures of social structures
* Critical of industrialization (felt it was dehumanizing)
* Dramatists were supportive of technological advancements (Lighting and stage design, film and camera)

Expressionism in practice

* Characterized by the shift of emphasis from play to performance


* Director’s role increasing importance
* Reflected faith in audience to understand without guidance from text
* Writing and design was distorted and fragmented, present abstract sounds and images
* emphasis on sound and lighting, minimal props and sets (props/sets were either symbolic and served to move the scene forward)
* Episodic structure (covered long period of time and involved more characters/locations)
* Elements were dreamlike, sometimes nightmarish
* Influenced American theatre after WW1

Sophie Treadwell

* born in California, father left when she was very young
* left lasting impression on her in terms of both marital and economic instability
* felt connected to her father and his Mexican ancestry (influenced her to study language and theatre) -- Also reflected in her plays, journalism covered Mexican Revolution, and her plays featured Mexican characters, addressed subjects like US attitude toward Mexico
* Displayed an interest in journalism while studying
* Worked multiple jobs while studying, leading to a series of breakdowns due to stress and exhaustion (this pattern helped her to gain understanding of psychological and physiological impacts of external pressure)
* This understanding is reflected in Machinal
* Worked as a journalist and theatre critic while writing plays

Machinal

* Combines journalism and theatre
* Based on a real event happening at the time, considered to be the most sensational of the era (murder of Albert Snyder. His wife, Ruth, and her lover, Judd Gray, were accused and sentenced to death. Ruth Snyder becomes first woman in NY to die in electric chair

Machinal and the event it was based off of

* events and trails were heavily covered in the papers
* Over 1500 people watched the trial in the courtroom (Treadwell was there, but not as a journalist-- described in the New York times as a “typical broadway audience”)
* Treadwell’s analysis of the trial and reporting on it inspired Machinal (premiered on Broadway several months after the executions)
* Did not depict dramatization of the case, but presented it as a response to modern life (representation of the machine age as oppressive and deadly)
* Explored theories of psychology of Freud and Carl Jung that gripped Americans