Theatre Post 1950

Existentialism

Existentialism

Life has little to no meaning, man is alone in an indifferent universe, and we are only responsible for our own actions.

Existentalism (Founder & Playwrights)

• France

• Jean Paul Sorte and Albert Camus [No Exit]

Theatre of the Absurd

The futility of life, sparse language, illogical circular structure, avant-garde domestic form.

Theatre of the Absurd (Founder)

• England

• Martin Esselin

Samuel Beckett

• Krapp’s Last Tape

• Waiting for Godot

Eugene Ionesco

• The Bald Soprano

• The Chairs

Harold Pinter

• The Dumbwaiter

• The Birthday Party

Waiting for Godot

Two tramps who meet each day waiting for an unknown figure to come.

Directors of Absurdism

• Alan Schneider carefully illuminated the enigmatic texts of Beckett, Albee, and Pinter.

• Peter Hall was the artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Company and National Theatre.

Happenings

Nonstructural events that occurred with a minimum of planning and organization. They could happen anywhere not just museums, galleries or concert halls they can happen on street corners, grocery stores, and etc.

Multimedia

Joins theatre with other arts, especially dance, film, television, and other digital media.

Josef Svoboda

His works are centered on the concept of kinetics (art must be in motion).

• Laterna Magika - screens in conjunction with actors.

• Polekran - means “multiscreen” and refers to multiple screens at multiple angles and heights.

Environmental Theatre

The entire space is a performance space—implying that the formal division between performers and spectators is artificial.

Environmental Theater (founders)

• Richard Schechner (American)

• Jerzy Grotowski (Poland)

Peter Brook

• Director

• Wrote “The Empty Space“

• Deadly ”commercial” Theater

Jerzy Grotowski

• Coined the term “Poor Theater“

• Viewed theatre as an art, not as a social construct.

• Experimented with various spatial arrangements.

• Worked with The polish Laboratory Theatre.

Paratheatrical Experiments

Rituals of daily life mean to rediscover the origins of theater.

Eclectics

Were artist that experimented with various techniques, their output defies easy categorization.

American Directors of Eclectics

Jean-Louis Barrault, Charles Dullin, Antonin Artaud

Italian Directors of Eclectics

Giorgio Strehler and Franco Zeffirelli

The Living Theatre

• Founded by Julian Beck and Judith Malina in 1947.

• Political activism

• Improv/poetry

• Paradise Now (1968)

La MaMa

• Founded by Ellen Stewart

• Produces works by minorities

• Marginalized/ lesser known artists

The Public

• Founded by Joseph Papp

Post Modernism

Suggest a general distrust of objective truth, narratives, rationality, theories, and definitions of art.

The Performance Group

• Founded by Richard Schechner

• Environmental Staging

• Dionysus in ‘69 (1969)

The Wooster Group

• Founded by Elizabeth LeCompte

• Deconstruction of classic texts

• Multimedia

Mabou Mines

• Founded by Lee Breuer

• Developed many theatre pieces using imagery and techniques from pop culture.

Site-specific theatre

Productions that are created for specific non theatre locations.

Alternative American Directors

Richard Foreman, Robert Wilson, Des McAnuff (Gimme Shelter), Petter Stellars(The Inspector General), and Anne Boggart.

Performance Art

Alternative form of “theater.“ Often using visual art, dance, and popular entertainment.

Bill Irwin

• Clown

• “New Vaudville“

Anna Deavere Smith

• Verbatim Theatre

• Solo Performance