Symbolism, Dadaism & Surrealism – Crash Course Theater Study Notes

Quick Orientation

  • Transition point into 20^{th}-century theatre → explosion of self-declared “-isms.”
  • Three focal movements in this lecture:
    • Symbolism (launches \approx 1860s–1870s; manifesto 1886).
    • Dadaism (birth 1916, Zurich).
    • Surrealism (manifests 1920s after a Dada schism).
  • Guiding thread: each movement reacts against Realism/Naturalism, claiming reality is insufficient to reach truth.

Symbolism

  • Founding Context
    • Poetry > prosaic reality; seek lasting truth amid life’s chaos & impermanence.
    • Pre-figured by poets Stéphane Mallarmé, Charles Baudelaire.
    • Official manifesto printed in Le Figaro (1886).
  • Core Tenets
    • Truth emerges through excess, extravagance, chaos, insanity, subjective experience.
    • Distrust of platitudes & “natural banality.”
    • Mandate for ever-greater artistic audacity.
    • Mysticism & poetic ideals over day-to-day detail.
  • Key Playwrights
    • Henrik Ibsen, August Strindberg, Anton Chekhov → late-career symbolist pivots.
    • Movement’s champion: Belgian Maurice Maeterlinck ("almost all Symbolist, almost all the time").
  • Institutional Home
    • Théâtre des Arts founded by 18-year-old Paul Fort (1890) → expulsion from high school.
    • Renamed Théâtre de l’Œuvre under director Aurélien Lugné-Poe: non-representational sets, sleep-walking/chant-like acting.
  • Maeterlinck’s Aspirational Quote
    • Sought theatre to reveal “presence, power, or God… ever with me” inside the mundane.

Dadaism

  • Historical Spark
    • Late WW-I disillusion: if logic ⇒ world war, then art should jettison logic.
    • Founded in Zurich cabarets; Cabaret Voltaire epicenter.
  • Definition & Attitude
    • Movement of “disgust,” not of art (per spokesperson Tristan Tzara — former Symbolist).
    • Prefers nonsense, intuition, anarchy.
    • Term “Dada” chosen supposedly at random; meaning unknowable = principle.
  • Key Practitioners
    • Hugo Ball, Emmy Hennings, Richard Huelsenbeck early leaders.
    • Tzara’s 1916 cavalcade of clowns & stilt-walkers: handed crumpled paper while singing.
  • Aleatory Techniques
    • Cut-up newspaper → hat → draw words randomly to “compose.”
    • Tzara’s recipe “To Make a Dadaist Poem” promises each reader becomes “infinitely original.”
  • Performance Hallmarks
    • No boundary high/low, mastery/amateur, sense/nonsense.
    • Simultaneous poems, invented languages, songs, dances, bizarre costumes.
    • Goal: provoke & scandalize bourgeois audiences (jeers = success).

Surrealism

  • Genesis
    • André Breton splits from Dada (finds it “silly”).
    • Borrows term sur-réalisme from Guillaume Apollinaire’s 1903 play The Breasts of Tiresias.
  • Philosophical Foundations
    • Looks back to Symbolism but pairs with Freud’s unconscious & dream theory.
    • Seeks fusion of life/death, real/imagined, past/future, communicable/incommunicable, high/low → a “super-reality.”
  • Method: Automatism
    • Defined in 1^{st} Surrealist Manifesto (1924): “pure psychic automatism” → unfiltered mind output; fewer controls than stream-of-consciousness.
    • Breton’s 2^{nd} Manifesto: art = “dizzying descent into ourselves… forbidden territory.”
  • Canonical Play – The Breasts of Tiresias
    • Plot: Therese’s breasts float off as balloons; she becomes a man; husband dons female attire; anti-childbirth crusade; husband births 40\,000 children; couple reconciles.
    • Demonstrates gender fluidity, absurd fertility, dream logic.

Case Study: Alfred Jarry’s Ubu Roi

  • Background
    • Drafted in teen years; puppet parody of Jarry’s physics teacher + spoof of Macbeth.
    • Premiered Théâtre de l’Œuvre (1896) via Lugné-Poe.
  • Stylistic Mix
    • Naturalist degradation (rough-and-tumble “slumming”); Symbolist excess; proto-Dada/Surreal nonsense & nightmare.
    • Actors wear full-body restricting suits & acoustic masks → flattened monotone.
  • Language & Scatology
    • Opening word “merdre” (blend of merde = poop) triggered riot.
    • Toilet-brush weapons; constant excremental humor.
  • Plot Highlights (per Thought Bubble)
    • Pa Ubu (gluttonous, greedy, poop-obsessed) — Homer Simpson if purely id & unlikeable.
    • Ma Ubu urges regicide; Pa serves poop-covered toilet brush banquet → mass poisoning.
    • Prince Bugrelas escapes; spectral father demands revenge.
    • King Ubu’s reign: orgy, taxation, “disembraining,” jails ally Captain Bordure.
    • Bordure enlists Russian Tsar; battlefield: Ubu dons cardboard hobby-horse.
    • Parallel: Ma robs crypts.
    • Defeated Ubus flee via cave (bear attack) → sail to Paris; Pa hopes for post as Minister of Finance.
  • Reception
    • Debut riot halted show 15 min.
    • W. B. Yeats: “After us, the savage god.”
    • Closed opening night; revived only post-Jarry’s death (TB, Excessive drinking; cocktail = absinthe + vinegar + ink).
  • Significance
    • First modern play overtly hostile to its audience; flaunts offence.
    • Demonstrates bourgeois greed & ugliness by mirroring it back grotesquely.
    • Prototype for later avant-garde shock tactics.

Comparative & Theoretical Connections

  • Realism vs. Avant-Garde Truth-Seeking
    • Realism: surface detail; Symbolism/Dada/Surrealism: inner life, dreams, chance.
    • All three expose Realism’s “failure” to capture subjective or cosmic realities.
  • Aleatory (Dada) vs. Automatism (Surrealism)
    • Aleatory = randomness by external chance (cut-ups, dictionary pokes).
    • Automatism = randomness by internal flow (unfiltered psyche).

Ethical, Philosophical, Practical Implications

  • Ethics of Disorder: When logic yields war (WW-I), disorder may be ethical resistance.
  • Audience Sabotage: Forcing discomfort can awaken critical self-reflection—yet courts alienation.
  • Blurred High/Low Boundaries: Democratizes creation; upends elitism but risks trivializing craft.
  • Dream Logic on Stage: Challenges linear cognition; encourages psychoanalytic interpretations (Freud, later Jung & Lacan).

Dates, Names & Numerical References (Chronology)

  • Manifesto printing: 1886 (Le Figaro).
  • Théâtre des Arts founding: 1890 by 18-year-old Paul Fort.
  • Ubu Roi premiere: 1896.
  • Cabaret Voltaire / Dada birth: 1916 (WW-I nearing end).
  • Surrealist Manifesto: 1924 (Breton).
  • Children born in Breasts of Tiresias: 40\,000.
  • Riot pause during Ubu Roi: 15 minutes.

Legacy & Forward Glance

  • These movements lay groundwork for Expressionism (next lecture) & broader Modernism.
  • Continue influence on:
    • Performance art (happenings, fluxus).
    • Postmodern theatre (absurdism, deconstruction).
    • Visual art, film, advertising (surreal imagery).
  • Central take-away: Truth may reside in what seems irrational, childish, or obscene; art’s job is to mine that realm.

Production Notes & Acknowledgments

  • Episode hosted by Mike Rugnetta on Crash Course Theater.
  • Filmed at Chad & Stacey Emigholz Studio, Indianapolis, IN; animation by Thought Café.
  • Produced with PBS Digital Studios; viewer support via Patreon keeps series free.