Realism in the theatre
What makes up a realistic production? Itâs hard to come up with a ârecipeâ, but there are a number of important elements that you might expect to be present:
- The fourth wall. The set of a realistic production will be solid, three dimensional, and most often in a End-on staging on only one side of the stage, but in an older style theatre with a decorative arch framing the whole stage (called proscenium arch). that enhances the sense of that An imaginary fourth wall between the audience and the actors to help establish the illusion of reality.. The performers present the action realistically, without using techniques such as addressing the audience or a A tableau is a single freeze frame, a still image. The plural of tableau is tableaux., which immediately shatter any illusion of real life being played out.
- Everyday conversations and style of speaking. A realistic play would use A straight piece of writing, not poetry. rather than poetry and would use ordinary language, rather than a heightened emotional vocabulary.
- Ordinary people. Generally, the stories are about people who are more readily defined as middle or working class. For Stanislavski, it was substantially the middle class or bourgeois, to use the right term in the Russia of his day, that he put on stage.
- A carefully rehearsed acting style that creates or confirms the impression of reality. This is true whatever approach is adopted.
- A carefully selected and distilled representation of real life that is still theatrically effective.
- Real settings. These plays are set in realistic contexts. They wonât have fairy tale or fantasy settings and are likely to be contemporary. Thereâll come a time when such a play, one by Chekhov, for instance, is no longer contemporary. It then becomes a directorial decision as to what to do. But most productions of Chekhov are set in their original period with as much realistic integrity in the production as can be created.