EXPRESSIONISM ON STAGE

In General: Similar to expressionism in visual art, a done by Van

Gogh and Gauguin: one persons vision- highly
subjective, highly emotional, inner perceptions
projected onto the subject matter. Expressionist works
often grew out of resentment at mechanization of life, of
suppression and distortion of the human spirit.

Atmosphere: Dreamlike and often shadowy. Anti-realistic sets,

lights, and costumes. Deliberate distortions of visual and
auditory information.

Characters: Stereotypes; symbols of social or economic types rather

than realistic representations of three-dimensional
individuals; expressionist characters often represent
categories of people.

Settings: Sets, costumes and lighting often distorted and ill-

proportioned, as they might be seen by a person
disturbed by the state of the world. Often includes
large, threatening, and grotesque imagery. Colors,
makeup and lighting strange; dialogue and character motion
non- realistic, often bizarre. Liberal use of mask, puppets,
and other mechanical representations of
characters.

Plot and Structure: Plots are often episodic, not well made. Emphasis
on incident and tableaux and disjointed progression of
scenes with each scene making a dramatic point of
its own. Undisguised theatrical devices often present
such as a chorus, presentational narration, and
soliloquy.

Performance: (from Paul Kornfeld, Czech, 1889-1942)

Let him (the actor) dare to stretch his arms out wide and
with a sense of soaring speak as he has never spoken
in life; let him not be an imitator or seek his models in a
world alien to the actor. In short, let him not be
ashamed of the fact that he is acting. Let him not deny the
theatre or try to feign reality.

History: Begun in the early century, Expressionism flourished in

Europe during the 1920s, especially in the atmosphere
of disillusion following WWI. Early expressionists are Georg
Kaiser (1878-1945): FROM MORN TO MIDNIGHT (1916)
and Franik Wedekind: (1864-1918) SPRINGS AWAKENING
(1906). Expressionism influenced American dramatists
such as Eugene ONeill (1888-1954): THE EMPEROR
JONES (1920) and THE HARRY APE (1922) as well as Elmer Rice
(1892-1967): THE ADDING MACHINE. Echoes of
expressionism are to be found even in neo-realists such
as Arthur Miller (1915-2005): DEATH OF A SALESMAN and
Tennessee Williams (1911-1983): THE GLASS
MENAGERIE.