🎬Intro to Directing Unit 13 – Non-Realistic Directing Styles & Genres

What's Non-Realistic Directing All About?

• Focuses on creating theatrical experiences that deviate from everyday reality
• Aims to evoke emotions, convey ideas, or challenge perceptions through unconventional means
• Encompasses a wide range of styles and genres (expressionism, absurdism, surrealism)
• Utilizes symbolic elements, exaggerated performances, and stylized design choices
• Prioritizes the inner world of characters and the subtext of the script
• Encourages experimentation and innovation in staging, movement, and dialogue delivery
• Challenges audiences to interpret and derive meaning from the performance

Key Non-Realistic Styles and Genres

• Expressionism
  • Distorts reality to express inner emotional states and subjective experiences
  • Employs abstract set designs, exaggerated makeup, and stylized acting
• Absurdism
  • Explores the meaninglessness and irrationality of human existence
  • Features illogical plots, nonsensical dialogue, and surreal situations (Waiting for Godot)
• Epic Theatre
  • Aims to provoke critical thinking and social change through alienation techniques
  • Breaks the fourth wall, uses placards, and incorporates multimedia elements
• Surrealism
  • Taps into the subconscious mind and dreams to create bizarre, irrational imagery
  • Juxtaposes incongruous elements and defies logical narrative structures
• Dadaism
  • Rejects traditional art forms and embraces chaos, irrationality, and nonsense
  • Incorporates found objects, chance operations, and provocative performances
• Postmodernism
  • Blurs the boundaries between high and low art, reality and fiction
  • Employs pastiche, irony, and self-reflexivity to challenge grand narratives

Pioneers and Influencers

• Vsevolod Meyerhold
  • Developed biomechanics, a system of actor training emphasizing physical expression
  • Experimented with constructivist set designs and avant-garde staging techniques
• Bertolt Brecht
  • Created epic theatre and the alienation effect to encourage critical thinking
  • Collaborated with Kurt Weill on works like The Threepenny Opera
• Antonin Artaud
  • Proposed the Theatre of Cruelty, which aimed to shock and unsettle audiences
  • Emphasized the importance of sensory experience and ritualistic elements in theatre
• Samuel Beckett
  • Pioneered the Theatre of the Absurd with plays like Waiting for Godot and Endgame
  • Explored existential themes and the futility of human existence through minimalist staging
• Jerzy Grotowski
  • Developed the concept of Poor Theatre, stripping away unnecessary elements
  • Focused on the actor's physical and vocal training to create raw, intense performances
• Robert Wilson
  • Known for his visually striking and highly stylized productions
  • Incorporates slow, precise movements, elaborate lighting, and surreal imagery

Techniques and Approaches

• Alienation effect (Verfremdungseffekt)
  • Intentionally disrupts the audience's emotional involvement to provoke critical reflection
  • Achieved through direct address, placards, and breaking character
• Biomechanics
  • A system of actor training developed by Meyerhold
  • Emphasizes precise, rhythmic movements and physical expression
• Chance operations
  • Incorporates random elements or audience participation to create unpredictable performances
  • Used by Dadaists and postmodern directors to challenge traditional narrative structures
• Juxtaposition
  • Places contrasting or seemingly unrelated elements side by side
  • Creates surreal, thought-provoking, or absurd effects
• Deconstruction
  • Breaks down and reassembles the elements of a play or performance
  • Challenges traditional interpretations and reveals hidden meanings or contradictions
• Minimalism
  • Strips away unnecessary elements to focus on the essentials of the performance
  • Emphasizes the actor's presence, movement, and voice
• Sensory immersion
  • Engages the audience's senses through sound, light, smell, and touch
  • Creates a visceral, immersive experience that goes beyond the intellectual

Visual and Auditory Elements

• Abstract set design
  • Uses geometric shapes, symbolic elements, and unconventional materials
  • Reflects the inner world of characters or the themes of the play
• Expressionistic lighting
  • Employs bold colors, sharp angles, and high contrast to create emotional atmospheres
  • Reflects the psychological states of characters or the mood of the scene
• Surreal costumes and makeup
  • Distorts or exaggerates the appearance of characters
  • Represents their inner qualities, social roles, or archetypal traits
• Atonal or discordant music
  • Creates an unsettling or eerie atmosphere
  • Reflects the chaos, irrationality, or emotional turmoil of the characters
• Sound effects and soundscapes
  • Enhances the sensory experience and creates a specific mood or environment
  • Can be realistic, abstract, or symbolic
• Multimedia projections
  • Incorporates video, images, or text to add layers of meaning or commentary
  • Can be used to juxtapose or contrast with the live action on stage

Script Analysis for Non-Realistic Works

• Identify the central themes, motifs, and symbols
  • Look for recurring images, phrases, or ideas that convey the play's meaning
  • Consider how these elements can be visually or auditorily represented on stage
• Analyze the characters' inner worlds and psychological states
  • Explore the subtext, desires, and conflicts that drive the characters' actions
  • Consider how these inner states can be externalized through performance and design
• Examine the structure and form of the script
  • Look for patterns, repetitions, or deviations from traditional narrative structures
  • Consider how the form itself contributes to the play's meaning or effect
• Interpret the language and dialogue
  • Analyze the style, rhythm, and tone of the language
  • Consider how the language can be delivered or staged to enhance its impact
• Identify opportunities for non-realistic staging and design
  • Look for moments or scenes that lend themselves to abstract, symbolic, or surreal representation
  • Consider how the visual and auditory elements can support or contrast with the text

Practical Exercises and Workshops

• Viewpoints
  • An improvisational technique that explores time and space through movement
  • Helps actors develop physical awareness, spontaneity, and ensemble connection
• Vocal exercises
  • Trains actors to use their voices expressively and unconventionally
  • Explores pitch, volume, rhythm, and tone to create specific effects or characterizations
• Sensory exploration
  • Encourages actors to engage with their environment using all five senses
  • Helps create a visceral, immersive experience for both actors and audience
• Mask work
  • Uses neutral or expressive masks to explore physical characterization and archetypal roles
  • Helps actors develop body awareness and exaggerated gestures
• Devising and collaborative creation
  • Involves the ensemble in the creation process, generating material through improvisation and experimentation
  • Fosters a sense of ownership and investment in the final performance

Contemporary Applications and Examples

• Immersive theatre
  • Blurs the boundaries between performers and audience, creating a shared experience
  • Examples include Punchdrunk's Sleep No More and Third Rail Projects' Then She Fell
• Site-specific performances
  • Stages productions in unconventional, non-theatrical spaces
  • Engages with the history, architecture, and atmosphere of the location
• Multimedia performances
  • Integrates live action with video, projection, and digital technology
  • Examples include The Builders Association's Continuous City and The Wooster Group's House/Lights
• Postdramatic theatre
  • Rejects traditional dramatic structures and prioritizes the performance event over the text
  • Examples include the works of Heiner Müller, Forced Entertainment, and Elevator Repair Service
• Devised and collaborative productions
  • Created through a process of ensemble improvisation, experimentation, and development
  • Examples include Theatre de Complicite's Mnemonic and Frantic Assembly's Lovesong