l Expressionism in the theatre Cambridge （l的表现主义戏剧剑桥）.pdfVIP

Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-22739-1 - Modern Drama in Theory and Practice: Volume 3: Expressionism and Epic Theatre J.L.Styan Excerpt More information l Expressionism in the theatre In the view of the art critic Herbert Read, expressionism is one of the basic modes of perceiving and representing the world around us . Asked what he expected of expressionism in the theatre, the ordinary playgoer is likely to be vague . In realism, he might say, actors sit about on chairs and talk about the weather , but in expressionism they stand on them and shout about the world . The reason is not far to seek. Of all the dramatic modes of this century, none has proved more accommodating, but the one element common to all expres- sionistic plays is a rigorous anti-realism . Expressionism began as a form of windy neo-romanticism and grew to be a hard-headed, dialectical kind of realism. Certainly it is today associated, as it will be in this book, with more than the youthful German drama of the 1910s that gave it birth, and even current epic theatre has retained strong formal links with the very expressionism against which it rebelled. Today, the term is generally applied after the fact, and is often better defined by the play to which it is applied than by the critic who applies it. Nevertheless, in its basic techniques it has been an enduring thread of great strength and vitality in the story of modern drama , binding such giants as Strindberg and ONeill, Brecht and OCasey. The term was first applied to painting . It