Cherry Orchard: 1904, first staged January 17, 1904, Chekhov's birthday; the author died a few months later the same year.
![]() THR215 DramLit
From DramLit 2. Shakespeare: From the beginning of Modern Age to High Modernity (Chekhov) = Modernism Modernity is a term used to describe the condition of being "Modern". Since the term "Modern" is used to describe a wide range of periods, modernity must be taken in context.
![]() Fall 2005 mini-chekhov * [ 2005 ] Modern Theories
![]() 2004 Theatre UAF * Intro: Rule of Dramaturgue *
Theatre Theory
vital contradictions: "the three" (Chekhov - Ibsen - Strindberg) -- how to introduced them after Shakespeare?
"Good Writer" -- what is it?
1. Simplicity (details)
2. Subtext (why and how)
3. Character is in the center (forms of drama)
4. The Old Rules (composition); genre writing and new forms
5. New Feelings (new themes)?
6. "Talent" (Chekhov's favorite criteria) -- what does it mean?
"Chekhov Reading Strindberg" -- 3 Sisters and Ms. Julie. Character analysis on 3 Sis webpages! 215 * Bedford + groups.yahoo.com/group/dramlit must subscribe, if in class! "The Nordic Trio": Ibsen (Naturalism), Chekhov (Realism), Strindberg (Symbolism) ... textbook 693-94 on Realism Make your mind on wrting paper/play for final! samples : script.vtheatre.net/fest.html direct.vtheatre.net/shorts.html ... * more notes (last minute) at google calendar Anatoly UAF * Chekhov (like Shakespeare) will be refered to in all 20 century dramas. ...
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Cherry Orchard"All I wanted was to say honestly to people: 'Have a look at yourselves and see how bad and dreary your lives are!' The important thing is that people should realize that, for when they do, they will most certainly create another and better life for themselves. I will not live to see it, but I know that it will be quite different, quite unlike our present life. And so long as this different life does not exist, I shall go on saying to people again and again: 'Please, understand that your life is bad and dreary!'" Anton Chekhov2005 Fall -- THR215 Dramatic Literature :
Part 3. Chekhov (Cherry Orchard) and High Modernism
Main script.vtheatre.net & 2005 THR215 * Antiquity I * Modern Times II * High Modern (Realism) III * Postmodern (Absurdism) IV * V *
Bedford Textbook INTRO to DRAMA (Fifth Edition 2005) 0312414412 [ Commentaries: Letters * Gorky * Virginia Woolf * Peter Brook ]
Precursors to modernism
The first half of the 19th century for Europe was marked by a series of turbulent wars and revolutions, which gradually formed into a series of ideas and doctrines now identified as Romanticism, which focused on individual subjective experience, the supremacy of "Nature" as the standard subject for art, revolutionary or radical extensions of expression, and individual liberty. By mid-century, however, a synthesis of these ideas, and stable governing forms had emerged. Called by various names, this synthesis was rooted in the idea that what was "real" dominated over what was subjective. It is exemplified by Otto von Bismarck's realpolitik, philosophical ideas such as positivism and cultural norms now described by the word Victorian.
Central to this synthesis, however, was the importance of institutions, common assumptions and frames of reference. These drew their support from religious norms found in Christianity, scientific norms found in classical physics and doctrines which asserted that depiction of the basic external reality from an objective standpoint was possible. Cultural critics and historians label this set of doctrines Realism, though this term is not universal. In philosophy, the rationalist and positivist movements established a primacy of reason and system. [ wikipedia ]
As vividly Sigmund Freud offered a view of subjective states that involved a unconscious mind full of primal impulses and counterbalancing restrictions, and Carl Jung would combine Freud's doctrine of the unconscious with a belief in natural essence to stipulate a collective unconscious that was full of basic typologies that the conscious mind fought or embraced. This attacked the idea that people's impulses towards breaking social norms were the product of being childish or ignorant, and were instead essential to the nature of the human animal, and the ideas of Darwin had introduced the idea of "man, the animal" to the public mind.
At the same time, and in nearly the same place as Freud, Friedrich Nietzsche championed a process philosophy, in which processes and forces, specifically the 'will to power', were more important than facts or things. Similarly the writings of Henri Bergson became increasingly influential, who also championed the vital 'life force' over static conceptions of reality. What united all these writers was a romantic distrust of the Victorian positivism and certainty. Instead they championed, or, in case of Freud, attempted to explain, irrational thought processes through the lens of rationality and holism. This was connected with a general search to culminate the century long trend to thinking in terms of holistic ideas, which would include an increased interest in the occult, and "the vital force". [ Chekhov and Modernism ]
Poetics Take #3 -- texture
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Chekhov as a master-teacher for playwrighting segment (part 5): "How to Write a Play"?
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dramlit/message/1047 discussion class list posts.
2005-2006 Theatre UAF Season: Four Farces + One Funeral & Godot'06
Film-North : AA
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