Expressionism

In our adventure to explore anti-realism in theatre this semester, my Conservatory 2B students are discovering expressionist theatre in which we attempt to express what we see as the inner reality of a drama. Expressionism was used as a protest against the parameters of naturalistic/realistic theatre and allowed for more experimental drama. I personally love expressionalist theatre since it allows for the freest possible form of style and opens a world of possibilities for our class ensemble exploration and theatre exercises.

One of the elements we'll be exploring is speech. Expressionism allows us to shift between prose and verse and from realistic dialogue to monosyllable or telegraphic speech. The broken dialogue gives the impression that only the essentials of human speech remain, revealing more of the subconscious. So we get to focus more on what a piece is really about and encourages us to dig deep into the material.

Expressionism shifts the focus from objective realism to subjective monologue. This style of theatre creates a more abstract form. In class, this presents us with an exciting challenge to step out of the conventional theatre course to a more advance exploration of the student's creativity.