Why did naturalism come about?

In the 18th century there was a desire, needing the audience to connect with the characters on stage so the audience would have a new theatrical experience. so people began to experiment with theatre.

 

All my sons

All my sons is a touching yet powerful drama about the Keller family and the skeletons in their closet. The whole play is based in the Keller’s garden and porch. It begins with Kate alone in the garden and a tree snaps the tree is the memorial of Larry their son who went missing in World War 2. Loosing Larry isn’t the only grief the family have had to face as people have not forgotten the court case which ended with Joe’s business partner Steve going to prison. The cracked engine heads Joe’s factory produced caused the death of 21 pilots. Ann the daughter of Steve was once Larry’s girl however after three years of him being missing she has fallen for Kate and Joes other son Chris, so she goes to visit hoping for a proposal however many other things come to light while she was there.

Emotional memory

Emotional memory is when you relate your own emotions to the emotions your character is feeling so your performance is more realistic. For example if you were going to play a character that was freezing to death obviously you couldn't relate to that perfectly but you would think back to a time in your life you were coldest and relate that to the performance.

Language

Iambic pentameter (verse)  would not be used in naturalism as it isn’t a natural way of speaking no one ever spoke like this it was only ever in poetry and plays. This is commonly misunderstood as people think people in Shakespearean times did speak in verse for example “Romeo, Romeo where for art thou Romeo” no one would have said anything like this in real life.  

Inner and Outer tempo

Inner and outer tempo can really affect your characters physicality and pace of voice. An example of inner and outer tempo can be people in an exam on the outside everything is going really slow and it quite and calm however on the inside you’re in a rush to complete the exam and you’re worried about what the outcome would be so you may be calm and quite but you could be tapping your foot or looking around anxiously.

Audience

When watching a performance which uses the naturalism style the audience will most likely experience a catharsis which means an out pouring of emotion. This is because of suspensions of disbelief which is when a member of the audience knows something isn’t real but allows any doubt to leave their mind and they get sucked in and form connections with characters therefore making the performance extremely effective.

Proscenium Arch

The stage used in naturalism is a proscenium arch, so there are three walls and the audience are looking in on the story. The fourth wall is invisible however it is extremely prominent creating a different world behind this wall.