An Introduction to Modern Drama

 

The theatre of revolt can be divided into three categories: messianic, social, and existential.

 

1. Messianic revolt occurs when the dramatist rebels against God and tries to take His place. It revolves around the thought and actions of a new Messiah, who thinks himself destined to replace the old God and change the life of man. Messianic drama is the most subjective, Romantic, grandiose, and egotistical of all dramatic rebellion. It advocates absolute liberation from dramatic rules or human limitations. Like the Romantic hero, an inspired visionary, messianic dramatist has an appetite for the infinite, conceiving the universe as a projection of his superhuman will. The sound of Nietzsche's will to power reverberates through messianic drama. Ibsen's early plays are exemplary of messianic revolt. Prototypes for the messianic hero can be Lucifer, Mephistopheles, Cain, Judas, Don Juan. The fate of the messianic hero provides the dramatic climax of a messianic play. Messianic dramatist, like a Romantic poet, has close affinities with the heroes in his plays. Messianic drama is, in short, a dramatization of the Romantic quest for faith, and a conflict between the ideal desires of the hero and insurmountable obstacles of the real world. Regarding the form, messianic drama has an epic structure, rarely enjoys a unified plot, but consists of short, episodic scenes with multiple set changes. As for its setting, it takes place either in the past, in the future, or some unlocalised time and place, like that of a dream. As a literary genre, messianic drama falls into the category of myth or romance: the mythic hero who is superior in kind both to other men and to the environment of other men, and the Romantic hero who is superior in degree to other men and to his environment. The language is lofty and elevated. Some of the plays are written in verse some in heightened prose.

 

2. The second stage of the modern theatre is social revolt. The social dramatist concentrates on man in society, in conflict with community, government, academy, church, or family.  The episodic play gives way to three-/four-act structures; it is tighter, more compact, well-made. It imitates life but it is an imitation essentially for satiric purposes. To arrive at an objective representation, social plays are written in the realistic or Naturalistic style. Feelings are more controlled and restrained than messianic plays, as the playwright tries to absent himself from the play and let the action speak for itself. Its dramatis personae are taken from the middle class (social drama is usually referred to as bourgeois drama too). In it human dignity falls to average height. I want and I will give way to I accept. Social revolt characterizes the best-known plays of the contemporary stage. Modern social drama possesses a harsh, critical tone which mocks hypocritical sentimentality, where no tears are shed except for exasperation. According to Northrop Frye, the drama of social revolt is written in "low mimetic mode," the style of most realistic fiction. The word hero no longer suits such drama: degradation of the hero in its moral, structural, and sexual sense is evident. Women begin to assume central roles. The setting is contemporary society to which prose vernacular of everyday life best suits.

 

3. In the last stage of the modern drama, existential drama, the dramatist examines the metaphysical life of man and protests against it; existence becomes the source of his rebellion. It is a mode of utmost restriction, a cry of anguish over the insufferable state of being human. Existential revolt is in fact an inversion of messianic revolt. While messianic drama is potent and positive, existential drama is impotent and despairing. The messianic dramatist makes his characters superhuman; the existential dramatist makes them subhuman. The former exaggerates human freedom, the latter human bondage. It has appeared in an age of totalitarianism where the existential man is doomed to a life of solitary confinement. It reflects—after the disintegration of idealist energies—exhaustion and disillusionment. One of the identifying images of the existential drama is the image of human condition as mud, ashes, manure or bodily waste.  It reached it utmost height in "the theatre of the absurd". Being at times anti-humanist, existential dramatists opposed "comfortable, consumer-directed" arts, and dedicated their work not to luxury and enjoyment, but to discomfort and unease. In fact, joy and sensuality give way to despondency and longing for death. The active messianic hero gives way to existential antihero; one who is disadvantaged, perverse, and thoroughly incapable of significant action. In Aristotle's definition of tragedy there is no tragedy without action; yet existential drama is, in tone and atmosphere, the most tragic of the modern genres. Bergson's philosophical theories, especially his theory of duration (la duree) strongly influenced the concept of time in existential themes.