B. Show about " new drama»
In the historical and literary perspective, the “new drama”, which served as a radical restructuring of the dramaturgy of the 19th century, marked the beginning of the dramaturgy of the 20th century. In the history of Western European "new drama", the role of an innovator and pioneer belongs to the Norwegian writer Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906).
B. Shaw, who saw in Ibsen "a great critic of idealism", and in his plays - a prototype of his own play-discussions, in the articles "The Quintessence of Ibsenism" (1891), "The Realist Dramatist - to His Critics" (1894), and also in numerous reviews, letters and prefaces to the plays, he gave a deep analysis of the ideological and artistic innovation of the Norwegian playwright, formulating on its basis his idea of the creative tasks facing the "new drama". The main feature of the "new drama", according to Shaw, is that she resolutely turned to modern life and began to discuss "problems, characters and actions that are of direct importance to the audience itself." Ibsen laid the foundation for the "new drama", and in the eyes of Shaw for the modern audience, he is much more important than the great Shakespeare. “Shakespeare brought us on the stage, but in situations alien to us ... Ibsen satisfies a need not satisfied by Shakespeare. It represents ourselves, but us in our own situations. What happens to his characters happens to us." Shaw believes that the modern playwright should follow the same path as Ibsen. At the same time, speaking about his own work, Shaw admits that "he is forced to take all the material for the drama either directly from reality or from reliable sources." “I created nothing, invented nothing, distorted nothing, I just revealed the dramatic possibilities that lie hidden in reality.”
The "cult of false ideals" that has become established in society, Shaw calls "idealism", and its adherents - "idealists". It is on them that the edge of Ibsen's satire is directed, who defended the right of the human person to act differently than prescribed " moral ideals» society. Ibsen, according to Shaw, "insists that the highest goal be inspired, eternal, continuously developing, and not external, unchanging, false ... not a letter, but a spirit ... not an abstract law, but a living impulse." The task of the modern playwright is precisely to reveal the contradictions lurking in society and to find the way "to more perfect forms of public and private life."
That is why it is necessary to carry out a reform of drama, to make the main element of dramaturgy a discussion, a clash of different ideas and opinions. Shaw is convinced that the drama of a modern play should be based not on external intrigue, but on sharp ideological conflicts of reality itself. “In the new plays, the dramatic conflict is built not around the vulgar inclinations of a person, his greed or generosity, resentment or ambition, misunderstandings and accidents and everything else, but around the clash of various ideals.”
The Ibsen school thus concludes Shaw, created new form drama, the action of which is "closely connected with the situation under discussion." Ibsen “introduced discussion and expanded its rights to such an extent that, having spread and intruding into action, it finally assimilated with him. Play and discussion have become almost synonymous. Rhetoric, irony, argument, paradox and other elements of the “drama of ideas” are designed to awaken the viewer from the “emotional sleep”, make him empathize, turn him into a “participant” in the discussion that has arisen - in a word, do not give him “salvation in sensitivity, sentimentality”, but “to teach to think”.
The play is form literary work, written by a playwright, which usually consists of dialogue between characters and is intended for reading or theatrical performance; small piece of music.
Use of the term
The term "play" refers to both the written texts of playwrights and their theatrical performance. A few playwrights, such as George Bernard Shaw, showed no preference for having their plays read or performed on the stage. A play is a form of drama based on a serious and complex conflict.. The term "play" is used in a broad sense - regarding the dramatic genre (drama, tragedy, comedy, etc.).
A piece in music
A piece in music (in this case, the word comes from the Italian language pezzo, literally “piece”) is an instrumental work, often small in volume, which is written in the form of a period, a simple or complex 2-3 private form, or in the form of a rondo. The title of a musical play often defines its genre basis - a dance (waltzes, polonaises, mazurkas by F. Chopin), a march (“March of the Tin Soldiers” from the “Children's Album” by P. I. Tchaikovsky), a song (“Song Without Words” by F. Mendelssohn").
Origin
The term "play" is of French origin. In this language, the word piece includes several lexical meanings: part, piece, work, passage. The literary form of the play has passed long haul development from ancient times to the present. Already in the theater Ancient Greece Two classical genres of dramatic performances were formed - tragedy and comedy. The later development of theatrical art enriched the genres and varieties of drama, and, accordingly, the typology of plays.
genres of the play. Examples
A play is a form of literary work of dramatic genres, including:
Development of the play in literature
In literature, the play was initially considered as a formal, generalized concept that indicated the belonging artwork to the dramatic genre. Aristotle (“Poetics”, sections V and XVIII), N. Boileau (“Message VII to Racine”), G. E. Lessing (“Laocoön” and “Hamburg Dramaturgy”), J. W. Goethe (“Weimar Court Theater” ) used the term "play" as a universal concept that applies to any genre of drama.
In the XVIII century. dramatic works appeared, in the titles of which the word “play” appeared (“A play about the accession of Cyrus”). In the 19th century the name "play" was used to refer to a lyric poem. Playwrights of the 20th century sought to expand the genre limits of drama by using not only different dramatic genres, but also other types of art (music, vocals, choreography, including ballet, cinema).
The compositional structure of the play
The compositional construction of the text of the play includes a number of traditional formal elements:
- title;
- list actors;
- character text - dramatic dialogues, monologues;
- remarks (author's notes in the form of an indication of the place of action, the characteristics of the character of the characters or a specific situation);
The text content of the play is divided into separate complete semantic parts - actions or acts that may consist of episodes, phenomena or pictures. Some playwrights gave their works an author's subtitle, which denoted the genre specificity and stylistic orientation of the play. For example: “play-discussion” by B. Shaw “Marriage”, “play-parabola” by B. Brecht “ a kind person from Sichuan.
Functions of the play in art
The play had a strong influence on the development of art forms. World-famous artistic (theatrical, musical, cinematographic, television) works are based on the plots of the plays:
- operas, operettas, musicals, for example: W. A. Mozart's opera "Don Giovanni, or the Punished Libertine" is based on the play by A. de Zamora; the source of the plot of the operetta "Truffaldino from Bergamo" is the play by C. Goldoni "The Servant of Two Masters"; the musical "West Side Story" - an adaptation of W. Shakespeare's play "Romeo and Juliet";
- ballet performances, for example: the ballet Peer Gynt, based on the play of the same name by G. Ibsen;
- cinematographic works, for example: the English film "Pygmalion" (1938) - an adaptation of the play of the same name by B. Shaw; The feature film Dog in the Manger (1977) is based on the plot of the play of the same name by Lope de Vega.
Modern meaning
Until our time, the interpretation of the concept of a play as a universal definition of belonging to dramatic genres which is widely used in modern literary criticism and literary practice. The concept of "play" is also applied to mixed dramatic works, combining the features of different genres (for example: comedy-ballet, introduced by Molière).
The word play comes from French piece, which means piece, part.
The creator of the drama-discussion (together with Ibsen), in the center of which is the clash of hostile ideologies, social and ethical problems. it is necessary to carry out a reform of drama, to make the main element of dramaturgy a discussion, a clash of different ideas and opinions. Shaw is convinced that the drama of a modern play should be based not on external intrigue, but on sharp ideological conflicts of reality itself. Rhetoric, irony, dispute, paradox and other elements of the “drama of ideas” are designed to awaken the viewer from an “emotional sleep”, make him empathize, turn him into a “participant” in the discussion that has arisen - in a word, do not give him “salvation in sensitivity, sentimentality ", but "to teach to think."
Modern dramaturgy was supposed to evoke a direct response from the audience, recognizing situations in it from their own life experience, and provoke a discussion that would go far beyond the private case shown from the stage. The collisions of this drama, in contrast to Shakespeare's, which Bernard Shaw considered obsolete, should be of an intellectual or socially accusatory nature, distinguished by emphasized topicality, and the characters are important not so much for their psychological complexity as for their type traits, manifested fully and clearly.
Widower's Houses (1892) and Mrs. Warren's Profession (1893, staged 1902), Shaw's debut playwrights, consistently realize this creative program. Both of them, like a number of others, were created for the London Independent Theatre, which existed as a semi-closed club and therefore relatively free from the pressure of censorship that prevented the production of plays that were distinguished by their bold depiction of previously taboo sides of life and unconventional artistic solution.
The cycle, which received the author's title "Unpleasant Plays" (it also includes "The Heartbreaker", 1893), touches on topics that have never before appeared in English drama: dishonest machinations, on which respectable householders profit; love that does not take into account petty-bourgeois norms and prohibitions; prostitution, shown as a painful social plague of Victorian England. All of them are written in the genre of tragicomedy or tragifarce, the most organic for Shaw's talent. The irony of the show, which satirical pathos combined with skepticism, which calls into question the rationality of the social order and the reality of progress, is the main distinguishing feature of his dramaturgy, more and more marked by a tendency to philosophical collisions. The show has created a special type of "drama-discussion", the characters of which, often eccentric characters, act as carriers of certain theses, ideological positions. The main focus of the show is not on the clash of characters, but on the confrontation of points of view, on the disputes of the characters concerning philosophical, political, moral, and family problems. The show makes extensive use of satirical poignancy, grotesque, and sometimes buffoonery. But Shaw's most reliable weapon is his brilliant paradoxes, with the help of which he exposes the internal falsity of the prevailing dogmas and generally accepted truths. The subject of his ridicule is the hypocrisy so characteristic of English high society. colonial policy of England, his attention is always riveted to the most burning problems of our time.
B. Shaw - the founder of the "Fabian society" - was waiting for the replacement of capitalism by socialism. Started as a theater critic. The beginning of literary activity is connected with the independent theater of J. Gray, which introduced the viewer to modern plays (then there were Shakespeare's plays in all theaters and "well-made" everyday plays; Gray staged Ibsen, Chekhov, B. Show). In 1925 received Nobel Prize according to lit.
B. Shaw claims new type drama is intellectual. The main place is not intrigue, but discussion. He reflected his views in the work "The Quintessence of Ibsenism", declaring himself a follower of Ibsen. He set the task of reforming society, hence the social, public sound of the play.
The playwright's main duty is to respond to the present. The problem of family and women's equality.
Shaw's own hero is a man who looks at life realistically. The opposition between realist and idealist - Ibsen's best plays are built on this opposition. The idealist puts on a mask so as not to face reality, the realist looks reality in the face.
The new morality is based on human needs. The show defies aesthetic norms. The quintessence consists in the denial of all norms.
The show wrestles with Shakespeare: "Ibsen satisfies a need unsatisfied by Shakespeare." The Shakespearean theme persists through controversy (a number of essays: "Reproaches of the Bard", "Shakespeare Forever", "Is Shakespeare the Best?") The show stands up against the cult of Shakespeare, imitation of him; his technique is considered obsolete. The result of the controversy with Shakespeare is "Sheks vs. Shev."
Drama discussion. Not heroes, but ideas. Each character is a carrier of the thesis. External conflict gives way to internal. A special role is played by dialogue – dynamic, sharp, problematic, goes beyond the action. (Ibsen is considered the creator of the philosophical "drama of ideas")
The show does not see the task of giving pleasure, he wants to draw into the discussion, to make the reader active. (In this he is close to Ibsen, whose task is to make the viewer a co-author of the play; the clash of ideas should be manifested through the clash of people's real interests).
Shaw's discovery: the presence of a paradox in the plays. 2 types of paradox: 1) opposes the accepted point of view; 2) internal contradiction (Shaw often has type 1). Shaw's task is to clear the mind of the reader from stereotypes with the help of paradoxes. Nonsense (nonsense). Shaw's paradox is always socially directed. paradoxicality is not only through the dialogue, but also through the behavior of the characters.
Extensive remarks, each of which is important (close to a prose text). Shaw's plays are innovative not only in content, but also in content (a new approach to dramaturgy). In many plays, the female character is at the center of the narrative ( philosophical theory life force).
Shaw's innovation: extensive remarks, lack of a list of actors, female images in the foreground, an extra-plot hero (the epic penetrates the drama).
Like Ibsen, Shaw used the stage to promote his social and moral views, filling his plays with sharp, tense discussions. However, he not only, like Ibsen, raised questions, but also tried to answer them, and to answer them like a writer full of historical optimism.
Ibsen portrayed life mainly in gloomy, tragic colors. The show is mocking even where we are talking about something quite serious. He has a negative attitude towards tragedy and opposes the doctrine of catharsis. According to Shaw, a person should not put up with suffering, depriving him of "the ability to discover the essence of life, to awaken thoughts, to educate feelings." The show holds comedy in high regard, calling it "the most refined form of art". In Ibsen's work, according to Shaw, it is transformed into tragicomedy, "into a genre even higher than comedy."
All Ibsen's heroes "belong to comedy, they are not hopeless, because, showing them, he criticizes the false constructions of the intellect, and everything that concerns the intellect can be cured if a person learns to think better." Comedy, according to Shaw, denying suffering, educates the viewer in a reasonable and sober attitude towards the world around him.
Like Ibsen, Shaw is constantly striving to find the most effective ways and means of representation. At an early stage, he is quite satisfied with the "image of life in the forms of life itself." Later, he comes to the conclusion that this principle "obscures" the content of philosophical discussion and refers to generalized conventional art forms, according to Shaw, the most suitable for intellectual drama. That is why in Shaw's dramaturgy the most diverse forms of dramatic art are so well represented, from socio-critical and socio-philosophical plays to farces and "political extravagances" - the genre of the funny-fantastic play of the late 18th century that he revived. -early XIX V.
46. Features of social drama in the work of B. Shaw
George Bernard Shaw (July 26, 1856 – November 2, 1950) was a British (Irish and English) writer, novelist, playwright, Nobel laureate in literature. Public figure (socialist "Fabianist", supporter of the reform of English writing). The second (after Shakespeare) most popular playwright in the English theater. Bernard Shaw is the creator of modern English social drama. Continuing the best traditions of English dramaturgy and absorbing the experience of the greatest masters of contemporary theater - Ibsen and Chekhov - Shaw's work opens a new page in the dramaturgy of the 20th century. A master of satire, Shaw chooses laughter as the main weapon in his fight against social injustice. “My way of joking is to tell the truth,” these words of Bernard Shaw help to understand the peculiarity of his accusatory laughter.
Biography: Early became interested in social democratic ideas; attracted the attention of well-aimed theatrical and musical reviews; later he himself acted as a playwright and immediately provoked sharp attacks from people who were indignant at their imaginary immorality and excessive courage; in recent years has become increasingly popular with the English public and finds admirers on the continent through the appearance of critical articles about him and translations of his selected plays (for example, in German - Trebitsch). The show breaks completely with the prudish puritan morality still characteristic of a large part of the well-to-do circles of English society. He calls things by their real names, considers it possible to depict any worldly phenomenon, and to a certain extent is a follower of naturalism. Bernard Shaw was born in the capital of Ireland, Dublin, in the family of an impoverished nobleman who served as an official. In London, he begins to publish articles and reviews about theatrical performances, art exhibitions, appears in print as a music critic. Shaw never separated his passion for art from his inherent interest in the social and political life of his time. He attends meetings of the Social Democrats, participates in disputes, he is fascinated by the ideas of socialism. All this determined the nature of his work.
Trip to the USSR: From July 21 to July 31, 1931, Bernard Shaw visited the USSR, where, on July 29, 1931, he had a personal meeting with Joseph Stalin. Being a socialist in his political views, Bernard Shaw also became a supporter of Stalinism and a "friend of the USSR." So in the preface to his play "Aground" (1933), he provides a theoretical basis for the repression of the OGPU against the enemies of the people. In an open letter to the editor of the Manchester Guardian newspaper, Bernard Shaw calls the information that appeared in the press about the famine in the USSR (1932-1933) a fake. In a letter to the Labor Monthly, Bernard Shaw also openly sided with Stalin and Lysenko in the campaign against genetic scientists.
The play "The Philanderer" reflected the rather negative, ironic attitude of the author to the institution of marriage, which he was at that time; in "Widower's Houses" Shaw gave a wonderfully realistic picture of the life of the London proletarians. Very often, Shaw acts as a satirist, mercilessly ridiculing the ugly and vulgar sides English life, especially - the life of bourgeois circles ("John Bull's Other Island", "Arms and the Man", "How He Lied to Her Husband", etc.).
Shaw also has plays in the psychological genre, sometimes adjoining even the area of melodrama (Candida, etc.). He also owns a novel written at an earlier time: “Love in the World of Artists.” When writing this article, material from the Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary (1890-1907) was used. In the first half of the 1890s he worked as a critic for the London World, where he was succeeded by Robert Hichens.
Bernard III did a lot to reform the theater of his time. Sh was a supporter of the "acting theater", in which the leading role belongs to the actor, his theatrical skills and his moral character. For Sh, the theater is not a place of entertainment and entertainment for the public, but an arena of intense and meaningful discussion, which is conducted on burning issues that deeply excite the minds and hearts of the audience.
As a true innovator, Shaw spoke in the field of drama. He approved a new type of play in the English theater - an intellectual drama, in which the main place belongs not to intrigue, not to a sharp plot, but to tense disputes, witty verbal duels of heroes. Shaw referred to his plays as "discussion plays". They excited the mind of the viewer, forced him to reflect on what was happening and laugh at the absurdity of existing orders and mores.
First decade of the 20th century and especially the years leading up to the World War of 1914-1918 passed for Shaw under the sign of significant contradictions in his creative searches. The expression of Shaw's democratic views during this period was one of his most brilliant and. well-known comedies - "Pygmalion" (Pygmalion, 1912). Among literary critics there is an opinion that the plays of Shaw, more than the plays of other playwrights, promote certain political ideas. Militant atheism was combined in Bernard Shaw with an apology for the "life force", which, in accordance with the objective laws of evolution, must ultimately create a free and omnipotent individual who is free from self-interest, and from philistine narrow-mindedness, and from moral dogmas of a rigoristic nature. Socialism, proclaimed by Shaw as an ideal, was drawn to him as a society based on absolute equality and the all-round development of the individual. Shaw considered Soviet Russia to be the prototype of such a society. More than once declaring his unconditional support for the dictatorship of the proletariat and expressing admiration for Lenin, Bernard Shaw undertook a trip to the USSR in 1931 and, in his reviews of what he saw, grossly distorted the real situation in favor of his own theoretical views, prompting him not to notice either hunger, or lawlessness, or slavish labor. Unlike other Western adherents of the Soviet experiment, who gradually became convinced of its political and moral failure, Shaw remained a "friend of the USSR" until the end of his life. This position left an imprint on his philosophical plays, which are usually frank preaching of Shaw's utopian views or an attempt to argue his political preferences. The prestige of the Show artist is created mainly by plays of a different kind, consistently implementing his principle of the drama of ideas, which involves the clash of incompatible ideas about life and value systems. The play-discussion, which Shaw considered the only truly modern dramatic form, could be a comedy of manners, a pamphlet addressed to a topic of the day, a grotesque satirical review (“an extravagant”, in Shaw’s own terminology), and a “high comedy” with carefully developed characters, as in "Pygmalion" (1913), and "fantasy in the Russian style" with clear echoes of the motives of Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (written during the First World War, perceived by him as a disaster, "The House Where Hearts Break" (1919, staged in 1920. Genre diversity of Bernard Shaw's dramaturgy corresponds to its wide emotional spectrum - from sarcasm to elegiac reflection on the fate of people who find themselves victims of ugly social institutions. However, the original aesthetic idea of Shaw remains unchanged, convinced that "a play without dispute and without a subject of dispute is no longer quoted as a serious drama." His own most consistent attempt at serious drama in the true sense of the word was Saint Joan (1923), which is a version of the story of the trial and execution of Joan of Arc. Almost simultaneously written in five parts, the play “Back to Methuselah” (1923), whose action begins at the time of creation and ends in 1920, most fully illustrates the historical concepts of Shaw, who perceives the chronicle of mankind as an alternation of periods of stagnation and creative evolution, eventually top.
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