Theatre History Overview - Part 80 - Modernist Theatre

Modernist theatre is attributed to the fallout after World War I. Credit for the start of modernist theatre is often given to André Antoine. It is said to have started in 1887 when Théâtre Libre was founded in Paris. One of the major playwrights of this movement was Emile Zola.

Saying that modernism is a movement in theatre can be confusing. This is because modernism encompasses several different theatre styles that took plays in the late 19th and early 20th century. The movements in realism were actions against naturalism. An important part of modernism is symbolism. Symbolism produced it's own theatres. The one that is said to be the most notable is Lugné-Poë’s Théâtre de l’Oeuvre, founded in Paris in 1893.

In the United States, Robert Edmond Jones and Lee Simonson were two of the designers who worked in symbolism. Modernism includes Avant Garde Theatre, Agitprop, and many other movements. In general, if a type of theatre movement happened after World War I but before World War II may be described as modernist theatre.

This post counts for my Friday, July 20, 2018 post. I had an event I was attending and then quite a few unforeseen circumstances happened.

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