The contemporary theater It is the entire dramaturgical scene that developed in Europe and America throughout the 20th century, and includes everything from an extension of comedy and realistic theater from the 19th century to musicals and different aspects of experimental theater.
The performing arts had to evolve in a century with two world wars, a fierce clash of ideologies, and perhaps the greatest technological revolution of all time.
Part of this revolution includes the emergence and consolidation of new media and forms of entertainment that rival theater, such as radio, television and film, and that force it to continually reinvent itself..
The different trends and genres of contemporary theater in the 20th century have their roots in the performing arts of the 19th century and its different processes in countries of Europe and America..
From genres such as vaudeville, English and Viennese operettas, New York and Parisian musical magazines, and the music hall will emerge Broadway-style musicals and comedy..
From the romantic theater that gives rise to melodramas, authors will emerge increasingly interested in reflecting social problems and in the most natural way possible. We can mention authors such as Víctor Hugo, José Zorrilla, Alejandro Dumas Jr., August Strindberg, Henrik Ibsen and Anton Chejov, among many others..
Other innovations come from the world of opera, largely from the hand of the composer Richard Wagner, who proposes to work the works as a whole, integrating music, acting, lights and scenery..
To give greater presence to what happens in the scene, the spectator section is darkened, the set designers and stage directors take on more importance, and the content and plots displace the divism and virtuosity of some actors and actresses..
The artistic avant-gardes that influence music, literature and the plastic arts will also influence the performing arts. Movements such as Dadaism, Expressionism, Constructivism and Surrealism will impact the theater on all levels: management of space, theatrical texts, scenography, music, etc..
Unlike the nineteenth century, in which the protagonism fell on actors and actresses, in contemporary theater, directors, along with authors, are the most important figures in theatrical productions..
Contemporary theater breaks with the classical form of representation: introduction-middle-end; experiments with new formal structures incorporating different types of resources, and giving greater relevance to other theatrical elements such as space, lights, music and scenography.
In the theater of the twentieth century, the trend started by realists and naturalists deepens, seeking more authentic performances, with theatrical texts that try to reproduce everyday situations with the greatest possible veracity..
The different currents of contemporary theater incorporate into their work the main ideological and social conflicts of our time.
Topics such as the two world wars, the rise and fall of the communist and fascist regimes, the struggles for civil and political rights in different regions of the world, the independence movements, etc., had a place in the theater..
All the conflicts, all the struggles and debates of modernity have found space on the theatrical stages.
In contrast to the previous characteristic, the theater of the twentieth century also delved into the inner life of individuals, in different conflictive aspects of the psychology of the human being.
An intimate theater is developed, facing themes such as love, death, personal relationships, the meaning or nonsense of existence, loneliness and other aspects of human events.
The way the actor assumes and personifies a role underwent drastic and varied changes during the 20th century. But there are two ways of assuming acting that will be dominant: Konstantín Stanislavski's method and Jerzy Grotowski's method..
This Russian actor and pedagogue created an acting system at the beginning of the century in which the actor identifies physically and emotionally with the character he plays.
His method spread throughout Europe, and in the United States it would be enshrined with the appearance of the Actors Studio, where he continues to exert his influence on renowned theater, film and television actors..
Grotowski was a Polish director and theorist of the second half of the 20th century who proposed a different acting method, with a more physical work on the part of the actor, giving less importance to the theatrical text and proposing a more intense relationship between him and the spectator..
He was also in favor of a theater with little emphasis on technical and material resources (set design, lighting, costumes, etc.).
Different genres and theatrical trends coexist in the contemporary theater scene: revival of classics, musicals, experimental theater, monologues, etc..
Contemporary theater has established dialogue and interacted with disciplines and artistic genres such as cinema, painting, photography, music, dance and literature..
Beyond dialogues and performances, contemporary theater uses films, photographs, songs, lasers, screens and all the technical resources available..
Another characteristic of the 20th century is the important presence of different acting groups developing original proposals, such as the Berliner Ensemble, by Bertolt Brecht, The Living Theater in New York, The Lindsay Kemp Company in England, or Els Joglars in Barcelona..
The 20th century witnessed the use of unconventional spaces, such as squares, gardens, art galleries, schools, prisons, streets, etc. From there, experiences called street theater, happening Y performance.
The 20th century favored a more intense exchange between the various cultures of the world, through tours and international festivals (without disregarding the role played by media such as television and cinema)..
Nowadays it is common to see groups and works from Mali, India, Japan, Indonesia or China in the West, while the Western repertoire also circulates in the East..
During the 20th century, plays from the past continued to be represented, such as Greek tragedies, Shakespearean theater, Lope de Vega, Molière, as well as the main playwrights of the 19th century, such as Victor Hugo..
These reruns have often been reinterpreted, with contemporary views on old themes that are still relevant..
It is an important aspect of contemporary theater and the way it evolved in England and the United States. His themes are realistic, of social criticism, but also of psychological exploration.
Authors such as George Bernard Shaw, Eugene O'Neill, Tennessee William, Arthur Miller, Edward Albee, Harold Pinter, etc. belong to this tradition..
Musicals live an extraordinary development, especially in Anglo-Saxon culture from the twenties, with the New York theater district Broadway as the main axis, with producers and composers such as George and Ira Gershwin (authors of Porgy and Bess), Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein (Oklahoma), or Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim (West Side Story).
During the 1970s, London will compete with New York, with composers such as Andrew Lloyd Weber, author of Jesus Christ Superstar Y The Phantom of the Opera, or Claude-Michel Schönberg (The Miserables).
Comedy also maintains its presence in the main theatrical capitals of the world, although this genre has flourished mainly in film and television..
The artistic avant-gardes that shook the first decades of the 20th century also had resonance in the theater scene, stimulating radical changes and new formal searches, which lasted until the 1970s. We mention some of the most important currents:
Founded in 1898, the Moscow Art Theater was a proposal to radically change the way of doing theater in Russia, and whose main representative was Konstantín Stanislavski (1863-1938).
This proposal would be disseminated throughout Europe and America, changing the way of assuming the performance, which continues in force thanks to spaces such as the Actors Studio in New York.
Its main promoter was the German playwright Bertolt Brecht and proposed the use of theater as a critical, political tool, with montages full of resources to keep the viewer attentive, aware of being witnessing a work of fiction.
This is the name given to the proposal of the French playwright Antonin Artaud, of a transcendent, ritualistic and metaphysical theater, destined to deeply impact the viewer.
It is a trend with precursors such as Alfred Jarry (author of Ubu king) and Luigi Pirandelllo, who also fed on Dadaism and Surrealism. This current is represented by authors such as Eugene Ionesco and Samuel Beckett..
It was developed mainly in France and is also considered a theater of ideas, with themes that revolve around ethics and the meaning or nonsense of existence. Its main exponents were Albert Camus and Jean Paul Sartre.
Named for its main theorist, the Polish playwright Jerzy Grotowski (1933-1999), proposed a theater free of technical resources such as scenery or lights, and with a great emphasis on the physical work of the actor and his relationship with the viewer..
Since the late 1940s, different groups and artists began to hold events in spaces outside theaters: in streets, squares, university fields. In some cases, as in performance, the action is between theater and plastic arts.
One of the main and oldest representatives of the “living theater” is the American group The Living Theater, founded in 1947.
The twentieth century saw the circus arts rebirth as it converged with theater, music and dance, represented in the East by Chinese opera (which also incorporates martial arts), and in the West in recent decades by the Canadian group Circo del Sun.
Other disciplines with which the theater converged in the 20th century were dance and ballet, the work of the German Pina Bausch and her company, the Tanztheater Wuppertal, standing out..
Poet, essayist, novelist, as a playwright he served as an actor and director. He wanted a theater that would not entertain, but would have a profound impact on the viewer, which he called "theater of cruelty.".
His works include Heliogabalus or The Crowned Artist (1934) and The teatre and his double (1938).
German playwright, poet and pedagogue, is considered one of the most important authors of contemporary theater.
Founder of the epic theater, he is the author of an extensive work, among which we can mention The three cent opera Y Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny (both in collaboration with musician Kurt Weill), Saint Joan of the slaughterhouses Y Mother Courage and her children.
Italian writer and playwright, Nobel Prize for Literature in 1934, considered one of the fathers of contemporary theater and especially remembered for his work Six characters in search of author.
Poet and playwright, he is considered one of the main authors of 20th century Spanish theater. His plays include Blood Wedding Y Bernarda Alba's house.
French playwright of Romanian origin, considered together with Samuel Beckett as one of the creators of the theater of the absurd. His works are still performed in different parts of the world The bald singer Y The rhinoceros.
Irish poet, novelist, critic and playwright, author of one of the most performed plays of the 20th century, Waiting for Godot.
French essayist, novelist and playwright born in Algeria, Nobel Prize for Literature in 1957, he stood out in the theater with works such as Caligula Y The misunderstanding.
American scriptwriter and playwright, among his most represented works are The death of a salesman Y Panorama from the bridge.
American playwright celebrated for works such as A Streetcar Named Desire, The glass zoo Y The night of the iguana.
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