EXPERIMENTAL THEATER: ORIGINS, CHARACTERISTICS, AUTHORS AND WORKS - ART - 2025

The experimental theater is set as a style or an innovative way of making theater at the end of the nineteenth century. It is seen as a movement that seeks to go beyond the traditional ways of carrying out a theater piece. For this reason, it tends to change the way in which the audience perceives the theater and establishes a more interactive relationship with the audience.

The works within the experimental theater can be related to non-traditional dramaturgy as in the theater of the absurd. Some areas of art such as performance art and trends such as surrealism and expressionism serve this type of theater.

Experimental theater can explore different forms of artistic expression such as dance, painting, music, and more. Image by bigter choi from Pixabay

From its inception, experimental theater was opposed to bourgeois theater and sought to introduce a new language to change people's perception when faced with a theatrical proposal.

origins

Among some precursors of experimental theater, Alfred Jerry (1873-1907), French writer and author of the iconic play Ubú Rey, can be mentioned. This was one of the theatrical works that influenced the change in the way of writing and producing the theater towards the end of the 19th century, also appearing as a first impulse for the later theater of the absurd.

The experimental theater originates from the influence of the avant-garde movement in Europe and its popularity increased during the first half of the 20th century. For the time, the predominant trend was realism and naturalism and, before this, experimental theater appears as an answer.

The avant-garde within the artistic world sought innovation within artistic production. Hence, experimental theater is also known as "avant-garde theater" or avant-garde theater. Within the scope, authors such as the aforementioned Alfred Jerry or Antonin Artaud (1896-1948) emerge, whose works allowed the first establishment of new forms of scenic language.

Experimental theater entered America in the 1940s, specifically in the United States. The theater professor at Columbia University, Arnold Aronson, in one of his books on the history of experimental theater in America, describes how between the 1950s and the 1980s theater activity was redesigned at the show level.

This form of theater does not focus on replicating the real world in a conventional way, on the contrary, it is oriented to reflect a new way of presenting the experience of life.

Forms of expression

Throughout its expansion in the 20th century, experimental theater has been nurtured by other new forms of artistic expression:

Happening, for example, which emerged in the 1950s, is a type of interpretation with a non-linear structure that does not have a specific place for its representation. It interacts with the public and integrates it actively.

Another example is performance art or performance art, a type of representation characterized by being performed live, before the public and within daily life. You can combine various art forms such as acting, dancing, music, poetry, and even painting.

This is how all these influences and characteristics make experimental theater qualify as avant-garde. His constant search for innovation and his non-traditional line allow him to create new forms of language and representation to create a different life experience for the public.

characteristics

- The experimental theater proposes a theatrical experience different from the traditional one. Many times it involves the public or creates a conversation with it.

- It is based on its own language intended to change the viewer's perception.

- It is recreated in its own universe, built from the particular proposal of the director and the actors.

- Covers all forms of innovation within theatrical performance. You can even involve viewers within the scene, proposing a different way of traveling in history.

- Integrates many forms of artistic expression such as dance, music and poetry.

- It allows the free manipulation of space and is not tied to a specific theatrical architecture such as the traditional Italian theater, in which the public space is separated from the stage frontally.

- Dramaturgy within experimental theater does not handle a specific structure and is not characterized by being linear or chronological.

- The experimental theater can combine its own vocabulary and a particular symbology, which gives it a variety of meanings and interpretations.

- Within the trends of experimental theater are surrealism and expressionism, as references for creation.

Recognized authors

Antonin Artaud (1896-1948)

Portrait of Antonin Artaud. Agence de presse Meurisse

Poet, playwright, actor and theorist of surrealism as a movement. He was one of the promoters of the idea of ​​replacing the classic bourgeois theater of the time with what he called "theater of cruelty." This style proposed by the author sought to surprise and awaken the human subconscious, as well as to reveal the man before himself.

In his writings such as The Theater of Cruelty. Primer manifesto and El teatro y su doble, defends the idea of ​​creating a communion between actor and audience through a magical exorcism. It proposes the use of gestures, sounds and an unusual setting with a combination of lights to create a language that goes beyond words. He sought to help the viewer to get rid of thought and logic to find the vileness of the world.

Because of this particular way of generating an unconventional journey for the viewer, he is recognized as part of the precursors of experimental theater.

Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956)

German poet and playwright, one of the leading reformers of the 20th century theater. From the 1920s on, he began writing and also developed a notable anti-bourgeois attitude, which he reflected in his written works.

Within its dramaturgy it includes the «epic theater», a modality within the theatrical text in which a series of weakly connected scenes evade the illusion of continuous history, making frequent interruptions to carry out clarifications with the public, such as the analysis of a situation or some argument of a character.

Among Brecht's outstanding works are:

-The Three Penny Opera (1928)

-The Good Soul of Se-Chuan (1943)

-The Caucasian Chalk Circle (1948)

References

1. Experimental theater. Wikipedia, The FreeEncyclopedia. Recovered from en.wikipedia.org
2. Happening. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Recovered from en.wikipedia.org
3. Avant-garde theater. Drama Online. Recovered from dramaonlinelibrary.com
4. What is Avant Garde Theater ?. Chegg Tutors. Recovered from chegg.com
5. DiLorenzo A (2011). A Brief Look at How Contemporary Experimental Theater Came to Be. Fameology. Recovered from fameology.net
6. The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica (2019). Antonin Artaud. Encyclopaedia britannica.inc. Recovered from britannica.com
7. Wainwright L (2011) Performance art. Encyclopaedia britannica.inc. Recovered from britannica.com.
8. The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica (2019). Bertolt Brecht. Encyclopaedia britannica.inc. Recovered from britannica.com.
9. The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica (2017). Epic theater. Encyclopaedia britannica.inc. Recovered from britannica.com.