Rooms in Dramatic Realism [Paperback]

Dramatic Realism, since its birth in the hectic late years of the nineteenth century, gave theatrical and thematic energy to the interaction between a plays text and the way that it looked on the stage. Characters began to find themselves in rooms and settings that played an active and changing role in the drama, and their dialogue and reactions evolved in time with these changes. As life itself became more elaborate during the 20^thCentury, so these rooms were invaded and then defined by the outside world.

Fred Miller Robinsons enjoyable and stimulating essays on this enduring genre tackle the dreams and anxieties of the middles classes of the Industrial Revolution  dreams of domestic comfort and refuge, and anxieties about how entrapping that comfort could be.

Moving from Ibsen to Chekhov and onwards into later plays in which the reality of Realism comes under scrutiny, this is a book to dip into before a performance or to study during a class.

Preface  Part 1: Rooms: An Introduction  1. Box Sets  2. Caste and Caste  3. The Addiction to Dwelling  4. The Lapsed and the Lost: The Pillars of Society  5. Inside and Outside A Dolls House  6. Notes on Noras Experience of the Room  7. Close Quarters: The Phenomenal Room  8. Lavender, Dried Roses and Death: Hedda Gabler  9.The Back Room: The Wild Duck  10.Making Room: The Master Builder  11. A Note on Ibsens Radicalism  12. The Shelf Life of Dramatic Realism  13. Realism and Scenic Space  14. The Structure of Meaning in Dramatic Realism  Part 2: Specimens  15. Suburban House: Candida  16. Living Room: