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William Bloch and Naturalism in the Scandinavian Theatre

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 July 2009

Lise-Lone Marker  and
Frederick J. Marker
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Extract

Stage naturalism made its first appearance in Denmark—and, for that matter, in Scandinavia as a whole—unaccompanied by the fanfare or enthusiastic manifestoes which heralded its arrival in many other countries. The breakthrough of this new style of theatrical production did not coincide with the founding of small, independent art theatres like André Antoine's Théâtre Libre (1887), Otto Brahm's Freie Bühne (1889), J. T. Grein's Independent Theatre (1891), or, somewhat later, Stanislavski's Moscow Art Theatre (1898). Nor was it acclaimed from the outset as a pioneering realization of a novel aesthetic program. On the contrary, the methods and techniques of the new naturalism were introduced, and proceeded to take root inconspicuously, when the Danish Royal Theatre in Copenhagen engaged the 36-year-old playwright William Bloch as a stage director in 1881, having been impressed with an “unusual eye for scenic requirements” in his plays. Two years later, Bloch's epoch-making production of Ibsen's An Enemy of the People firmly implanted the new ideas.

Type
Research Article
Information
Theatre Survey , Volume 15 , Issue 2 , November 1974 , pp. 85 - 104
Copyright
Copyright © American Society for Theatre Research 1974

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References

1 Brandes, Edvard, Dansk Skuespilkunst (Copenhagen, 1880), p. 39Google Scholar. All translations in this article are by the authors, unless otherwise noted.

2 Lange, Sven, in Meininger om Teater (Copenhagen, 1929), p. 244Google Scholar.

3 Brandes, Edvard, “Et Vendepunkt i dansk Teaterhistorie,” Det 19. Aarhundrede (1875), p. 95Google Scholar.

4 Brandes, Georg, Kritikker og Portraetter (Copenhagen, 1870), p. 210Google Scholar.

5 Brandes, Edvard, Fremmed Skuespilkunst (Copenhagen, 1881), p. 379Google Scholar.

6 Edvard Brandes, Dansk Skuespilkunst, p. 36.

7 For further information, see Fenger, Henning, The Heibergs, trans. and ed. by Marker, Frederick J. (New York, 1971);Google ScholarFrederick, and Marker, Lise-Lone, “Fru Heiberg: A Study of the Art of the Romantic Actor,” Theatre Research XIII, 1 (1973), 22–37;Google ScholarMarker, Frederick J., “Fru Heiberg as Lady Macbeth,” Scandinavica XII, 2 (1973), 129–135Google Scholar.

8 Faedrelandet, 21 October 1857.

9 Heiberg, Johanne Luise, Et Liv gjenoplevet i Erindringen, 3rd ed. (Copenhagen, 1913), II, 233, 232Google Scholar.

10 Dansk Skuespilkunst, p. 58.

11 Bang, Herman, Kritiske Studier og Udkast (Copenhagen, 1880), p. 186Google Scholar.

12 Bang, Herman, Realisme og Realister (Copenhagen, 1879), pp. 220–221Google Scholar.

13 On this production see Frederick, and Marker, Lise-Lone, “The First Nora: Notes on the World Première of A Doll's House,” Contemporary Approaches to Ibsen, ed. Haakonsen, Daniel (Oslo, 1971), pp. 84–100Google Scholar.

14 Lange, p. 246.

15 Quoted in Neiiendam, Robert, Det Kgl. Teaters Historie 1882–1886, IV (Copenhagen, 1927), 60Google Scholar.

16 Nathansen, Henri, William Bloch (Copenhagen, 1928), p. 86Google Scholar.

17 Letter dated 14 December 1882, quoted by Meyer, Michael in his edition, Ghosts and Three Other Plays (Garden City, New York, 1966), p. 214Google Scholar.

18 Nathansen, p. 46.

19 Regieprotokol, 17. marts 1881, pp. 55–6. Handwritten MS, Royal Theatre Library.

20 Nathansen, p. 75.

21 Letter dated 12 December 1882, translated in Ibsen, Letters and Speeches, ed. Sprinchorn, Evert (New York, 1964), p. 215Google Scholar.

22 Quoted in Wiingaard, Jytte, William Bloch og Holberg (Copenhagen, 1966), p. 40Google Scholar.

23 This and similar quotations in the following are drawn from Bloch's holograph promptbook for Act IV (84 pp.), bound into the complete 436–page production script for An Enemy of the People, and from a later 111–page MS transcription (dated 1915). The latter document, which does not differ to any significant degree from the earlier script, offers a more organized and literate rendering of Bloch's somewhat chaotic notes. Both documents are in the Royal Theatre Library.

24 Bloch, William, “Nogle Bemaerkninger om Skuespilkunst,” Tilskueren (1896), p. 447Google Scholar.

25 Ude og Hjemme, 11 March 1883.

26 Teatret, II (02 1903), 65Google Scholar.