Symbolism

Symbolism emerged around the same time as the realist movement. It offered the first dominant alternative to popular realist dramas. This guide explores the beginnings of the symbolist movement through the work of French poets and playwrights. It examines how playwrights deliberately produced anti-realistic works through the symbolic use of color, mood, costume, props, and movement. Although the symbolist movement was relatively short-lived, it is important to acknowledge its influence upon subsequent twentieth-century drama.

Terminology

• Avant-Garde Theatre: experimental theatre that began in France in the mid-nineteenth century as a reaction against accepted traditional theatre and dramatic ideas.
• Non-naturalistic: not closely imitating or based on real life or nature.
• Realism: a theatrical movement developed alongside naturalism, which aimed to be more truthful to real life through texts and performances.
• Théâtre de l'Œuvre: a theatre established in Paris in 1893 that was home to French symbolist writers.

Key Dates & Events

• 1873 - 1907 - Life of Alfred Jarry.
• 1886 - The Symbolist Manifesto was published by Jean Moréas in Le Figaro.
• 1893 - The establishment of the Théâtre de l'Œuvre in Paris, the first venue to provide a home to French symbolist writers.
• 1896 - Premiere of Alfred Jarry's hugely controversial play, Ubu Roi. It opened and closed on the same day (December 10).