Domestic Realism: Is It Still Possible on the American Stage?

Abstract

There is no doubt that the American theatre has changed dramatically since the 1956 production of Samuel Beckett's Waitingfor Godot. Here was a form of theatre that challenged not only the optimistic vision of a country that still believed in causality, moral responsibility, and the American dream but also the artistic commitment of several generations of realistic playwrights. During that opening run of Godot, taxis queued outside the theatre at intermission anticipating fares from those unwilling to sit through a second act in which nothing happens, again-testimony to the fact that American audiences were not prepared for such radical disruptions of the familiar realistic paradigm. Careers took unexpected turns after that and, as public sensibilities became more flexible, new American playwrights found themselves more willing to experiment with form, to explore the non-realistic devices that had defined European drama since the period between the wars. There was room now in the American theatre for Edward Albee's absurdist American Dream in which dissatisfied adoptive parents systematically hack off the body parts of their baby, whose hands kept touching its you know what, then demand a refund from the adoption agency. There was room for the Happening, a spontaneous theatrical event that co-opted the audience, was performed only once, and was not recorded. There was room for Julian Beck and Judith Malina's Living Theatre, which celebrated nudity, sex, and freedom, employing provocation, intimidation, seduction, and shock. These were the years when the off-off-Broadway movement got underway, with Caffe Cino and LaMama setting the pace for New York's alternative theatre. Despite an abundance of experimental activity, however, which continues today, the charac