Realism Paper

Brandon Jackson
There are many differences between realism and theatricalism. Realism consists of any type of play that is based off of real life events. And theatricalism is the complete opposite. It doesn’t consist of any real life events and they aren’t supposed to do such.
Realism plays don’t have to have any sort of originality but they are normally written directly from real life events. When play writers are writing a realistic play they tend to write the play as common and close to everyday speech and actions of humans. Realistic plays almost always recall on flashbacks, which consist of scenes that occurred in the characters past. In realistic plays actors and actresses do not even look directly at the audience, many of times in these plays actors do not even acknowledge the audience’s presence in order to give it that realistic feel. Take the play Joe Turners come and gone for example the characters sway away from keeping in contact with the crowd and they make sure not to look at the audience for any reason. If I where to write a play on the realism of a high school students way of speaking, I would be sure to use a lot of slang in my speech to make it as realistic as possible.
As said before the play Joe Turners come and gone is a great example of realism. The play shows the struggles of an African American family and consists of real live events like slavery and poverty. The characters are all working class who are barely making a living. Another realistic play, which consists of realistic event, is The Piano Lesson. Just like Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, the characters in The Piano Lesson are all working class African Americans working hard just to survive. The main character Boy Wille is so desperate for money he decides he wants to trade a piano that has been in the family for several years in order to acquire land for crop growing. But the play does use some theatricalism. Towards the end of the play they make a ghost a ghost which many could