Thoughts on the start of the Danish theater

Thoughts on the admission of Danish theater is a text on theater theory by Johann Elias Schlegel . It was written in 1747, but was not published posthumously until 1764 in the third volume of Schlegel's work edition. In it he justifies his views on the purpose of the theater and its means, and also gives advice for the Danish national theater that is currently being built.

Purpose of the theater

Schlegel sees the pleasure of the audience as the main purpose of the theater, whereby both the mind and the senses are to be addressed, but also emphasizes the instruction and the "improvement of the mind in a whole people". This does not mean a flat moral instruction; the drama should therefore not be reduced to a tenet. Rather, examples of a good "way of thinking", of taste, reason and politeness should be given so that the audience unconsciously orient themselves to these examples. In the long term, this should mean that the customs of the people and the country's theater culture gradually improve one another. The central means of achieving these goals - and thus the basis of every artistic performance - is the imitation of human actions, with which Schlegel ties in with the Aristotelian concept of mimesis . This assumes that the author has a great knowledge of the characters and passions of people, which are shown unmixed in the theater, i.e. more isolated and more clearly recognizable than in real life.

Relationship between theater, nation and society

Schlegel advocates the thesis that the theater culture of a country strongly depends on the customs and the national character of the people and illustrates this with the help of English and French theater. This results in a certain tolerance when it comes to adhering to traditional theater conventions: although he advocates adhering to the Aristotelian three units , he also defends English theater, which often deviates from these units. Schlegel divides the plays into different genres, on the one hand according to whether they "excite laughter" or "excite passions", and on the other hand according to whether "high or low" people appear. In accordance with the class clause , the tragedy is reserved for noble people; in the comedies human follies, as committed in every class, are to be exposed. Schlegel emphasizes that every genre has its justification, especially since every audience, from the “rabble” to the “middle class” to court society, should get to see the theater that is appropriate for them. Starting with the crude comedy for the common people, the theater should gradually "rise higher and higher" up to the tragedy and get the audience used to ever better tastes.

Advice on building a successful drama

Schlegel gives some hints about what makes a successful drama on the level of the plot, the characters and the external form.

action

He defines action as a chain of 1) the intentions of the persons involved, 2) the means they use to achieve these intentions, and 3) the consequences of these means. The conflicting interests of the person lead to the confusion and ultimate solution of the dramatic conflict. Schlegel pleads for the unity of the plot so as not to distract the viewer's attention. However, different intentions can be shown, which at first seem to be independent of each other - if these then knot at one point of the action, the unity of the action is still preserved. Here, too, Schlegel contrasts the more complex English dramas with the clearer French ones and those of his friend Ludwig Holberg . Every scene should advance the plot and every act must have its recognizable cause in order to appear plausible to the viewer.

Characters

Schlegel comments on the characters that at least one character (not necessarily the main character) must arouse the sympathy of the audience - the comedy too must not only provoke laughter, but must also arouse the passions of the audience if the characters are not to be indifferent to them . The choice of characters depends on the customs of the respective people, since the audience should know similar characters from real life in order to perceive the stage characters as credible. The characters of a piece should be different, but consistent in themselves, that is, actions that do not match the character should be avoided.

Shape and structure

As for the external form of drama, Schlegel advocates verse drama, since good verse gives more emphasis to thoughts. However, good prose is still better than bad verse - an example of how Schlegel does not want to set up dogmatic rules. The actors should never step out of the role or address the audience directly - everything has to be self-evident from the plot. The units of place and time should be preserved on the one hand for financial and performance-related reasons, on the other hand because the audience should not be expected to experience a moment of disillusionment or a drop in tension due to a change of location or a jump in time. The choice of the location is especially important because the location must make sense in each scene. When in doubt, a change of location is better than having the hero appear in a place “where he has nothing to do”.

Consequences for the Danish theater

Schlegel discusses the implications for the young Danish theater at various points. The Danish actors' troops should first give their audience "the pleasure of diversity", ie try out many different genres in order to find out more about the character and taste of their nation. This has something “set and relaxed”, which could indicate a preference for comedies with a more subtle sense of humor and not for rude jokes. In addition, the Danes should not randomly translate and stage foreign-language plays, but only a few outstanding plays that also comply with Danish customs. So young Danish authors should not be deprived of the space to develop.

source

Johann Elias Schlegel: Canut. A tragedy. In the appendix: JE Schlegel: Thoughts on the take-up of Danish theater. Ed. V. Horst Steinmetz. Stuttgart: Reclam 1967 [bibliographically supplemented edition 2003], pp. 75–111.