I obtained research into both naturalism and realism from Paul Allain and Jen Harvie’s The Routledge Companion to Theatre and Performance . This because Caryl Churchill bases her work from both elements of naturalism and realism. During my discovery I l learnt that naturalism and realism are similar in regards to context and the themes they represent. For example, naturalism and realism are aesthetic and literary categories; however, within theatre they are classified as artistic movements that portray real life on stage. Naturalism is often used as a tool to create realistic and authentic characters, narrative action and the plot of the play. I also discovered that naturalism and realism are both genres that are very artificial conventions. This is because their well established techniques and processes authorise the suspension of belief that is requested of audiences, and produce the imitation that is at their heart. (Allain and Harvie, 2006:215-217).

With that being said naturalism and realism are both interchangeable  with only a narrow difference between them. This is because naturalism gives more attention rather than realism to the social environment as an influence on character. In comparison to realism which usually proffers a more critical and less imitative or illusionistic aesthetic. Moreover, these differences are very small and contentious to be valid with regards to  how we use them and it is too complicated to succeed the consensus on this subject (Allain and Harvie, 2006:215).

Most significantly both realism and naturalism are both founded on the premise that art should hold up a mirror to nature, a once revolutionary concept. This requires a mimetic method of representation, influencing in the part of the logic of narrative structures and staging insinuated by Aristotle’s unities of time, space and action (Allain and Harvie, 2006:215).

Furthermore from my discovery I learnt that writers and artists utilise naturalism to expose on stage the minutiae of social life, presenting families in real contemporary situations. Such as in Anton Chekhov’s play The Cherry Orchard (1904). Another example of how naturalism is  manifested is  in soap oreas and television programmes such as EastEnders and Emmerdale(Allain and Harvie,2006:215).

In conclusion to my discovery I have understood that naturalism and its history is complicated and it cannot be set against more experimental forms or explained in a  simple way. With that being mentioned naturalism still remains predominantly effective within theatre and the western world today and is still used to produce popular productions such as: Chekhov and Ibsen(Allain and Harvie,2006:215 .

Bibliography

Allain, P. and Harvie, J. (2006). The Routledge companion to theatre and performance. London ; New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.