History+Screenplay

FADE IN:

INT. Narrator (Voice Over) Modern European Theater is a period of time from the 1850’s-1920’s. During this time period the up and coming middle class was challenging the old system of the aristocracy. During this time four major writing and political movements developed: Socialism, Anarchism, Expressionism and Naturalism //Two of us appear on screen. We zoom into the two actors. They are having a conversation on a stage. The stage area surrounds us.// Actor 1 Yes, Socialism was a movement that advocated resources being equally distributed among the community. Anton Chekhov comments on this movement in his plays. During this time in Chekhov’s native Russia the Bolsheviks had gotten rid of the Imperial family and established a communist country. The wealth of the Imperials caused the peasants to revolt in 1917. Actor 2 Yeah, the peasants revolted and killed the Romanov regime. Even before that Chekhov writes about the conflict between the wealthy and the poor. He tends to sentimentalize the old regime especially in his play the Cherry Orchard. The wealth of the old regime is distributed among all the people in Russia, or so they say. (//Acts excited//) Speaking of rebelling the movement of anarchism was also popular during this time. Actor 1 You are right, anarchism was the belief of August Strindberg. He too felt the conflict between the classes as the problem of society. After the fall of the Paris Commune in 1871, he started to believe in anarchist socialism. Actor 2 (//confused//) Hunh anarchist socialism what is that? Actor 1 The belief that socialism lent itself to anarchism because with everybody contributing to the common good the government would not be needed. Duh (//rolls eyes//) Actor 3 walks into the shot while the others do not notice. The actor looks impatient and tries to get the others attention. Actor 3 We need to be moving to Expressionism people. (//Taps their watch//) Actors 1 and 2 Where did you come from? Actor 3 (I//gnores the question//) Anyways expressionism becomes really popular; the first being the play Murder, The Hope of Women. Actor 2 Isn’t that the play in which the man slaughters everybody? Actor 3 (//Again the question is ignored//) Never mind that, expressionism was known for its’ heightened emotion and simplification to mythic characters. The main theme of expressionistic plays is the spiritual awakenings of the main protagonist. Actor 1 So is Expressionism and Naturalism like the same? //The camera turns to Actor 4. The others are off screen. Actor four looks surprised and faces towards the camera.// Actor 4 Expressionism is very different from naturalism. Naturalism is the movement away from the bourgeois to the common people. There is no supernatural element in this style. Actor 1 (//Frustrated)// Why does everybody just pop out of nowhere? Actor 4 The main difference between the two is that naturalism does not sentimentalize. So lets get on to the playwrights of this time… We need to move on. //The actors rush off the stage presumably to the next scene.//

End of scene