The nineteenth century was a time of tremendous change throughout Europe and North America. The style of theatre known as realism was the product of these changes. What were the dominant changes that characterized the nineteenth century theatre and resulted in the development of realism as the dominant theatrical style from the late nineteenth into the twentieth century?

What will be an ideal response?

?Students may point to technological changes, such as the invention of the light bulb, which allowed for the presentation of more realistic scenes on stage, as well as the invention of photography, which led to a desire among the population for realism in the arts in general, theatre in particular. Realism was also influenced by the great thinkers of the day, such as Darwin, whose theories of evolution and natural selection contradicted the Bible; Freud who revolutionized ideas about how the human mind, particularly the unconscious, worked; and Marx, founder of two of the most influential mass movements in modern history: democratic socialism and revolutionary communism.