From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia Realism in the
theatre was a general movement in the later 19th century that
steered theatrical texts and performances toward greater
fidelity to real life. The realist movement rejected the complex
and artificial plotting of the well-made play and instead
present a theatrical verisimilitude that would more objectively
portray life as recognizable to the audience. This is
accomplished through realistic settings and natural speech which
give form to the general philosophy of naturalism (roughly, the
view that man's life is shaped entirely by his social and
physical environment). However, the style of realism soon came
to distinguish itself from Naturalism as a style that was
heightened reality. Realism maintained the strength of such
elements of drama as tension and focus, while maintaining an
audiences direct connection and relation to the situation and
characters. They were a reflection of themselves. Realism was a
general movement in 19th-century theatre that st