First World War

The First World War is mentioned as a historical context for the development of Expressionist theatre. The book presents the conflict’s atrocities as giving fresh impetus to an artistic movement already marked by its rejection of established values and its search for new ways of seeing the world.

Historical and Artistic Context

Expressionism dates from about 1910. The book links its subsequent development to the First World War, whose atrocities strengthened the movement’s urgency. Expressionist art could advocate an equal and just society and reject the machine age in favour of a simpler way of life.

Theatrical Legacy

In theatre, Expressionist dramatists such as Ernst Toller and Georg Kaiser conveyed their concerns through exaggeration and distortion in characterization, language, and staging. The war is therefore discussed not as an event in Lorca’s life or in the plot of The House of Bernarda Alba, but as a historical pressure that helped shape a broader theatrical movement.