What is non-naturalistic drama?

Answer 1

Non-naturalistic Drama is acting away from the norm, for example you would walk in a bizarre way, it can be a way of showing something is changing. its used a lot in drama to show a persons state of mind etc.

This is the modern understanding of Non-naturalistic Drama, which began as something of a revolt against Naturalistic Drama / Theatre, a style made very popular by Konstantin Stanislavsky and later by Strasberg and others who adopted and adapted his principles into what has come to be called, The Method or Method Acting. Naturalistic Drama developed as recently as the late 19th to early 20th century.

The most famous opponent of Naturalistic Drama was Bertolt Brecht, who put forth the style or technique of Alienation, which shatters the illusion of Realism in a performance at various points in order to get the audience to forget the performance and re-focus on the message / issues that the play addresses.

Since Naturalistic Drama developed so late in the theatre time-line, however, every form of theatre before it is thus, by definition, Non-naturalistic.

From the time humans first began performing for an audience of more than one, the constraints of having to be visible and audible to many have dictated that theatrical actions be loud and exaggerated. Arms are swung dramatically, the voice is projected many decibels above normal speech, etc. In some forms, costumes are colourful and far removed from normal, everyday clothes. Performances may be stylised and incorporate music, song and dance. A couple of examples are Japanese Kabuki and Indian Kathakali. All these can be said to be Non-naturalistic Drama or Theatre.