<P> Realism in the theatre was a general movement that began in the 19th - century theatre, around the 1870s, and remained present through much of the 20th century . It developed a set of dramatic and theatrical conventions with the aim of bringing a greater fidelity of real life to texts and performances . Part of a broader artistic movement, it includes Naturalism and Socialist realism . </P> <P> Russia's first professional playwright, Aleksey Pisemsky, along with Leo Tolstoy (in his The Power of Darkness of 1886), began a tradition of psychological realism in Russia . A new type of acting was required to replace the declamatory conventions of the well - made play with a technique capable of conveying the speech and movements found in the domestic situations of everyday life . This need was supplied by the innovations of the Moscow Art Theatre, founded by Konstantin Stanislavski and Vladimir Nemirovich - Danchenko . Whereas the subtle expression of emotion in Anton Chekhov's The Seagull through everyday small - talk had initially gone unappreciated in a more traditionally conventional production in St Petersburg, a new staging by the Moscow Art Theatre brought the play and its author, as well as the company, immediate success . A logical development was to take the revolt against theatrical artifice a step further in the direction of naturalism, and Stanislavski, especially in his production of Maxim Gorky's The Lower Depths, helped this movement achieve international recognition . The Moscow Art Theatre's ground - breaking productions of plays by Chekhov, such as Uncle Vanya and The Cherry Orchard, in turn influenced Maxim Gorky and Mikhail Bulgakov . Stanislavski went on to develop his' system', a form of actor training that is particularly well - suited to psychological realism . </P>

When did non realistic forms of theater really start to challenge realism