The modern theater began in the late nineteenth century with the realistic plays of Henrik Ibsen, August Strindberg, and Anton Chekhov. In realism, events onstage closely mirror observable reality in the outside world. The characters speak, move, and behave as people do in real life; they wear the same type of clothes and are found in familiar places such as living rooms, bedrooms, and kitchens.

The appeal of realism is the way in which audiences identify with and verify the people and events onstage. The disadvantage of realism is that it excludes a number of traditional theatrical devices such as poetry, music, ghosts, and special effects. Realism has been the dominant theatrical form of the past hundred years.

Because of its uncompromising presentation of life, realism was not at first produced commercially but was presented by small, independent theaters. As it became more widely accepted, however, it entered the mainstream of theatrical life. In the later part of the twentieth century, Synge and O'Casey in Ireland; O'Neill, and Hellman in the United States; and a host of subsequent playwrights worldwide have written powerful realistic plays.

From 1875-1945 there were also significant movements that challenged realism, many of which included precisely those things that realism left out. These movements included symbolism, expressionism, futurism, dada, surrealism, and epic theater. These movements made audiences reevaluate realism.