Theatre of the absurd
The theatre of the absurd (French: théâtre de l'absurde [teɑtʁ(ə) də lapsyʁd]) is a post–World War II designation for particular plays of absurdist fiction written by a number of primarily European playwrights in the late 1950s.
The plays focus largely on ideas of existentialism and express what happens when human existence lacks meaning or purpose and communication breaks down.
[1] Critic Martin Esslin coined the term in his 1960 essay "The Theatre of the Absurd", which begins by focusing on the playwrights Samuel Beckett, Arthur Adamov, and Eugène Ionesco.
[8][9] Other writers associated with this group by Esslin and other critics include Tom Stoppard,[10] Friedrich Dürrenmatt,[11] Fernando Arrabal,[12] Edward Albee,[13] Boris Vian,[14] and Jean Tardieu.
"[19] Though layered with a significant amount of tragedy, theatre of the absurd echoes other great forms of comedic performance, according to Esslin, from Commedia dell'arte to vaudeville.
[15][20] Similarly, Esslin cites early film comedians and music hall artists such as Charlie Chaplin, the Keystone Cops and Buster Keaton as direct influences.
Writers and techniques frequently mentioned in relation to the theatre of the absurd include the 19th-century nonsense poets, such as Lewis Carroll or Edward Lear;[22] Polish playwright Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz;[23] the Russians Daniil Kharms,[24] Nikolai Erdman,[25] and others; Bertolt Brecht's distancing techniques in his "epic theatre";[26] and the "dream plays" of August Strindberg.
[27][28] Pirandello was a highly regarded theatrical experimentalist who wanted to bring down the fourth wall presupposed by the realism of playwrights such as Henrik Ibsen.
Likewise, the concept of 'pataphysics—"the science of imaginary solutions"—first presented in Jarry's Gestes et opinions du docteur Faustroll, pataphysicien (Exploits and Opinions of Dr. Faustroll, pataphysician)[33] was inspirational to many later absurdists,[31] some of whom joined the Collège de 'pataphysique, founded in honor of Jarry in 1948[30][34] (Ionesco,[35] Arrabal, and Vian[35][36] were given the title "transcendent satrape of the Collège de 'pataphysique").
The Theatre Alfred Jarry, founded by Antonin Artaud and Roger Vitrac, housed several absurdist plays, including ones by Ionesco and Adamov.
Qorpo-Santo, pseudonym of José Joaquim de Campos Leão, released during the last years of his life several theatrical works that can be classified as precursors of the theater of the absurd.
[43][44][45] Absurdism is also frequently compared to surrealism's predecessor, Dadaism (for example, the Dadaist plays by Tristan Tzara performed at the Cabaret Voltaire in Zürich).
"[61] In comparison to Sartre's concepts of the function of literature, Beckett's primary focus was on the failure of man to overcome "absurdity" - or the repetition of life even though the end result will be the same no matter what and everything is essentially pointless - as James Knowlson says in Damned to Fame, Beckett's work focuses, "on poverty, failure, exile and loss — as he put it, on man as a 'non-knower' and as a 'non-can-er' .
[64] The "absurd" or "new theater" movement was originally a Paris-based (and a Rive Gauche) avant-garde phenomenon tied to extremely small theatres in the Quartier Latin.
Many other absurdists were born elsewhere but lived in France, writing often in French: Beckett from Ireland;[66] Ionesco from Romania;[66] Arthur Adamov from Russia;[66] Alejandro Jodorowsky from Chile and Fernando Arrabal from Spain.
In England, some of those whom Esslin considered practitioners of the theatre of the absurd include Harold Pinter,[66] Tom Stoppard,[69] N. F. Simpson,[66] James Saunders,[70] and David Campton;[71] in the United States, Edward Albee,[66] Sam Shepard,[72] Jack Gelber,[73] and John Guare;[74] in Poland, Tadeusz Różewicz;[66] Sławomir Mrożek,[66] and Tadeusz Kantor;[75] in Italy, Dino Buzzati;[76] and in Germany, Peter Weiss,[77] Wolfgang Hildesheimer,[66] and Günter Grass.
[30] According to Martin Esslin, absurdism is "the inevitable devaluation of ideals, purity, and purpose"[111] Absurdist drama asks its viewer to "draw his own conclusions, make his own errors".
"[114] The characters in absurdist drama are lost and floating in an incomprehensible universe and they abandon rational devices and discursive thought because these approaches are inadequate.
The moments when characters resort to nonsense language or clichés—when words appear to have lost their denotative function, thus creating misunderstanding among the characters—make the theatre of the absurd distinctive.
[137][138] Likewise, the characters in The Bald Soprano—like many other absurdist characters—go through routine dialogue full of clichés without actually communicating anything substantive or making a human connection.
[139][140] In other cases, the dialogue is purposefully elliptical; the language of absurdist theater becomes secondary to the poetry of the concrete and objectified images of the stage.
The following exchange between Aston and Davies in The Caretaker is typical of Pinter: Much of the dialogue in absurdist drama (especially in Beckett's and Albee's plays) reflects this kind of evasiveness and inability to make a connection.
[151] Often there is a menacing outside force that remains a mystery; in The Birthday Party, for example, Goldberg and McCann confront Stanley, torture him with absurd questions, and drag him off at the end, but it is never revealed why.
Other absurdists use this kind of plot, as in Albee's A Delicate Balance: Harry and Edna take refuge at the home of their friends, Agnes and Tobias, because they suddenly become frightened.
