THE THEATRE OF THE ABSURD

In this paper I am going to explain what the absurd theatre is, which are its origins, who talked for the first time of this kind of theatre, the features that characterize it and who the writers are that are included within this theatrical current and why.

Martin Esslin, critic, wrote a book in 1961, which is called “The theatre of the Absurd”. In this book he says that the theatre of the Absurd is not, by its nature, a literal tendency or movement because the different authors write their books with free investigation and using their personal perspective (Esslin, 1961). But the plays of those authors, who I will come to mention, share some characteristics, like nowadays worries, each person in his own way, of course. I am going to name this tendency because it is easier to analyse naming what I am analysing.

Albert Camus defends the philosophic concept that says that life is absurd. Martin Esslin, considered this concept and minted this term in his book. During the 40s, 50s, 60s due to the plays of some Northamerican and European authors this tendency started cropping up, according to Esslin “these playwrights gave artistic expression to the philosophic concept of Albert Camus”. The theatre of the absurd shows modern man trying to comprehend the world in which he lives, wanting to give purport to that that does not have it, wanting to approach a confusing and difficult reality. (Wikipedia)

Concentrating on the features, I can say that the characters try to express themselves but they do not achieve it. A lot of things are contradicted. In the scene where the characters are, it is very important to know in what state they are. Another feature is that the plot of this plays lacks meaning, that is to say, that in what it is based on the plot has no meaning, but is an aspect of the reality or an approximation that the writer, through the development of the play, wants to explain and wants the people who read or see the play understand it, a difficult task because of the difficulty that this aspect or life has. Furthermore making sure that the public sensed identification with the characters and the action that develops. Another feature in this current is the continuous repetition of the dialogues or parts of them(Teatro Vivencias)(Msn Encarta)(Wikipedia).

I can take an example of the play “Party Time” by Harold Pinter where on many occasions a character, Dusty, asks for his brother, Jimmy. With these repetitions it’s possible the author wants to transmit a bigger importance than normal. Given the considerable difficulty that the aspects of the plays of the absurd theatre have, it is common in all of them the lack of dramatic sequence, that is to say, there are a lot of contradictions, on many occasions that the dialogues transmit to the public have no similarity with the action that the actors and actresses play on the stage. This can be a method that the writer uses to transmit the actions that we carry out in life have no relation with what we say or with what we have to say. The religion is, in many examples, a point of the plays. According to Martin Esslin, the theatre of the Absurd is situated in the lowest nivel of absurdity and the language appears day by day more and more contradictory to reality. One thing that Martin Esslin transmits in his book is that the man is trying to know what is true and real both in society and in life.

All these characteristics create a confusing and difficult to comprehend atmosphere, but at the same time represents the reality, the absurd reality.

To sum up, I am going to mention those authors that are included in this theatrical tendency. Firstly I have to mention Samuel Beckett with his play: “Waiting for Godot” and “The Rhino” by Eugène Ionesco, both representative plays of this theatrical movement. We call attention to Harold Pinter, author of many plays seemingly confusing but representing the reality. Other writers are Alfred Jarry, Jean Genet, Tom Stoppard, Arthur Adamov and Slawomir Mrozek (Msn Encarta).

To conclude, I would say that the absurd theatre is not another thing with the intention of making the audience or the reader see, within a confusing and on many occasions difficult to comprehend, way the world where he or she lives, also confusing, that is to say, the writers of the play demonstrate to us their point of view about our society, which is very confusing and absurd because humans act absurdly, something for example like nowadays, where people are materialistic, superficial and act absurdly because they allow themselves to be lead with some ideals that are transmitted by television, for example, and mostly by the society in which we live.

REFERENCES:

- “Wikipedia” http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teatro_del_absurdo (7/12/2005)

- “MSN Encarta” http://es.encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761552006/teatro_y_arte_dramático (7/12/2005)

- Teatro Vivencias www.teatrovivencias.com.ar/ (7/12/2005)

- Harold Pinter, “Party Time” (for examples)

- Martin Esslin, “The theatre of the Absurd” (1961)