TERM
"The Theatre of
the Absurd" is
a term coined by the critic Martin Esslin for the work of a number of
playwrights, mostly written in the late 1940, 1950s and 1960s. The term is
derived from an essay by the French philosopher Albert Camus. In his 'Myth
of Sisyphus', written in 1942, he first defined the human situation as
basically meaningless and absurd (Dr. Jan Culík, 2000).According to Martin Esslin, the four
defining playwrights of the movement are Eugene Ionesco, Samuel
Beckett, Jean Genet and Arthur Adamov (Wikipedia, 2005). They all share the view that man is
inhabiting a universe with which he is out of key. Its meaning is
indecipherable and his place within it is without purpose. He is bewildered,
troubled and obscurely threatened (Dr. Jan Culík, 2000). Other writers often associated with this
group include Tom Stoppard, Friedrich Dürrenmatt, Fernando
Arrabal, Harold Pinter, Edward Albee and Jean Tardieu.
Playwrights who served as an inspiration to the movement include Alfred Jarry,
Luigi Pirandello, Stanislaw Witkiewicz, Guillaume Apollinaire, the surrealists
and many more (Wikipedia, 2005).
ORIGINS
The origins of the Theatre of the
Absurd are rooted in the avant-garde experiments in art of the 1920s and 1930s.
At the same time, it was undoubtedly strongly influenced by the traumatic
experience of the horrors of the Second World War, which showed the total
impermanence of any values, shook the validity of any conventions and
highlighted the precariousness of human life and its fundamental meaninglessness
and arbitrariness. The trauma of living from 1945 under threat of nuclear
annihilation also seems to have been an important factor in the rise of the new
theatre (Dr. Jan Culík, 2000).
CHARACTERISTICS
The Theatre of the Absurd also seems
to have been a reaction to the disappearance of the religious dimension form
contemporary life. The Absurd Theatre can be seen as an attempt to restore the
importance of myth and ritual to our age, by making man aware of the ultimate
realities of his condition, by instilling in him again the lost sense of cosmic
wonder and primeval anguish. The Absurd Theatre hopes to achieve this by
shocking man out of an existence that has become trite, mechanical and
complacent. It is felt that there is mystical experience in confronting the
limits of human condition (Dr, Jan Culík, 2000). It is considered
anti-theatre. It is surreal, illogical, conflictless and plotless (Dr. Jan
Culík). The avant garde plays expressed the belief in a godless
universe where human existence has no meaning or purpose so therefore all
communication breaks down (Peter Gill, playwright and theatre director).
One of the most important aspects of absurd drama was its distrust of language
as a means of communication. Words failed to express the essence of human
experience, not being able to penetrate beyond its surface. The Theatre of the Absurd constituted first and foremost an onslaught on
language, showing it as a very unreliable and insufficient tool of
communication. Absurd drama uses conventionalised speech, clichés,
slogans and technical jargon, which is distorts, parodies and breaks down. (Dr.
Jan Culík, 2000). Objects are much more important than
language in absurd theatre: what happens transcends what is being said about it
(Dr. Jan Culík, 2000). The Theatre of the Absurd is a "picture in a picture", because
its content is, at the same time, also a picture - an image, the author'
subjective vision (Adolfo Vila, 2000).
Other aspect is that the plots are often deviated
from the more traditional episodic structure, and seem to move in a circle,
ending the same way it began ( Stephanie E. Keys).
PLAYWRIGHTS
Samuel Beckett
is probably the most well known of the absurdist playwrights because of his
work Waiting for Godot. Beckett's plays seem to focus on the themes of
the uselessness of human action, and the failure of the human race to
communicate ( Stephanie E. Keys). The characters of the play, are absurd
caricatures that of course have problems communicating with one another, and
the language they use is often times ludicrous. And, following the cyclical
pattern, the play seems to end in the same state it began in, with nothing
really changed (Stephanie E. Keys).
- "What do I know about man's
destiny? I could tell you more about radishes."
Samuel Beckett (Brainyquote.com)
Harold Pinter is other known
absurdist playwright. Pinter never finds in necessary to explain why things
occur or who anyone is, the existence within the play itself is justification
enough. In general, lack of explanation is what characterizes Pinter's work,
that and the interruption of outside forces upon a stable environment. What
seems to set him apart though is that unlike Beckett and Ionesco, Pinter's
world within the drama seems to be at least somewhat realistic (Stephanie E.
Keys).
- "Be careful
how you talk about God. He's the only God we have. If you let him go he won't
come back. He won't even look back over his shoulder. And then what will you
do?"
HAROLD PINTER, Ashes to Ashes (notable-quotes.com)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
The information of
this paper has been obtained from internet:
http://www2.arts.gla.ac.uk/Slavonic/Absurd.htm
(Dr. Jan Culík,
http://dana.ucc.nau.edu/~sek5/classpage.html ( Stephanie E. Keys,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theatre_of_the_absurd
( Wikipedia,
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/s/samuel_beckett.html
(Braynquote.com,
http://freespace.virgin.net/numb.world/rhino.absurd.htm
( Peter Gill,
http://mural.uv.es/visana/theabsurd.htm ( Adolfo Vila, 11-01-06)
http://www.notable-quotes.com/p/pinter_harold.html
( notable-quotes.com,