Absurdist theatre research

Absurd theatre- Jack Mower

Absurd theatre is used to show what occurs when human existence has no meaning or purpose so all communication breaks down. The logic and arguments give way to illogical and often incomplete dialogue as well as abrupt endings.

Absurdist theatre often uses no works or sounds but if it does the sounds may be small snippets of words or sounds, they use this nonsensical dialogue to focus the attention on the actors and what they are doing rather than dialogue. 

All of the features are employed in order to present life as irrational or meaningless, it often focuses on humans being trapped in a world where literally anything can happen no matter how illogical it is, anything can happen,

While most plays will have a character that is well thought-out and have motivation the characters in this genre usually don’t have a motivation and while most conventional plays have a beginning middle and an end theses plays often don’t go in a logical and chronological order.

World war 2 brought theatre of the Absurd to life. This global conflict and trauma caused by the war cause many people to think on how absurd much of life truly was. The experience of absurdity became part of life at the time. A drama practitioner called Antonin Artaud wanted to reject all realism form theatre and to expose the conflicts of the human mind. He was quoted saying “it was no longer possible to keep using traditional art forms and standards that had ceased being convincing and loft their validity”.  He wanted this theatre and he got the illogical, conflict less and plot less drama he was after especially with the nonsensical dialogue.

The most famous play of absurdist theatre is Samuel Beckett’s “Waiting for Godot” where two characters sit on the stage and wait for this “Godot” for two acts. The setting is a country road a tree and a stone, the two characters continually say they should leave and then they don’t leave. This play s often referred to as “the play where nothing happens” and many of the audiences believed the play to be a joke. This play and many of its kind are often cyclical in nature and don’t come to a conclusion in any form just end abruptly.