Page 219 - DENG402_HISTORY_OF_ENGLISH_LITERATURE

History of English Literature

Notes 29.1 Absurd Theatre

The Theatre of the Absurd (French: Théâtre de l’Absurde) is a theatrical style originating in
France in the late 1940’s. It relies heavily on existential philosophy, and is a category for plays of
absurdist fiction, written by a number of playwrights from the late 1940s to the 1960s, as well as
the theatre which has evolved from their work. It expresses the belief that, in a godless universe,
human existence has no meaning or purpose and therefore all communication breaks down.
Logical construction and argument give way to irrational and illogical speech and as its ultimate
conclusion, silence.
Theatre of the Absurd follows the concepts of existential philosophy. The theatrical style aims to
show a world where man is born with only himself and nothing else (no God), and must earn his
place in the metaphysical world. Often Absurdist works utilise theatrical conventions such as -
but not limited to - Mime, Gibberish, Heightened Language, Codified Language and Vignette.
The pieces generally lack conflict, and involve high levels of contrast, alienation, and irony, for
example, a funeral scene performed by actors happily, or a birthday scene performed somberly.
Critic Martin Esslin coined the term “Theatre of the Absurd” in his 1960 essay and, later, book of
the same name. He related these plays based on a broad theme of the Absurd, similar to the way
Albert Camus uses the term in his 1942 essay, “The Myth of Sisyphus”. The Absurd in these plays
takes the form of man’s reaction to a world apparently without meaning, and/or man as a
puppet controlled or menaced by invisible outside forces. Though the term is applied to a wide
range of plays, some characteristics coincide in many of the plays: broad comedy, often similar
to Vaudeville, mixed with horrific or tragic images; characters caught in hopeless situations
forced to do repetitive or meaningless actions; dialogue full of clichés, wordplay, and nonsense;
plots that are cyclical or absurdly expansive; either a parody or dismissal of realism and the
concept of the “well-made play”.

Did u know? Playwrights commonly associated with the Theatre of the Absurd include
Samuel Beckett, Eugene Ionesco, Jean Genet, Harold Pinter, Tom Stoppard,
Friedrich Dürrenmatt, Fernando Arrabal, and Edward Albee.

29.2 Origin

The term was coined by the critic Martin Esslin, who made it the title of a book on the subject first
published in 1961 and in two later revised editions; the third and final edition appeared in 2004.
In the first edition of The Theatre of the Absurd, Esslin saw the work of these playwrights as
giving artistic meaning to Albert Camus’ philosophy that life is inherently without meaning, as
illustrated in his work The Myth of Sisyphus. In the first (1961) edition, Esslin presented the four
defining playwrights of the movement as Samuel Beckett, Arthur Adamov, Eugene Ionesco, and
Jean Genet, and in subsequent editions he added a fifth playwright, Harold Pinter–although each
of these writers has unique preoccupations and characteristics that go beyond the term “absurd.”
Other writers associated with this group by Esslin and other critics include Tom Stoppard,
Friedrich Dürrenmatt, Fernando Arrabal, Edward Albee, Boris Vian, and Jean Tardieu.

29.3 Elizabethan — Tragicomedy
The mode of most “absurdist” plays is tragicomedy. As Nell says in Endgame, “Nothing is
funnier than unhappiness ... it’s the most comical thing in the world”. Esslin cites William
Shakespeare as an influence on this aspect of the “Absurd drama.” Shakespeare’s influence is
acknowledged directly in the titles of Ionesco’s Macbeth and Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and
Guildenstern Are Dead. Friedrich Dürrenmatt says in his essay “Problems of the Theatre”,
“Comedy alone is suitable for us ... But the tragic is still possible even if pure tragedy is not. We
can achieve the tragic out of comedy. We can bring it forth as a frightening moment, as an abyss

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