Download Stylistic Features of the Absurd

Stylistic Features of the Absurd
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The Theatre of the Absurd, or Theater of the Absurd (French: "Le Théâtre de l'Absurde") is a designation for particular plays
written by a number of primarily European playwrights in the late 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, as well as to the style of theatre which
has evolved from their work. The term was coined by the critic Martin Esslin, who made it the title of a 1962 book on the subject.
Esslin saw the work of these playwrights as giving artistic articulation to Albert Camus' philosophy that life is inherently without
meaning, and so one must find one's own meaning as illustrated in his work The Myth of Sisyphus.OriginsThe 'Theatre of the
Absurd' is thought to have its origins in Dadaism, nonsense poetry and avant-garde art of the 1910s – 1920s. Despite its critics, this
genre of theatre achieved popularity when World War II highlighted the essential precariousness of human life. It is also often
known as theatre intended to shock the audience. Most exemplary is Beckett's Waiting for Godot, a play about two bums that
would have shocked the French audience, to say the least, attending the premiere performance at the Theatre de Babylone. The
expression "Theater of the Absurd" has been criticized by some writers, and one also finds the expressions "Anti-Theater" and
"New Theater". According to Martin Esslin, the four defining playwrights of the movement are Eugène Ionesco, Samuel Beckett,
Jean Genet, and Arthur Adamov, although each of these writers has entirely unique preoccupations and techniques that go beyond
the term "absurd". 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 Ignacy Witkiewicz, Guillaume Apollinaire, the surrealists and many more. The "Absurd" or "New
Theater" movement was, in its origin, a distinctly Paris-based (and Rive Gauche) avant-garde phenomenon tied to extremely small
theaters in the Quartier Latin; the movement only gained international prominence over time.
Essential traits In practice,
The Theatre of the Absurd departs from realistic characters, situations and all of the associated theatrical conventions.
Time, place and identity are ambiguous and fluid, and even basic causality frequently breaks down.
Meaningless plots, repetitive or nonsensical dialogue and dramatic non-sequiturs are often used to create dream-like, or even
nightmare-like moods.
There is a fine line, however, between the careful and artful use of chaos and non-realistic elements and true, meaningless chaos.
While many of the plays described by this title seem to be quite random and meaningless on the surface, an underlying structure
and meaning is usually found in the midst of the chaos.
• Human condition is meaningless, absurd, illogical (Jacobus 1804). Humans are lost and floating in an incomprehensible universe
and they abandon rational devices and discursive thought because these approaches are inadequate (Watt, Richardson 1154).
• Language: Words often appear to have lost their denotative function, thus creating misunderstanding among the characters.
Instead, language frequently gains a certain phonetic, rhythmical, almost musical quality, opening up a wide range of toying with
it, sometimes for the mere purpose of whiling away the time of waiting for something that is not to come (as in Beckett's Waiting
for Godot).
• Characteristics: no plot, minimal staging, babbling; abstract setting, arbitrary illogical action (Worthen 1639). That which is
devoid of purpose. “It is sometimes said to express the ‘human condition’ in a basic or ‘existential’ way” (Worthen 1639).
• Pirandello was one of the first experimentalists. He wanted to bring down the fourth wall that was created by Realism and
playwrights like Ibsen and Strindberg (Jacobus 920).
• Absurdism is “the inevitable devaluation of ideals, purity, and purpose” (Esslin 24).
• The language and poetry of Absurdist Theater emerges from concrete and objectified images of the stage (26).
• Absurdist Dramas asks its audience to “draw his own conclusions, make his own errors” (20).
• Though Theatre of the Absurd may be seen as nonsense, they have Most of the◊something to say and can be understood” (Esslin
21). bewilderment absurdist drama initially created was because critics and reviewers were used to more conventional drama:
realism
.• Esslin makes a distinction between the dictionary definition of absurd (“out of harmony” in the musical sense) and Drama’s
understanding of the Absurd: “Absurd is that which is devoid of purpose. . . . Cut off from his religious, metaphysical, and
transcendental roots, man is lost; all his actions become senseless, absurd, useless” (qut. Ionesco, Esslin 23).
• “Pirandello was caught between his own sense of himself and the role he was given in this domestic tragedy” (Worthen 702).
• Six Characters, and other Pirandello plays, use “Metatheater—roleplaying, plays-within-plays, and a flexible sense of the limits
of stage and illusion—to examine a highly theatricalized vision of identity” (702).
Characteristics of Style:
Forms and Conventions
Theatre of the Absurd
Theory: Script considerations Language, rhythm,
• Language is often fragmented Non-sequitors
• Word play–new meaning or double meaning
• Pauses
Audience relationship
• Audience often alienated, teased, puzzled, and disturbed.
• Audience questions existence and absurdity of life
Play structure
• Plot may be illogical
• Often no resolution at the end
• Relationships are nebulous and audience wonders about the
characters’ relationships
• Juxtaposition of contradictory elements, e.g., friends who
destroy each other.
• Plot is both comic and tragic – two aspects of the same
situation.
Playwright’s Intention
• Intends to disturb and surprise by creating a new
unpredictable form
• Intends to shatter preconceived notions of theatre
conventions
Creation: Acting Requirements Types of Characters Vocal
Requirements Pitch, Pace, Volume
• Range from clowns to realistic characters
• Since the dialogue is sometimes illogical, it is critical that
the actors speak very clearly
Physical Requirements: Gesture, Movement, Pace
• Contrasts of extremes are often employed in characterization
and pace
• Pauses are used to heighten tensions
Characteristics of Style:
Forms and Conventions
Actor’s External Appearance Hair, Makeup
Costume, Mask
Theatre of the Absurd
• Ranges from naturalistic to clown-like
Stage Requirements Colour Set Design, Lights,
Space, Music
• Range from minimal and symbolic/stylized sets and props to naturalistic
• Colour can range from colourless, bleak open spaces to naturalistic
Analysis: Universal Concepts Themes
• Fragments of meaning character’s inability to communicate results in a dark
view of the world
Origins
• Emerged out of Existential French Philosophy
• Began in the early part of the 20th century but was named in the 1950s
Major Playwrights and Plays
• Eugene Ionesco: The Chairs, The Lesson
• Samuel Beckett: Waiting for Godot, Endgame
• Harold Pinter: Pinter Sketches, The Birthday Party:
• Edward Albee: The Zoo Story, The Sand Box
• Alfred Jarry: Ubu Roi
Interview with Beckett
http://dramas11.wikispaces.com/Interviews+with+Beckett
YouTube Links for Waiting for Godot
http://dramas11.wikispaces.com/Waiting+For+Godot
YouTube Links for Zoo Story
http://dramas11.wikispaces.com/Zoo+Story