Download Theatre of the Absurd

Avant Garde Theatre Per 3
PLAY STRUCTURE:
Plot, Character,
language
Symbolism
Play structure varies for each
play. Some may have a linear
structure and some may have
a well made structure. Each
character has a deeper
meaning behind them. They
are not just actors. For
language, actions are used
more, and very short
sentences. Sometimes just
one word.
THEATRICAL
ELEMENTS:
JOB DESCRIPTION
AUDIENCE
PRINCIPLES
PLAYWRIGHTS
The audiences role
is to decipher the
message that the
play carries.
Though symbolistic
plays are often
complicated and
carry more than
one message, the
audience is
charged with the
responsibility of
understanding and
comprehending at
least one of the
messages that the
play carries.
Symbolism began with a
group of French poets in
the late 19th Century
and soon spread to the
visual arts and theatre,
finding its peak between
about 1885 and 1910.
French poet Jean Moreas
published the Symbolist
Manifesto in 1886 that
greatly influenced the
entire movement in the
visual and performing
arts. In the theatre,
symbolism was
considered to be a
reaction against the
plays that embodied
naturalism and realism at
the turn of the 20th
Century. The dialogue
and style of acting in
symbolist plays was
highly stylised and anti
realistic/nonnaturalistic. importance
of using suggestion to
reach metaphysical
concepts of "the enigma
of life"
The symbolists aimed to
eliminate all traces of
naturalistic or imitative
acting, and all romance
and melodrama.
Alexander Blok, Pierre Quillard,
Hugo von Hofmannsthal,
Oscar Wilde, W. B. Yeats ,
Belgian Maurice Maeterlinck,
Frenchmen Auguste Villiers de
L’Isle-Adam, Paul Claudel
Actor, Director
Sets, Lights, Sound,
Costumes, Masks
"the set should be a
pure ornamental
fiction which
completes the illusion
through analogies of
colors and lines with
the play.Significantly,
the sets were meant
not to echo the visible
shapes or forms of
the characters, but, in
a kind of synesthesia,
to analogize the
essence of the play
itself.
In Rosmerholm, the
set is “without any
firm contours. The
actors wander
restlessly over the
stage, resembling
shadows drifting
continuously on the
wall. They like to
move with their arms
spread out, … like the
apostles in old
paintings who look as
if they've been
surprised during
worship" (quoted in
Deak, p. 189).
In theory, the actor
was to be a
depersonalized
symbol pointing to a
meaning beyond
what was visible on
the stage.
Bang's description of
actors resembling
apostles and shadows
on a wall gives us a
sense of how the
staging of the play
used vagueness and
suggestiveness to
reach higher spiritual
meanings.
PLAY STRUCTURE:
Plot, Character,
language
Expressionism
Futurism
THEATRICAL
ELEMENTS:
JOB DESCRIPTION
AUDIENCE
PRINCIPLES
PLAYWRIGHTS
Actor, Director
Sets, Lights, Sound,
Costumes, Masks
Individual characters don't
matter. The overall theme is
what the focus is on.
Characters are common
people. Random shifts from
verse to prose. Simple plot,
focusing on major issues.
Characters are represented
as types and grouped into
categories. Setting is the
strongest influence. Actors
speak so that the sentence is
not remembered, but the
point is. Speaking is
explosive with lots of
contrast.
free theatrical
means.One of the
most useful devices
was expressionistic
painting called “decor
blague” (Ironic
setting) Ex: the film
“The Cabinet of DR.
Caligari”. atmospheric
lighting, leaning walls,
colored lights. harsh
and startling lighting
and color, deformed
doors/windows.
Unexpected
elements. Masks.
Costume and props
may be greatly
exaggerated.
Geometric images.
Actors:Actions are
puppet or robot like.
Had to express
emotion and focus on
getting theme across.
Bring lots of energy to
the stage. It isn't
about acting ability.
About how they
contribute to the
scene. Directors:No
reinterpretation. Goal
is to make audience
see the deeper
meaning instead of
what's on the surface.
here should be a
large impact on the
audience. They
should feel as if
they're
experiencing what
the characters are
experiencing.
should influence
their ethical, social,
and political
behavior.
Very emotionally
charged. captures our
inner struggle spiritually
to develop into a new
person. Nightmarish.
Dreamlike. Heros are
common people. About
inner psychology instead
of physical appearance.
Protests unrealities of
romanticism. Also
against realism. Focuses
on social classes.
Conscious and
subconscious thoughts
and experiences.
Sudden shifts.
Emotional. Deeper
meaning than what you
might first see.
Josef and Karel Capek The
Insect Comedy , Karel
Capek R.U.R. Elmer Rice The
Adding Machine.August
Strindberg The Road to
Damascus, George
Kieser From Morn to Midnight,
Ernst
Toller Transfiguration, Eugene
O'Neill Hairy Ape
The idea of futurism was based
around modern lifestyles, the
beauty of future life, and
embracing popular technology
and advanced
technology. Futurism was a
rejection of the past, and a
celebration of speed, youth and
industry. A typical futurism
storyline was not immediately
identified with a distinctive
style. It was not until the year of
1911 that a distinctive Futurist
style emerged, and then it was
based upon Cubist influence.
Futurism characters were odd,
and almost moved in a robotic
way. They involved characters
that did not specifically fit the
scene and also were not very
significant to the storyline. They
also were very psychologically
motivated throughout the scene.
The characters spoke in
dramatic tones and languages to
dimming of house lights
during performance
As a director one must
take many risks to grab
the audiences attention.
for example, Robert
Wilson a renowned
avante garde director
has grabbed the
audiences attention in
each of his plays that
some are even scared to
watch them. As an
actor, one must relate
to the audience but at
the same time also
break the fourth wall
constantly.
futurism tends to
shock the audience a
lot. from breaking
the fourth wall to
relating to each
person in the
audience, futurism
has a tendency to
grab the audiences
attention.
Futurists loved speed,
noise, machines, pollution,
and cities
-embrAced the new world
-twentieth century art
movement (1907-late
1920’s)
-It doesn’t have a distinct
style like other avant garde
theatre forms
-Technology was a huge
influence
Vladimir Mayakovsky
-Filippo Tommaso Marinetti (first
futuristic playwright)
-Enrico Prampolini
-Umberto Boccioni
-Giacomo Balla
arrival of the fourth wall
paintings hung around
the stage
Brass instruments
Integrate with dance
performances
“Labyrinth of sensations
excite the audience and the
writers’ goal was to distract the
audience from their everyday
life and take them through a sea
of endless possibilities.
PLAY STRUCTURE:
Plot, Character,
language
Surrealism
Theatre of
the Absurd
Unrelated scenes may be back to
back, dreamlike and sometimes
illogical.
Scenes occur in unexpected
locations.
Dialogue contains poetic
imagery.
Characters are unconnected and
may not respond to each other
directly.
Language is used ritualistically
and to explore the mind and
world. Musical sound
dominates.
Plot: The consideration of a
traditional plot structure is
really rare. The “plot” usually
consists of the absurd
repetition of cliche and
routine, which is the constant
repeating of phrases usually
relevant to the play. Also,
there is nearly always an
outside force that remains a
THEATRICAL
ELEMENTS:
Sets, Lights, Sound,
Costumes, Masks
Paintings are often used
in sets. Surrealist artists
like Pablo Picasso
created sets. Visual
surrealist art was
antirealistic, dream like,
and colorful. Art was, to
them, an expression of
the subconscious mind.
Costumes and sets were
unrealistic, with the
costumes flowy and
dreamlike.
Sets: Minimal
props and set
pieces, some of
the sets are
symbolic to the
piece
Lighting: Mostly
Dark, dull
JOB DESCRIPTION
AUDIENCE
PRINCIPLES
Actors can work to
disturb the audience.
Theatre of Cruelty puts
the actor under painful
psychic transformation,
all to be purified.
Actors must play
archetypes and be able
to blend characteristics
in a sexual manner.
Androgynous and
hermaphrodite
characters are often
used. Actors should be
able to use sounds
beyond normal
language and have a
complete commitment
to the process. Dance,
especially ballet, is
often used to convey
messages and actors
should be able to move.
Directors must be able
to interpret the scenes
and translate it in a way
that is interpretable to
the audience.
The audience must
be able to accept
and interpret what
is in front of them
and in Theatre of
Cruelty, they must
be able to suffer a
psychic
transformation to
come out pure at
the end.
Insanity is true. Creation
is only capable after the
mind is free from logical
or moral sense. Logic
and the ego must be
balanced. Opposite
elements can be
combined into a new
vision and great theatre
can manipulate
appearances and allow
the subjective mind to
explore itself and the
surrounding world. The
unreal is real and good
theatre can disturb
viewers completel
Gertrude Stein-Dr. Faustus Lights the
Lights(1938)
The director’s
job in Theatre of
the Absurd is to
resist the
temptation to pile
on a visual
meaning to the
play because it is
The point of
Theatre of the
Absurd is
meant to show
the audience
what happens
when human
existence has
The point in theatre
of the Absurd is to
teach the audience
about life. In the end
none of it makes
sense.
Samuel Beckett
Eugene Ionesco
Harold Pinter
Actor, Director
PLAYWRIGHTS
Andre Breton- founder of surrealism,
wroteSurrealist Manifesto.
Robert Desnos- wrote La Place De
L'Etoile (1928) he was a key Surrealist
for the theatre form of the movement.
mystery throughout the play.
As for the plot line itself. It is
basically a circle as it ends
usually the same way it
begins.
Characters: They
seem to be lost in an
incomprehensible universe
and disregard rational
devices because they are
inadequate. Many characters
seem to robotically be stuck
in a routine speaking only in
cliche. Characters are
frequently stereotypical,
almost like stock characters
in Commedia dell'arte. In the
plot, a character may be in
crisis because the world
around them is
incomprehensible. Most
absurdist plays feature a pair
of interdependent characters,
usually 2 boys or 1 boy and 1
girl, whose relationship may
change throughout the play.
Language: Even
though it has a reputation for
nonsense language, most of
the dialogue is naturalistic.
The moment when characters
resort to nonsense and
cliches makes Theatre of the
Absurd distinctive. It tends to
gain a rhythmic, almost
musical quality, which may
bring out a comedic effect.
The dialogue may go through
routine full of clichés without
actually communicating
anything or making a
connection between the
characters.
Sound: Solely
relying on the
actors voices
Costumes: It
depends on the
play or piece of
Theatre of the
Absurd
not immediately
available in the
text. Some
directors try to
force a meaning
on the play
because the
audience would
not get the
concept until after
a while.
The actor’s in
Theatre of the
Absurd play
characters that
are not aware of
the plot of the
story. Because of
this, the audience
does not fully
understand what
is going on and
sometimes they
never find out.
no meaning
and therefore
all purpose and
communication
breaks down,
thus alerting the
audience to do
the opposite.