Theatre Of The Absurd

Theatre of the Absurd is a style of drama which emerged post-WWII and was based off of views of Existentialist philosophers, such as Albert Camus. Most of the dramatists of this style based their works specifically off of Camus' assessment in his essay 'The Myth Of Sisyphus' published in 1942. This essay introduced the philosophy of the 'absurd' and how life is devoid of purpose. The absurdity comes from the juxtaposition of the human need to attribute meaning to life and the "unreasonable silence" of the universe in response. This absurdity of man's life is then compared with the situation of Sisyphus, a figure of Greek Mythology who was condemned to repeat forever the same meaningless task of pushing a boulder up a mountain, only to see it roll down again just as it nears the top. The essay concludes with: "The struggle itself towards the heights is enough to fill a man's heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy."

Absurdist Theatre included many diverse dramatists such as Samuel Beckett, Eugène Ionesco, Gene Genet, Arthur Adamov, and Harold Pinter. Whilst their plays were based off Camus' view, they are really connected through all sharing a pessimistic view of humanity struggling vainly to find purpose, leaving us feeling helpless, bewildered and anxious. Whilst it was the period of the 1940s to the 60s that absurdist theatre saw most prominence, it was indeed present both before and after this movement. Elizabethan and Shakespearean theatre are the first notable examples with instances of existentialism present in texts. Absurd theatre also prevailed through to modern times, with Ballyturk by Edna Walsh being a great example of absurdism in contemporary theatre.

Theatre of the Absurd has many different characteristics. Firstly, the sense of a typical and 'logical' structure was done away with, and in its place took 'busy work'; which is the act of the characters on stage frantically performing and doing meaningless tasks to underscore the fact that nothing is really happening and therefore the absurdism of the situation. Language is another focal point of this style, with it often being dislocated, full of cliches, puns, repetitions and non sequiturs breaking down the standard conventions of language. Silence, such as in Waiting For Godot by Samuel Beckett, is another key factor in the language and speech which furthers this fragmentation of language. This ridiculous, purposeless