Theatre of the Absurd: 6 Absurdist Plays

Theatre of the Absurd is a theatre genre that originated in the mid-twentieth century in Paris and spread to New York City. The genre was inspired by existentialist philosophy, most notably philosopher Albert Camus’s essay The Myth of Sisyphus, in which Camus wrote that absurdism defined human existence. As such, existence was meaningless.

Critic Martin Esslin coined the term “theatre of the absurd” in his 1965 book Absurd Drama, which detailed how absurdist plays are not driven by realism, plot, character development, or any traditional notions of theatre. Instead, absurdist theatre focuses on the state of mind of its characters as they’re trapped in illogical and incomprehensible situations.

Theatre of the Absurd is a name for a theatre genre in the ’50s and ’60s, but there are absurd elements in Greek drama, Elizabethan tragicomedy, mime, and vaudeville.

• Ubu Roi: Alfred Jarry’s 1896 play Ubu Roi, a puppet play inspired by William Shakespeare, inspired Surrealists and Absurdist theatre artists. The play features childish, profane dialogue and explores the cruel nature of man.
• Precursors: The most notable forerunner for theatre of the absurd was Dadaism and Surrealism of the 1920s and ’30s, which were responses to the brutality of World War I. These avant-garde movements, inspired by the teachings of neurologist Sigmund Freud, sought to explore the unconscious mind.
• Anti-theatre: In the 1950s, following the destruction of World War II, artists began to rebel against the traditional notions of theatre and created what playwright Eugène Ionesco called “anti-theatre” in response to a world that seemed devoid of reason and purpose.
• Dramatists: Theatre critic Martin Eslin identified European playwrights Samuel Beckett, Arthur Adamov, Eugène Ionesco, Jean Genet, and Harold Pinter as the defining dramatists of the genre. Later critics also identified other playwrights such as Tom Stoppard, Edward Albee, and Fernando Arrabal as Absurdist dramatists.

Among the best-known absurdist plays are:

1. 1. Waiting for Godot (1953): Samuel Beckett’s play is arguably the most famous work of absurdist theatre. In Waiting for Godot, two tramps, Vladimir and Estragon, spend the entire play waiting for the arrival of a figure named Godot. They deliver dialogue repeatedly, and though they try to leave their situation, they are stuck in the same place in the end. In the play, change is desired but inherently impossible.
2. 2. Endgame (1957): The follow-up to Beckett’sWaiting for Godot, Endgame is about a blind, paralyzed man and his servant waiting for “the end”—which could mean the end of life or the end of the play. The tragicomedy explores the existential angst and despair when one realizes that the human condition is meaningless.
3. 3. The Bald Soprano (1950): Eugène Ionesco’s first play is about two families in London who engage in a meaningless dialogue with stories and conversations that go nowhere. They never communicate anything meaningful, make a connection, or even truly listen to each other. In the end, the characters recite dialogue from the beginning of the play.
4. 4. Rhinoceros (1959): Ionesco’s other notable absurdist play is Rhinoceros, set in a small French town where the inhabitants slowly turn into rhinoceroses, aside from one man. The play is commonly read as a response to the rise of Fascism and Nazism during World War II. It is about the tension between mob mentality and conformity and human morality.
5. 5. The Balcony (1957): Jean Genet’s play takes place in a brothel in an unnamed city during a revolution. When the most influential members of society are killed in an uprising, the brothel patrons take on those roles. Genet’s play explores power and showcases that even when faced with unrest, the status quo will always reassert itself.
6. 6. The Birthday Party (1957): Harold Pinter’s first full-length play is about a birthday party that is disrupted by the arrival of two menacing strangers. The characters are unreliable and frequently contradict themselves, and it’s never clear why the two men arrive to terrorize the main character during his birthday.

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