1. Existentialism Expounded
The Theatre of the
Absurd

2. What is it? First, we must define the use of the word absurd…
In common colloquialism, we use the word to typically mean ridiculous or unreasonable.
In literature and art, the absurd is a term applied to the sense that human beings, cut off from their roots, live in meaningless isolation in an alien universe.
Plays of this type demonstrate the view of humans as moving from the nothingness from which they came to the nothingness in which they will end through an existence marked by anguish and absurdity.

3. Characteristics of the genre
The works of Absurdism are characterized by a tragicomic storyline, word play, nontraditional narratives and broad comedy.

4. Setting of Absurdism
Theatre of the Absurd frequently has simplistic sets that help audiences visualize the meaningless lives/actions portrayed in the play. Here, in Waiting for Godot, two men seem stuck as various aspects/characters symbolizing life pass them on a country road with a dead tree as their background. Rather than joining the life that passes, they are constantly waiting for Godot, an undefined entity or “person”, merely a symbol for the abstract nothingness embodied by this type of drama.

5. Playwrights of the Absurd
Samuel Beckett
Works typically discussed are:
Waiting for Godot (previous slide)
Endgame (below)

6. The Bald Soprano (left)
Eugène Ionesco
Works typically discussed are:
Rhinoceros
The Lesson
The Chairs
The Bald Soprano (left)

7. Edward Albee American Absurdist who wrote: The Zoo Story The Sandbox
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

8. Harold Pinter Works typically discussed are: The Birthday Party
The Room (left)
The Dumb Waiter
The Caretaker