Theatre of

Absurd
By Amy and Chelsea-Leigh

History
The movement of the theatre of Absurd was centered in the 1960s in France, this movement was
not a conscious movement but more of a spontaneous outburst of emotions from recent events..
The theatre of the Absurd was influenced strongly by
WWII trauma-a significant amount of death in the world
Albert Camus, a famous philosopher who wrote a book called The myth of Sisyphus. Which
recounts a man pushing a rock up a hill, only to have the rock fall back down the hill. Camus
proposed to society that the only way to get through life, a hopeless existence, is to accept it.
The concept of Existentialism philosophy:Existentialism refers to a particular view of the
nature of mans existence. The existentialist believes that man starts life with nothing. His life
is made up of acts; through the process of acting man becomes conscious of his original
nothingness.
The term of Theatre of the Absurd was introduced by scholar Martin Esslin in his 1961 text
The Theatre of Absurd

Samuel Beckett
Theatre Practitioner
Born in Dublin In 1906 and died in 1989
Studied French and Italian at Trinity College in Dublin from 1923-1927.
Moved to Paris shortly after graduating college.
All of his works was written in French and personally translated to English.
Beckett became depressed and began Jungian therapy, an experience that impacted
his work.
Beckett fought in WWII for the French Resistance as a courier.
In 1938 he was nearly stabbed to death by a pimp in Paris. He makes references to this
in his work.

Directing STyle
When it comes to Absurdist Theatre, it requires a lot more work from
the actors, the directors and the audience. Just because the overall
meaning isnt as black and white, the meaning is there. For example,
on the surface it might seem like theres little meaning to 'Waiting For
Godot' because nothing apparent happens. But how many people live
lives where 'nothing' happens? How many people live their lives and do
their jobs in endless state of repetition? It's a pretty common
phenomenon. How does that reflect the action of the play?

Aims.
The aim of Absurdist Theatre is to shock the audience out of their comfort zone and confront
the limits of human condition and our purpose on earth. The main idea of Absurdism is that
the human condition is meaningless and out of tune with the universe.
Theatre of Absurdism can refer to:
Without purpose
illogical
useless
out of harmony
meaningless
hopeless
chaotic
devoid of reason
lacking order

Conventions
Space +Costumes & Actor-audience relationship
In an absurd play you see magnified characters in an absurd situation. Absurdism is about
provoking your thoughts with laughter. It has no beginning, middle or end and doesn't look
like conventional theatre.
For space and costume, Absurd theatre consisted of minimalistic sets and lights. For
example: An original set included nothing more than a tree and a bench. The costumes
were just what they would have worn at the time of the play (early 1950's) just a bit aged,
tattered and distressed.
The actor audience relationship consists of the audience often being alienated, teased,
puzzled,disturbed , the often questions the existence and absurdity of life

Conventions
Absurd dramatic conventions include:
Voice: words, sound and noise used as a spectacle. Unusual use of silence.
Movement: mix of realistic, non-realistic, ritualistic and circus
Gestures: inventive, orientated toward hands and feet
Emotion: use of primitive, ritualistic and Artuad techniques
Ideas: Relevant to existentialism
Language: part of theatrical spectacle and often illogical
Mood and atmosphere: extremely varied

Trailer of Waiting for

Godot

The ENd