Theatre of the Absurd

Recently my drama class has been studying Theatre of the Absurd studying playwrights and dramatists such as Eugene Ionesco and Samuel Beckett. Over the holidays we had the set task of reading "The Bald Prima Donna" which (although not fully understanding what was going on over the holidays) I did enjpoy. This was really our first actual study into this form of theatre, I have read extracts from plays such as "Waiting For Godot" and "Rhinoceros" which I found very interesting at the time. In a few weeks we are off to see Geoffrey Rush in 'Exit The king' which I am also excited about as we will be able to see Absurdism on stage, a factor that ome students in the class are definately finding confusing...but is that what absurdism is meant to be? (I'll review Exit The King on this site after I've seen it) So what does everyone else think about Absurdism? Has anyone been in any absurdist plays? I'd really like to know, I find it all quite fascinating!

Absurdism is based on the philosophy of existentialism. Basically the philsophy states that life is meaningless, and absurd. Some existentialists propose that there is God, but that God is helpless, and others propose there is no God. If you want to learn about existentialism a must is: Camus, Sartre (his play 'No Exit' is the best, but my personal favourite is 'The Flies', a take on Greek tragedy), Nietzche... Beckett of course is a given. Absurdism on stage is scripts/dialogue/actions that force the audience to a) be confronted (pissing visibly on stage, etc) b) feel that the performance doesn't make sense or is absurd, and c) generally make the audience face their own humanity and ideas on life. If you go and read about absurdism or existentialism the above will help you - the texts and essays seem difficult to understand, but the idea and theory of existentialism is in fact, very simple. I have never seen Beckett on stage, but I have seen 'Six Characters in Search of an Actor'... although it was performed by students and not very well at that. I am an existentialist, and actually love the plays and philosophies/philosophers listed above. "One foot astride of a grave" - Camus "Man is condemned to be free" - Sartre The Prompt Copy www.thepromptcopy.com Sticky Apple Legs www.freewebs.com/stickyapplelegs Puppets in Melbourne www.freewebs.com/puppetsinmelbourne Treading the Boards www.treadingtheboards.thepromptcopy.com

Absurdism is based on the

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