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

Hey Sean. My yr12 troupe studied and performed Absurdist theatre last year. "Our Name is Smith" - we combined extracts from "The Bald Primma Donna" (Eugene Ionesco), "Waiting for Godot" (Samuel Beckett) and "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead" (Tom Stoppard). It was a very interesting play to be involved in. Many of the audience left confused and annoyed because of the style - not because of us! lol. But then again others laughed like mad and understood every minute of it! Absuridsm is hard to get a grip on. If you see a show in this style. Try to avoid thinking too much - I'm serious by the way - just sit there and let is wash over you. I find the less you think the more you will understand. Na, already told you the point - Life is meaningless and a pointless series of actions. We are all born to die is one of the more depressing views on this style. Personally I find watching absurd plays an eaiser way of starting to look at this particular style. Simply because some people struggle to grip it by just reading alone. So my advice - see a show in absurd style - if you can of course and go home and think about it later. ~ Tari The Writer is a child forever listening at the keyhole of the adult world.

Well we're going off to see Exit the King which will be good- especially to get a grasp. I found that last year when exploring non-naturalism, after doing a workshop with some pro's and seeing a non-naturalistic play really helped me to see what a non-naturalistic show was like on stage.. Our drama class had been so used to narrative. I'm looking forward to working on some absurdism in the next few weeks in our classes and seeing Exit The King. We just got our Drama Ensemble Groups so work begins on the ensemble from now on....very exciting! _____________________________________________________________ Currently working on: "The Ultimate Broadway Musical" The Three-Person, Audience Interactive, Little Bit Of Improv, Mini-Musical event of 2007.

Read that play. It will give you a pretty clear idea of whats going on. To me its a discussion of why the characters in a particular set up are there and their attempts to deal with the fact that they know only as much as they can discern from their physical environment. Thats exactly what goes on in No Exit. And just a side note isnt it six characters in search of an author? i read that last year and i loved the idea of the play. When you go to watch Geoffrey Rush dont think that its a special stylised form of theatre (in my opinion) its just a character in a set of circumstances. The fact that existentialist ideas will arise is what would separate it from a more mainstream drama where the characters deal with life issues. But essentially its still the same. enjoy!!, Paul Mclaughlin.

Although theatre of the absurd has the same roots as existentialism, they are not the same, nor should they be confused as the same thing. If you want a correct explanation, contact me privately.

Yes, 'Six Characters in Search of An Author' (what can I say, I have actors on the brain...)... Although perhaps a good response from Pirandello himself would have been 'It is so if you think it's so'... 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

Yes I would agre that it is not directly related to existentialism. For example (although not on the stage) Monty Python uses absurdism quite frequently and yet (apart from the Meaning Of Life) I don't think they really question existence. It might just be a common trend that the great absurd writers were existentialists. I've seen snippets from 'The Lesson' and I wouldn't mind delving into that one a little more too. _____________________________________________________________ Currently working on: "The Ultimate Broadway Musical" The Three-Person, Audience Interactive, Little Bit Of Improv, Mini-Musical event of 2007.

to explore the art form of surrealism and also look in on Dada. While many of the great absurdists were indeed existentialists and "Huis Clos" by Sartre is a gem of the genre never the less the roots of absurdism lie more firmly in the surrealist movement. Book worth reading? J.L Styan Modern Theatre in Theory and Practice Volume 2 Symbolism, Surrealism and the Absurd. Is that all there is? Well if that's all there is my friend, then let's keep dancing. www.tonymoore.id.au

hi there. we are studying theatre of the absurd as part of our yr 12 drama currciculu this year. it has been very enjoyable so far. i simply feel that the playwrights and actors are just conveying everyones own thoughts, opinions and circumstances from real life and twisting them to make them seem absurd when really they could be quite normal. ask yourself have you ever thought about death? (which seems to be a common factor in most absurd pices) i believe the answer would be yes. They are simply using real life circumstances and putting an 'edge' i guess you could say to them which makes us think beyond what we already knew and percieved of the world.

last year in yr 11 drama we did theatre of cruelty, but we just made up our own production using the theories our teacher told us about