Absurd Theatre

Absurd Theatre

The title "Theatre of Absurd" covers a wide variety of playwrights with different styles, they do have some common stylistic precursors. The precursors include Elizabethan tragicomedy, formal experimentation, pataphysics, surrealism, Dadaism and most importantly Existentialism. Humankind in this view is left feeling hopeless, confuse and anxious. The term is also loosely applied to those dramatists and the production of those work.

Critic Martin Esslin

Critic Martin Esslin coined the term in his essay - "Theatre of Absurd." He related these plays based on a broad theme of the absurd, similar to the way, Albert Camus uses the term in his essay - "The Myth of sisyphus".

Structure of the play, in which term is to be used

The Absurd in these plays takes the form of man's reaction to a world apparently without meaning, or man as a puppet controlled or menaced by invisible outside forces.

The style of writing was first popularizes by Samuel Beckett in his play - "Waiting for Godot" in 1953.

Origin

Originally shocking its flouting of theatrical convention while popular for its apt expression of the preoccupation of the mid-20th century.

The theatre of absurd is a post World War-2 designation for particular plays of absurdist fiction written by a number of playwrights in the late 1950s, as well as one for the style of theatre which has evolved from their work. Their work focused largely on the idea of existentialism and therefore all communication breaks down.

Logical construction and argument gives way to irrational and illogical speech and to its ultimate conclusion.

Absurdist Dramatists

Though there is no formal Absurdist movement existed as such, dramatists as diverse as......

Samuel Beckett,

Eugene Ionesco,

Jean Genet,

Arthur Adamov,

Harold Pinter,

and a few others shared a pessimistic vision of humanity struggling vainly to find a purpose and to control its fate.

Example

Samuel Beckett's "Waiting for Godot"

Harold Pinter's "Birthday Party"

Now let's get some brief note about Absurd play-"Waiting for Godot".

Waiting for Godot

The two characters are, Vladimir and Estragon waiting for Godot; they shared a belief that human life was essentially without meaning....

It did away with the most of the logical structures of traditional   theatre. there is a little dramatic actions as conventionally understood;  and their busyness serves to underscore the fact that nothing happens to change their existence.

plot- plot is eliminated, and a timeless, circular quality  emerges as two lost creatures, usually played as tramps, spend their days waiting-but without any certainty of whom they are waiting for or of whether he, or it, will ever come.                                                                                             

Absurdist's belief

Absurdists believed that,... " Life is absurd".

They also believed that "death and the 'after life'" were equally absurd if not more, and that whether people live or not all of their actions are pointless and everything will lead to the same end. Means...there is life after death, and hence, this is the repetitiveness in many of these absurdist plays.

In his book 'Absurd Drama', Esslin wrote that......

"The theatre of the Absurd attacks the comfortable certainties of religious or political orthodoxy. It aims to shock its audience out of complacency, to bring it face to face with the harsh facts of the human situation as these writers  see it. But the challenge behind this message is anything but one of despair. It is a challenge to accept the human condition as it is, in all its mystery and absurdity, and to bear it with dignity, nobly, responsibly; ...

precisely because there are no easy solutions to the mysteries of existence, because ultimately man is alone in a meaningless world. The shedding of easy solutions, of comforting illusions, may be painful, but it leaves behind it a sense of freedom relief.

And that is why, in the last resort,...

the Theatre of the Absurd does not provoke tears of despair but the laughter of liberation."

Though the term is applied to a wide range of plays, some characteristics coincide in many of the plays:-

(1)broad comedy, often similar to vaudeville,

mixed with horrific or tragic images

(2)Characters caught in hopeless situations forced to do repetitive or meaningless actions

(3)dialogue full of clichés, wordplay and nonsense

(4)plots that are cyclical or absurdly expansive

(5)either a parody or dismissal of realism and the concep of the "well-made plays".

These all plays were shaped by the political turmoil, scientific breakthrough and social upheaval going on in the world around the playwrights during these times.

Stream of Consciousness

Stream Of Consciousness

Introduction:-

Stream of Consciousness is a narrative mode or method that attempts to depict the multitudinous thoughts and feelings which passes through the mind.

 It is a narrative technique in non-dramatic fiction intended to render the flow of the impression - visual. auditory, physical, associative and subliminal - that impinge on the consciousness of an individual and form part of his awareness along with the trend of his rational thoughts.

Origin and First introduced by:-

This term originated in psychology before literary critics began using it to describe a narrative style that depicts how people think.

This term was first introduced by  the psychologist william James in his work "The Principle of  Psychology".

This is a style of writing developed by a group of writers at the beginning of 20th century at Modernist movement. As psychological novel developed in 20th century, some writers attempted to capture the total flow of their character's consciousness, rather than limit themselves to rational thoughts.

It aimed at expressing in words the flow of character's thoughts and feelings in their minds. This technique tries to give readers the impression of being inside the minds of characters.

Development:-

While the use of the narrative technique of Stream of consciousness is usually associated with modernist novelists in the first part of the 20th century.

But it is only in the 20th century that this technique is fully developed by modernists. As Robert Humphrey comments.............

"is concerned only with the reminiscent aspect of consciousness"

Many writers who employ this term, also experiments with structure, incorporating elements like multiple, unreliable narrators on a straight line  plot structure.

Some writers may also choose to arrange events out of chronological order or to give readers details about the past through a character's memories.

Most famous examples:-

(1)James Joyce's ULYSSES

(2)Arthur Schnitzler's  LEUTNANT GUSTL

(3)William Faulkner's THE SOUND  AND  THE FURY

(4)Virginia Woolf's THE WAVES and TO THE LIGHTHOUSE

(5)Dorothy Richardson's  PILGRIMAGE

Two distinct quality of this term:-

(1) Stream of Consciousness does necessarily mingle with impression and perception.

(2)Stream of Consciousness it does necessarily violate the norms of grammar or logic.

Some additional key details:-

*This writing allows readers to 'listen in' on a character's thoughts.

*The technique often involves the use of language in unconventional ways in an attempts to replicate the complicated pathways that thoughts; take as they unfold and move through the mind.

*It can be written in the first person, as well as the in third person.

As a form of Interior Monologue:-

Stream of Consciousness is a narrative device that attempts to give the written equivalent of the character's thought process, either in a loose interior monologue or in connection to one's action.

This kind of writing is usually regarded as a special form of interior monologue and its characterizes by associative leaps in thoughts and lack of some punctuation.

Worthy to be noted that....

Writer uses this term as the speaker's thought processes are more often depicted as overheard in the mind; it is primarily a fictional device.

Conclusion:-

In short, to conclude one can put here that.....

Stream of consciousness is a person's thoughts and conscious reaction to events, perceived as a continuous flow.