The Theatre of the Absurd 1 .pptx - The Theatre of the Absurd The term Theatre of the Absurd or Absurdism was coined by the critic Martin Esslin for

The Theatre of the Absurd

The term “Theatre of the Absurd” or “Absurdism” was coined by the critic Martin Esslin for the work of a number of playwrights, mostly written in the 1950s and 1960s derived from an essay by the French philosopher Albert Camus entitled “The Myth of Sisyphus” (described as existentialist) who defined the human situation as basically meaningless and absurd.

 A reaction to WWII and the nuclear bomb  Many of the writers of this style of theater grew up and were involved in Europe during the second world war. Life seemed chaotic and impermanent. One never knew when death would rain down, so there is a cynicism to the writings; though most are comedies, the ideas underneath are often dark.  The war showed the total impermanence of any values, shook the validity of any conventions and highlighted the precariousness of human life and its fundamental meaninglessness and arbitrariness.

• Additionally, the trauma of living from 1945 under threat of nuclear annihilation also seems to have been an important factor in the rise of the new theatre. • Imagine if you had never heard of a nuclear weapon and suddenly you hear of the hundreds of thousands of lives lost in an instance at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The effect on the collective psyche was devastating.

• It also seems to have been a reaction to the disappearance of the religious dimension from contemporary life. When people abandon the institutions that give their lives meaning, life can seem meaningless.

  A belief that man is inhabiting a universe with which he is out of key. Its meaning is indecipherable and his place within it is without purpose. He is bewildered, troubled and obscurely threatened.

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The Theatre of the Absurd 1 .pptx - The Theatre of the...

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