Theatre of the Absurd
The Theatre of the Absurd is termed as a post-World War One designation for Absurdist Fiction plays, specifically those written by primarily European playwrights in the late twentieth century, also as one for the style of theatre which has evolved from their work . Martin Esslin, a literary critic, coined the term ‘Theatre of the Absurd’ in his 1960 essay ‘Theatre of the absurd’. Esslin related these selected plays based on the broad theme of the Absurd, similar to the way Camus used the term in his 1942 essay ‘The Myth of Sisyphus.’ The ideology of the Theatre of the Absurd is drawn from Existentialism and expresses the result of human existence becoming deprived of meaning or purpose and the result of all communication thus breaking down. Logical construction and argument within absurdist theatre gave way to characteristics of irrational and illogical speech and the ultimate conclusion of silence. The Theatre of the Absurd involves a fascination with absurdity in a range of forms; the existential, philosophical, emotional and dramaturgical. The Theatre of the Absurd as a dramatic form inherently pushes theatre to the extreme, while posing questions about what both reality and unreality truly look like Martin Esslin named the four defining playwrights of the Theatre of the Absurd movement as Samuel Beckett, Arthur Adamov, Eugène Ionesco, and Jean Genet. In later editions of his essay he included a fifth playwright, Harold Pinter. Other writers that are also associated with this movement by Esslin and other critics are; Tom Stoppard, Friedrich Dürrenmatt, Fernando Arrabal, Edward Albee, Boris Vian, and Jean Tardieu.