Theater of the Absurd

existentialism + symbolic satire

• emerged in Europe and the U.S. after World War II

• people were discouraged by the unjustness of the world

THEATER OF THE ABSURD

 Existentialism
• Theater of the Absurd began at the same time
as existentialism.
• Jean-Paul Sartre: “Man is only what he does.
Man becomes what he chooses to be.”
• The existentialists often cited Hitler’s Nazi
Germany and the atrocities of the Holocaust
as examples of the dangers of conformity.
 Existentialism
• Albert Camus: “There is no cause and effect.”
• Truth is not knowable.
• Human beings are individually responsible for
the decisions they make and for accepting the
consequences of those decisions.
• Human decisions affect other people.
• The most courageous human act is to make a
decision and live with the consequences.
 Absurdism
• Alienation and isolation from other humans
• Alienation from history and culture
• Alienation from social and physical
environment
• Disharmony with nature
• Chaotic and disorderly life
• Failure of communication
• Lack of religious certainty
•
Absurdism offers different ways of
perceiving reality that can be both
comic and horrifying.
 GOAL of ABSURDISM

To experience the condition of absurdity

Eugene Ionesco’s plays convey the
meaningless of modern man’s
existence in a universe ruled by
chance.
 in 1979 Albee said, “I like to think
people are forced to rethink some
things as a result of the experience
of seeing some of my plays, that
they are not left exactly the way
they came in.”
 Albee’s plays suggest that human
beings have lost the ability to cope
with their problems and anxieties
because they refuse to accept
responsibility for their lives and
project responsibility onto others
for their own and the world’s
inadequacies.
 [“The Sandbox”] is an examination of American
society, an attack on the substitution of artificial
for real values in our society, a condemnation of
complacency, cruelty, emasculation, and vacuity;
it is a stand against the fiction that everything in
this land of our is peachy-keen.

- Edward Albee
“Who am I?” is a common theme
in Samuel Beckett’s plays.
 • The feeling of absurdity
THEATER OF THE ABSURD

• name comes from The Myth of

Sisyphus by Albert Camus in
which he states that there is a
separation between “man and
his life, the actor and his
setting” that “constitutes the
feeling of Absurdity.”

• Absurdist plays convey

humanity’s sense of alienation
and loss of bearings in an
illogical, unjust, and ridiculous
world

• Although serious, the plays

can be quite comical . . . with
much irony.
 Absurdist Plots
• No logical, traditional • Storyless action
plots; unconventional • Rejection of theatrical
• Actions may begin and conventions
then disappear • Disordered
• ridiculous and • Disharmony
unbelievable • Abrupt changes of
• Non-realistic direction and tone
• Anti-realistic • Logical illogic
• Nothing happens • Symbolic satire
 Absurdist Characters
• Unbelievable characters • Satirical
• Psychological • Incoherent
complexity • Lack of communication
• Irrational beings • Ineffective
• Cannot be understood communication
• Abrupt changes • Often exemplify an
• Alienated existential point of view
• isolated • Groups of symbols
rather than characters
 Absurdist Language
• Inadequacy of language • Abrupt changes of tone
• Failure of • Comic
communication • Horrifying
• Sometimes no language • Unnatural
(mime or gesture) • Incoherent ramblings
• Disconnected dialogue • Unexpected meanings
• Non-sequitors for even common words
(does not follow= reply does not • Jargon
make sense)
 Absurdist Playlet Directions

EVERY STUDENT IS RESPONSIBLE FOR

READING ALL DIRECTIONS AND THE
SCORING RUBRIC. FOLLOW DIRECTIONS.

All documents needed are available on the APE Lit

survival guide web site plus additional resources, such
as sample scripts from previous students.
Directions (continued)

1. Collaborate with a group no larger than 5 or work by yourself

– your choice. If you work by yourself, you will more than likely
have to recruit other students to read the character parts you
create. Select a director for your group. You will also need to
select group members to serve as script writer, prop master, and
publisher.

2. Each group (or solo individual) must write a script (see “The
Sandbox” in the blue textbook for format). A script must be
provided for each person involved with the play. See the rubric.

3. The play can be no more than five (5) minutes long.

4. Students do not have to memorize lines, but try your best not to simply
read them. The audience needs to see your face (unless your script tells you
to do otherwise). Try to not turn your back to the audience (unless your script
requires you to do so). One of the most important parts of communication,
performance, and understanding is the reaction that you give to other
students’ lines. This project is an oral presentation, one of our objectives for
competence with English. See the rubric.

5. The play can be live or filmed.

6. Follow the guidelines from the Intro to Absurdism powerpoint (see

survivalguide website) and other resources available on the survivalguide
website in order to create an absurdist play. Absurdism is not simply slapstick
comedy or parody. Absurdism is often a form of satire that exposes a social
structure or practice, character type, business procedure, educational
program, relationship, or other situation in need of correction. Your group
must identify the target of the satire, even if the target of the satire is the
expectation of meaning. See the scoring rubric.
7. Each person in the group (or the solo individual) must write one well-
developed, typed, double-spaced paragraph that explains and analyzes a
specific aspect of the play. The group collaborates about which part of the
play each person will write about. (For example, the play could be divided
into language, characterization, target of satire, theme.) Each student’s name
should be in (parentheses) at the end of the individually-written paragraph.
Provide electronic copies of each paragraph to the publisher in your group.
The publisher’s job is to add a brief introductory paragraph and then to
arrange the other students’ paragraphs into a logical order in one document
(including the publisher’s own analytical paragraph). Then print one copy.
See the scoring rubric.

8. Each group (or solo individual) must turn in one typed copy of the script
attached to one typed copy of the explanation/discussion/analysis. See the
scoring rubric.
ABSURDIST PLAYLET RUBRIC

A. Logic of the illogical: incongruity, disharmony, paradox,

juxtaposition, liberation 20

B. Satire and Symbols: satirical target and techniques,

multiple symbols w/ multiple meanings 20

C. Performance elements: auditory? visual? consideration for audience?

5 min.time limit? 10

D. Use of Nonrealism and Absurdism characteristics: 25

(communication dysfunction, alienation, isolation, existentialist, storyless action,
incoherence, unbelievable characters, rejection of conventions of realism and
theater, tolerance for ambiguity, comedy, horror, shock that provokes questioning)

E. Documents: enough scripts? doublespaced, typed single page analysis, target of

satire, EXPLANATION? 15

F. Originality: unique lack of predictability, unlike others 10

Total 100