Theatre History Overview - Part 53 - Absurdist Theatre

Theatre of the absurd (or absurdist theatre) is a movement that happened in the 1950s and 1960s. The movement started in Paris, France in the section of the city known as the Quartier Latin. Many absurdist playwrights were born in France, but others were born elsewhere and were living in France and often writing in French.

However, even though the official movement of absurdism started in the 1950s, absurdist elements started appearing in theatre shortly after the rise of Greek drama. Aristophanes'ss wild humor is considered absurd. Absurdist elements are also found in works by Petronius, Lucian, and and Apuleius who were all writers during the classical period. Absurdist elements showed up in many plays and are even more obvious in some of the plays by Ibsen, Alfred Jarry, and Strindberg.

Absurdists of the 1950s and 1960s agreed with the assement that that the human situation is absurd and devoid of purpose, as found in Albert Camus's essay, The Myth of Sisyphus. The event that springboarded this movement was Word War II. This was because absurdity became normal for the population as a whole when they had to deal with the threat of nuclear war and the possibility that they could lose their lives at any second without any serious health complications or personal risks.

Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett is probably the most famous absurdist play. However, there are other plays and they are all performed in theatre around the world today. Some of them are The Bald Soprano by eugene Ionesco, Who's Afriad of Virginia Woofle and Zoo Story by Edward Albee, and The Maids by Jean Genet.

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