"there is nothing to express, nothing with which to express, nothing from which to express, no power to express, no desire to express,

together with the obligation to express"

(Samuel Beckett)

Theatre
of
Absurd
How can one define an astonishing talent?
Modernism Post-Modernism
Modernism
Modernism waswas aa term
term widely
widely used
used to
to signify
signify Salient
Salient features
features of
of postmodernism
postmodernism areare normally
normally
the post World War I writings that questioned
the post World War I writings that questioned thought
thought to include the ironic play with styles,
to include the ironic play with styles,
the traditional modes of religion, morality and citations and narrative levels, a metaphysical
also traditional ways of conceiving one's own scepticism or nihilism towards a "grand
existence.
existence. narrative"
narrative" of
of Western
Western culture.
culture.
And

(Surrealism)
Surrealism was a revolt against restrains, promoting free creativity violating norms
and
and control
control over
over artistic
artistic expression
expression and
and process.
process. It
It was
was aa revolutionary
revolutionary movement
movement in
in
all
all arts
arts including
including literature.
literature.

Literature of Absurd
The
The theatre
theatre of
of the
the absurd
absurd is
is aa cultural
cultural movement
movement that
that began
began manifestating
manifestating in
in literature,
literature, than
than slowly
slowly
extended to the theatre, focusing largely on the idea of existentialism and expressing what happens when
human
human existence
existence has
has no
no meaning
meaning andand purpose
purpose and
and therefore
therefore all
all communication
communication breaks
breaks down.
down.
 Albert Camus

Presented the „Myth of Sisyphus”

he defines the human condition as basically meaningless
 Samuel Beckett

Samuel Barclay Beckett

was an Irish writer,
dramatist and poet. Samuel Beckett’s dramatic works
Beckett's work brought the do not rely on the
theatre and the novel an traditional elements of
acute awareness of the drama.
absurdity of human Language is uselles.
existence and ­our
desperate search for
meaning

His most famous work is „Waiting for Godot”

 Waiting for Godot

Waiting for Godot is nonetheless one of the most important works of our time. It revolutionized
theatre in the twentieth century and had a profound influence on generations of succeeding
dramatists.
 HAROLD PINTER
Theatrical pauses Silences Irony

"I went into a room and saw one

person standing up and one
Harold Pinter was an English person sitting down, and few
playwright, screenwriter, actor, weeks later I wrote The Room. I
director, poet, author and went into another room and saw
political activist. two people sitting down, and a
few years later I wrote The
Birthday Party. I looked through
a door into a third room and saw
two people standing up and I
wrote The Caretaker.”
 The Caretaker
The Caretaker was the first of Pinter's plays to bring him artistic and commercial success as well as national recognition.

Through the story of the two brothers and the tramp, is deals with the distance
between reality and fantasy, family relationships, and the struggle for power.
 EUGENE IONESCO

Eugène Ionesco, born He began studying French literature at

Eugen was a Romanian and the University of Bucharest and two
French playwright and years later published his first article in
dramatist, one of the the Zodiac review.
foremost playwrights of the
Theatre of the Absurd.
 Rhinoceros

Inspired by Ionesco's
personal experiences with
fascism during World War II,
this absurdist drama depicts
the struggle of one man to In the play, characters repeat
maintain his identity and ideas and theories they have
integrity alone in a world of heard others repeat
brute force and violence.
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 because there are
no easy solutions to the mysteries of existence, because ultimately man is alone in a meaningless
world. . And that is why, in the last resort, the Theatre of the Absurd does not provoke tears of despair
but the laughter of liberation.