John Jacob Professor Flehcher
Research “Theatre of the Absurd” 09/25/11
Theatre of the absurd is a type of style in theatre that originated in France in the 1940’s. It is based on philosophy and is usually used in plays that have an unordinary or unique plot line. It is aimed to show an audience where a man is born and it is just himself. There is no God in theatre of the absurd. These plays normally lack conflict which is very rare in the theatre world. Instead of conflict, it involves irony, alienation, and contrast. The examples I read when researching this topic involved a death and everyone was happy at the funeral. Or a new birth of a child and everyone was depressed. This is very weird and ironic in our culture to have either of these situations happen. In other words, these plays take a character and show his or her reaction to world they believe has no meaning. These plays really make the audience think hard and a successful theatre of the absurd play displays a hidden message that is often hard to figure out. I think it would be very interesting to go watch a play of such manner because I am curious how a director would design an absurdist play. My first opinion would be that it would be controversial to the audience or anyone viewing the play in the fact that the main character doesn’t believe in God or that there is a purpose to life.