Theater of the Absurd term was used for the plays written mainly in France from the mid-1940s to the 1950s.
These works generally express the obvious absurdity of human existence by employing illogical situations, minimal plots, and unconventional dialogue.
The mood of absurdity was found in Ubu roi (Ubu the King) (1896; translated 1951), by French playwright Alfred Jarry.
Because of its mocking of theatrical conventions and use of nonsense language, it is often considered as an early example of Theater of Absurd.
In 1940s, French thinkers such as Albert Camus and Jean-Paul Sartre used the term absurd to show that human condition is essentially absurd and meaningless.
British scholar Martin Esslin, in a 1961, used the phrase "theater of the absurd" keeping in mind several contemporary dramatists such as Irish-born playwright Samuel Beckett and French playwrights Eugène Ionesco, Jean Genet, and Arthur Adamov.
They showed strong reaction against the traditional Western theatrical conventions, and rejected assumptions about logic, language, characterization, and plot.
Beckett's En attendant Godot (1953; translated as Waiting for Godot, 1954) depicts two tramps waiting for a character named Godot.
But they are not sure who Godot is, and whether he will show up to meet them, and whether he actually exists.
Still, they spend day after day waiting for him and trying to realize the world in which they live.
Beckett often reduced plot, character, and dialogue to a minimum with a view to highlight fundamental questions of human existence.
Ionesco's La cantatrice chauve (1950; The Bald Soprano, 1956) has a circular structure which ends in the same manner it begins.
The play portrays characters who are unable for true communication and seem to have no obvious purpose in their lives.
At first, the absurdist plays shocked audiences.
But later on, their techniques became common.
The influence of the theater of the absurd is seen on the contemporary playwrights such as American dramatists Edward Albee and Sam Shepard, British dramatists Harold Pinter and Tom Stoppard.
These works generally express the obvious absurdity of human existence by employing illogical situations, minimal plots, and unconventional dialogue.
The mood of absurdity was found in Ubu roi (Ubu the King) (1896; translated 1951), by French playwright Alfred Jarry.
Because of its mocking of theatrical conventions and use of nonsense language, it is often considered as an early example of Theater of Absurd.
In 1940s, French thinkers such as Albert Camus and Jean-Paul Sartre used the term absurd to show that human condition is essentially absurd and meaningless.
British scholar Martin Esslin, in a 1961, used the phrase "theater of the absurd" keeping in mind several contemporary dramatists such as Irish-born playwright Samuel Beckett and French playwrights Eugène Ionesco, Jean Genet, and Arthur Adamov.
They showed strong reaction against the traditional Western theatrical conventions, and rejected assumptions about logic, language, characterization, and plot.
Beckett's En attendant Godot (1953; translated as Waiting for Godot, 1954) depicts two tramps waiting for a character named Godot.
But they are not sure who Godot is, and whether he will show up to meet them, and whether he actually exists.
Still, they spend day after day waiting for him and trying to realize the world in which they live.
Beckett often reduced plot, character, and dialogue to a minimum with a view to highlight fundamental questions of human existence.
Ionesco's La cantatrice chauve (1950; The Bald Soprano, 1956) has a circular structure which ends in the same manner it begins.
The play portrays characters who are unable for true communication and seem to have no obvious purpose in their lives.
At first, the absurdist plays shocked audiences.
But later on, their techniques became common.
The influence of the theater of the absurd is seen on the contemporary playwrights such as American dramatists Edward Albee and Sam Shepard, British dramatists Harold Pinter and Tom Stoppard.