Here's To Absurdity

[nomdeplume]

Posted: 12/16/05 at 12:26am

What is the point of Absurdist Theatre?

What plays are Absurdist and which playwrights?

Which of them do you most adore and why?

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 12/16/05 at 12:37am

I f****n' love Eugune Ionesco! I think absurdist theater is hard to do correctly, but if done right it can be brillant. I just think he has amazing ideas and his plays are so complex. We did The Chairs at my high school and it was one of the most satisfying experiences ever. It was just a brillant show. The idea of this old couple who have a struggling relationship and they're setting up these chairs for these invisbile people for this famous orator that's suppose to come, and then he/she arrives and they're mute. That's just brillant.

Also, not sure if this is absurdist, but The Park Bench - not sure who it is written by - is brillant as well. I love a good absurdist play. Wish there were more!

[wickedwitchofthechest]

Posted: 12/16/05 at 12:40am

I believe the point of Absurdist Theatre is to startle the audience out of mundanity.

As far as favorite bit of Absurdism goes, I vote for the poems of Lewis Carroll. Anyone who can make up words like that deserves to rule the world!

[wickedwitchofthechest]

Posted: 12/16/05 at 12:42am

(Is to be absurd synonymous with being Absurdist? Because if so, nomdeplume, I think we've found our raison d'etre on Broadwayworld.)

[nomdeplume]

Posted: 12/16/05 at 12:44am

I am so with you, RentBoy86, as to Ionesco. He just has that saucy French savoir faire...

His rediculous play, La Cantatrice Chauve, whatever happens, keeps repeating:

"Comme c'est bizarre, comme c'est curieux, et quelle coincidence"

["How bizarre that is, how curious, and such a coincidence"]

[nomdeplume]

Posted: 12/16/05 at 12:50am

I think witchie, that Lewis Carroll with his Jabberwocky and hookah smoking caterpillars has got to be right up there in the treacle with the best in Absurdist heaven. I don't recall as he wrote any plays...?

I love the Cheshire Cat! in fact I have a little stuffed cloth one...

[nomdeplume]

Posted: 12/16/05 at 12:55am

"(Is to be absurd synonymous with being Absurdist? Because if so, nomdeplume, I think we've found our raison d'etre on Broadwayworld.)"

witchie, you and I are clear partners in Absurdist crime

the clues are everywhere we're on the boards

[wickedwitchofthechest]

Posted: 12/16/05 at 12:56am

Sadly, no, Mr. Carroll did not grace us with any works for the theater, although I think I remember a mention of a truly, horrendously dreadful porn production of Alice in Wonderland last year.

Ah, the day I frightened my poor, unsuspecting Assistant Professor with a dramatic reading of Jabberwocky when everyone else droned through verses of In Memoriam is one that I shall always treasure.

[CostumeMistress]

Posted: 12/16/05 at 12:57am

Anyone Else Waiting for Godot?

[Allie]

Posted: 12/16/05 at 12:59am

CostumeMistress, I love that. Definitely seen it before, hehe.

[nomdeplume]

Posted: 12/16/05 at 1:01am

hey there costume mistress

sometimes one does nothing but wait for Godot...

"make the yuletide straight" is just begging for the Absurdism designation...

any Christopher Durang plays that anyone would like to add to our Absurdist rants and raves...?

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 12/16/05 at 1:07am

is Durang absurdist?

I really like the Adding Machine as well. I think my draw to absurdist theater is because I like shows that make you think. I like when a show can be see on many different levels. I wish I could find a picture of our production, it was visual stunning for a high school show.

[wickedwitchofthechest]

Posted: 12/16/05 at 1:09am

I loved Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead. Were they Waiting for Godot, too?

[nomdeplume]

Posted: 12/16/05 at 1:11am

I don't think I've ever read or seen a Durang play that wasn't Absurdist.

I think it's like your mind is like a corkscrew and that's how it works ever after you turn Absurd...

Perhaps one is born Absurdist, with that outsider artist's eye keen on seeing the more rediculous aspects of life and then presenting them with a sardonic gravitas for levity...

Updated On: 12/16/05 at 01:11 AM

[nomdeplume]

Posted: 12/16/05 at 1:15am

I am not a big Pinter fan, but I think he is technically included. And some of his plays are kind of set in unclear locales and time frames...

I liked Betrayal but I am not sure what about it would make it Absurd. Okay, it's the play that goes backwards, but that of itself shouldn't make it Absurd. If Betrayal is Absurd, it is not a humorous play.

What do you think--can you have Absurd plays that aren't funny?

Can you think of one? Updated On: 12/16/05 at 01:15 AM

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 12/16/05 at 1:25am

Yeah, I don't think I find many absurd plays funny. The Chairs, The adding machine, the park bench, i wouldn't really call any of those comedies. The Bald Soprano, yes, but not the others. I'm not sure exactly what delcares something to be absurd. I wouldn't really call Rosencratz to be absurd? would you consider some Albee plays to be absurd?

[wickedwitchofthechest]

Posted: 12/16/05 at 1:45am

I suppose it depends on where you draw the line between Existentialist and Absurdist. I've always throught of R&G Are Dead as absurdist, but my knowledge of the subject is limited.

I suppose there is an inherent humor in the nonsensicality of Absurdism, but I don't know if it's a defining characteristic of the form.

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 12/16/05 at 1:53am

Yeah, wickedwitchofthechest, I don't either. There's a book on Amazon.com about absurdist theater that I'm going to get.
The Book

[Flahooley]

Posted: 12/16/05 at 1:33pm

I've always thought John Guare's work has been informed by the Absurdists. Check out HOUSE OF BLUE LEAVES to see what I mean.

[nomdeplume]

Posted: 12/16/05 at 5:00pm

Absurdist is a certain style of humor.

I find it lobs the joke into the air and then you use your wits to catch it, unlike broad humor that kind of clobbers you over the head, like it or no.

Speaking of Guare, I haven't seen Blue Leaves, but when you think of Six Degrees of Separation, there is certainly a thread of Absurdism that dances through that...the rogue con-guy figure is almost beyond reality...at least the other characters being taken in by him makes them a bit Absurd!