4/2/13- Existentialism & Absurdism

Existentialism
Sartre & Camus
def: the individual condemned to freedom
looks like normal play, but with profound philosophical point

Jean Paul Sartre
-No Exit
-The Flies (off-Broadway); Greek myth of Orestes

No Exit

Albert Camus
-Myth Sisyphus: push boulder up hill for eternity

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Absurdism
Genet, Ionesco, & Beckett
-the meaningfulness of meaninglessness
-"I did everything I was supposed to / I played the game..... so what?"
-written starting after World War II

Jean Genet (great play: The Dayroom)
-to be moral, you must be immoral
-believed you must be amoral
-The Balcony- people wear costumes and you give them authority
-The Blacks
-The Maids- 2 women decide to murder the mistress of the house

Eugene Ionesco (fun plays)
-The Bald Soprano
-Amedee
-Rhinoceros- wouldn't life be easier if you just conform?
-The Chairs

Ionesco's "The Chairs"

Absurdists: There is no such thing as 'truth'
-all meaning ascribed/created
-if you had grown up free from other humans, what would you believe?
Ionesco- LOGIC itself is a construct

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Existentialism and Absurdism are two very important movements in the history of theatre. This semester I directed a scene from Jean-Paul Sartre’s No Exit and hope to direct this great piece for Summer Repertory Theatre. Plays written like Albert Camus’ Myth Sisyphus are a fascinating departure from expected Realism- adding on a component of philosophy. Absurdism completely breaks down meaning and logic in plays, sometimes completely segueing into utter gibberish to make its own point. I just read Jean Genet’s The Dayroom, and think it would make a really great play to direct some day.