Samuel Beckett (1906-89) Irish avant-garde

novelistFor him, the world wobbles on its

axis, and the people who inhabit it do not
always think logically or talk sensibly. The
structure of a typical absurdist drama is like a
spaceship orbiting earth or a Ferris wheel
revolving on an axle

WAITING FOR GODOT
En Attendant Godot : Jan 5, 1953 in Theatre de
Babylone in Paris, eng version debuted in
August, 1955
A Tragicomedy In two acts
Part tragedy part comedy. Its barrenness
situates the tragedy. The construct makes
possible the comedy.
Martin Eslin: coined the term Theatre of
absurd.
A group of dramatists in 1940s Paris believed
life is without apparent meaning or purpose; it
is, in short, absurd as French playwright and
novelist Albert Camus (1913-60) wrote in a
1942 Essay, The myth of Sisyphus (Sinner
condemned in Tartarus to an eternity of rolling
a boulder uphill then watching it roll back
down again) paradoxically, the only certainty in
life is uncertainty, the absurdist believed. As
absurdist dramas in which a play depicts life as
meaningless, senseless, and uncertaina story
generally ends up where it started; nothing has
been accomplished and nothing gained. The
characters may be uncertain of time and place,
and they are virtually the same at the end of the
play as they were at the beginning.
Abbot and Costello, Laurel and Hardy, Charlie
Chaplin
..This is not a play about waiting, in itself
waiting.
..We are all born mad. Some remain so. (E)
..Nothing to be done.
..I'm beginning to come round to that opinion.
All my life I've tried to put it from me, saying,
Vladimir, be reasonable, you haven't yet tried
everything. And I resumed the struggle."
Vladimir
What do we do, now that we are happy?
Wait for Godot," (Vladimir)
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)
We always find something, eh Didi, to give us
the impression that we exist? (E)
Vladimir: Yes, yes, we re magicians.
There is no lack of void. (E)
Pozzo: I am blind(silence)
Estragon: Perhaps he can see in the future.

Edward Bond (1934) English playwright,
theatre director, poet, theorist
A story within a story is a literary device in
which one character within a narrative himself
narrates. It is difficult to call the sea only a
tragedy or a comedy but we can balance the
view of two extremes with a renowned critic,
David Herd who guess; The Sea is tightly knit,
well organized and light humored black
comedy, not even a tragicomedy.
..The play is also an attempt to show
supremacy of art over life and it also reveals
some of the absurdities of social and religious
people; but it is based on illusions and the
world inhabited by Hatch and presented in the
play from Mrs. Rafis point is illusionary.
..The illusionary world of both Hatch and Mrs.
Rafis Orpheus is the result of paranoia.

THE SEA 1973
Rf: Shakespeare's The Tempest
The play is set in 1907 in an East Anglian
seaside community and begins with a
tempestuous storm. A well known and loved
member of the community dies at sea, and the
play explores the reactions of the villagers and
the attempts by two young lovers to break away
from the constraints of the hierarchical, and
sometimes insane, society. At the same time,
the draper of the city gets mad while struggling
with the town's "First Lady" and believing that
aliens from another planet have arrived to
invade the city, personified through the best
friend of the drowned man.
Bond has made use of sea in his play as
Virginia Woolf has done in her novel To the
Light House.
this terrible sea, this terrible life. (Mrs
Tilehouse)
in this town you cannot get away from sea.
(Manfanwy)
they practice all day and night! One cant
play lutes to the sound of the guns (Mrs Rafi)
..this is not your sort of sea. This is real se
where you drown. Its not governed by your
fancy, twisted laws of gravity. H
a mix of tragedy and politics, one critic
describes it as equally influenced by The
tempest, The importance of the being earnest,
and Invasion of the body snatcher.
their brains are taken out at night, bit by bit
and placed by artificial material brought here
in airships. H
Ill take my shears to that little swine. Ill
snipe him. H
A fire that doesnt die out. R
I believe in the rat because he has the seeds
of the rat-catcher in him. I believe in the rat
catcher.
..I drink to keep sane. Theres no harm in the
little I drink.
I am an emphatic lady.
the town is full of her cripples. They are the
one she is nicest to.
the town is full of her victims.
Kill it! kill it! kill it!

Anton Chekhov (1860-1904) Russian,
physician, dramaturge practiced as a medical
doctor throughout most of his literary career:
"Medicine is my lawful wife", he once said,
"and literature is my mistress."

CHERRY ORCHARD 1904
(Vishnevyi sad in Russian)
His work presents a challenge to the acting
ensemble as well as to audiences because in
place of conventional action Chekhov offers a
"theatre of mood" and a "submerged life
in the text.
..Chekhov intended it as a comedy, and it does
contain some elements of farce, Stanislavski
insisted on directing the play as a tragedy.
Since this initial production, directors have had
to contend with the dual nature of the play.
The play concerns an aristocratic Russian
woman and her family as they return to their
family estate (which includes a large and well-
known cherry orchard) just before it is
auctioned to pay the mortgage. While
presented with options to save the estate, the
family essentially does nothing and the play
ends with the sale of the estate to the son of a
former serf; the family leaves to the sound of
the cherry orchard being cut down.
In reflecting the socio-economic forces at work
in Russia at the turn of the 20th century,
including the rise of the middle class after the
abolition of serfdom in the mid-19th century
and the sinking of the aristocracy, the play
reflects forces at work around the globe in that
period.

Henrik Ibsen (1828 1906) Norwegian
Often referred to as "the father of realism"
"My intention in giving it this name was to
indicate that Hedda as a personality is to be
regarded rather as her father's daughter than
her husband's wife."
Hedda is as indifferent to our analysis as she is
to Tesmans excitement over his slippers when
she says, I really dont care about it.
underneath the ennui and indifference lies a
character rich for psychological investigation.
..Freudian Phallic Symbol (guns)

HEDDA GABLER (1890)
It premiered in 1891 in Germany to negative
reviews, but has subsequently gained
recognition as a classic of realism, nineteenth
century theatre, and world drama.
Depending on the interpretation, Hedda may
be portrayed as an idealistic heroine fighting
society, a victim of circumstance, a prototypical
feminist, or a manipulative villain.
My impulsiveness had its consequences Act II
Oh courage oh yes! If only one had that
Then life might be livable, in spite of
everything.
Yes, I am. For once in my life I want to have
the power to shape a mans destiny.
with wine leaves in his hair.
Do it beautifully/make it beautiful as a
memento
I am burning your child, Thea! You with your
beautiful wavy hair! The child Loevborg gave
you. Im burning it! Im burning your child!
(III)
..Its a liberation [for me] to know that an act of
spontaneous courage is yet possible in this
world. An act that has something of
unconditional beauty. IV
Everything I touch seems destined to turn
into something mean and farcical.
In your power, all the same. Subject to your
will and demands! No longer free!
I shall be silent in the future.
Hedda's modus operandi
I have talent for one thing only..boring myself
to death!