| Abstrakt: |
The article focuses on the new theatre of the 1950s which is termed as 'the theatre of the absurd.' Theatre is the most social of art forms and, as such, requires a great many conventions so that the theatrical event, on and off the stage, can take place in an orderly fashion. A good play was a play with a strong, straightforward plot moving relentlessly to its logical, tragic or comic, conclusion, with clearly drawn and highly individualized characters, with well-written, rhetorical dialogue, to be clearly and evocatively spoken by actors who convincingly portrayed their roles in a familiar setting or in some easily identifiable exotic location. At the risk of further oversimplification, it can be said that, before the twentieth century, the dramatic form was eminently logical and rational (even when dealing with extraordinary events) and that it aimed at providing spectators with an authentic picture of their world. The 'New Theatre' of the 1950s, soon to be known as 'the theatre of the absurd', overturned twenty-five centuries of tradition by rejecting all rules and by facing the chaos head-on. The feeling of the absurdity of the world springs from the confrontation between man's conscience, his consciousness, his thirst for rationality and the inert, irrational, unknowable world. Convinced of the ultimate absurdity of life, man will strive towards a moral and ethical imperative for greater lucidity and for living life to the full. |
