Theatre of the Absurd

Two tramps wait by a road for someone who will not come, an English couple repeats platitudes to the point of vertigo, two maids re-enact each evening the murder of their mistress. In the Paris of the fifties, authors from Ireland, Romania, Spain and Russia made language itself the subject of the play: it turns in the void, it no longer binds anyone. Critics spoke of the theatre of the absurd in 1961. Behind the mechanical comedy lie the post-war years, exile and, in Havel, the bureaucracy of a regime.

works 6

• TheatreThe MaidsLes BonnesJean Genet · 1947Two maids replay every evening, in the home of the woman who employs them, a ritual of service and humiliation whose outcome escapes them.Literature
• TheatreThe Bald SopranoLa Cantatrice chauveEugène Ionesco · 1950Two English couples, a mad clock and a fireman, in a conversation that goes round in circles.Literature
• TheatreWaiting for GodotEn attendant GodotSamuel Beckett · 1952An endless wait on a country road, in the aftermath of the war.Literature
• TheatrePing-PongLe Ping-PongArthur Adamov · 1955Victor and Arthur devote their lives to a pinball machine that others trade in.Literature
• TheatreThe Car CemeteryEl cementerio de automóvilesFernando Arrabal · 1958A Passion replayed by three outlawed musicians, among the wrecks of a car cemetery turned into a hotel.Literature
• TheatreThe MemorandumVyrozuměníVáclav Havel · 1965A satire of an administration where an artificial language, meant to specify everything, makes all speech impossible.Literature