THAR 281 1st Edition Lecture 20 Outline of Last Lecture I. Luigi PirandelloII. LorcaIII. ArtaudIV. Theater of CrueltyV. Noel CowardOutline of Current Lecture I. Background on AbsurdismII. Edward AlbeeIII. Harold PinterIV. Samuel BecketCurrent LectureI. Background on Absurdism a. Martin Esslin talked o fabsurdism in his essay “On The Top”b. Characteristics Absurdism May Have:i. Opearate in non-traditional sequenceii. Involve nonsense/confusing dialogue or languageiii. Contain litle to not plotiv. Contain non-realistic characters or actions II. Edward Albeea. Won Pulitzer 3 times; still alive today b. Very heightened style of writingc. Characters are almost always intelligent; repeat themselvesd. Famous Works: “The Zoo Story”; “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf”; “The Goat, For Who Is Sylvia?”III. Harold Pintera. Won Noble Prize for literature in 2006b. Playwright, poet, essayist; very politicalc. Comedy of Menacei. Real sense of danger/urgency in charactersii. Writer allows for audience to eavesdropiii. Very restrained (characters either have full monologue or a terse script)iv. Lack of sound is as important as what’s being said1. Silence = action stops and talking stops2. Pause = action continues but talking stops IV. Samuel Becketa. Noble Prize in 1969; playwright/essayistb. One of greatest writers of 20th centuryc. The futility of human actions and monotony are common themesd. Likes to explore failures of communicatione. Famous Works: “Endgame”; “Waiting for
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