Theatre of the Absurd: the playwrightsGood morning (afternoon). The topic of my project is theplaywrights of absurd theatre, focusing primarily on theplaywrights Samuel Beckett and Tom Stoppard. As a brief overview, absurd theatre is a term used to describe the playswritten by a group of mostly European playwrights during the1940s, 1950s and 1960s, and also the style of theatre that hassubsequently evolved from those playwrights’ works.Samuel Beckett, an Irish playwright born in 1906, was one of the four foremost playwrights of the absurd theatre genre, theother three playwrights being Eugene Ionesco, Jean Genet andArthur Adamov. His works are bleak, fundamentallyunpretentious, and deeply pessimistic about human nature andthe human condition. The pessimism, however, is easedsomewhat by a wicked sense of humour. He was awarded theNobel Prize in Literature in 1969.One of Beckett’s plays,

Endgame

, is a one-act play that wasoriginally written in French, as was Beckett’s wont, and waslater translated into English by Beckett himself. The title isderived from the game of chess, the endgame being the partof a chess game where there are very few pieces remaining onthe board. The play is considered to be one of Beckett’s mostimportant dramatic works. The play’s protagonists are Hamm,an aged master who is blind and unable to stand, and Hamm’sservant Clov, who cannot sit down. The two characters, whoare mutually dependent, have been fighting with one anotherfor many years, a pattern that they continue in as the playprogresses. Clov wants to leave, but seems to be unable to doso. Also present are Hamm’s parents Nagg and Nell, both of whom reside in rubbish bins. The title of

Endgame

relates to the play in that it mirrorsHamm’s struggle to accept the end, which can be compared tothe refusal of an amateur chess player to accept their ofteninevitable defeat. In this, Hamm perhaps represents a king,with Clov as his final pawn. Tom Stoppard, a Czech-born British playwright, isinternationally famous for plays such as

The Real Thing

and

Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead

, and for the screenplaysfor the films

Shakespeare In Love, Enigma

, and

His Dark Materials

, which is currently in production.

One of his plays,

Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead

, wasfirst staged in 1966, with a film version released in 1990. Theplay, and also the film, expands on the general exploits of twominor characters from William Shakespeare’s

Hamlet

, thosecharacters being named Rosencrantz and Guildenstern – hencethe title of the play. These two characters are friends of thePrince, and the play focuses primarily on their actions while theevents that take place in

Hamlet

occur in the background.Stoppard’s play is structured as the direct inverse of

Hamlet

, inthat the title characters are the leads, with Hamlet himself playing only a minor part. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern areused by the King in an attempt to determine Hamlet’s motivesand in turn to plot against him. However, Hamlet mocksRosencrantz and Guildenstern rather derisively, and outwitsthem so that they, rather than he, are killed in the end. Therefore, from the perspectives of Rosencrantz andGuildenstern, the action in

Hamlet

does not make a whole lotof sense.Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are portrayed in this play as twoclowns in a world beyond their understanding. They oftenconfuse their names, as they have completely interchangeable,yet intermittently unique identities, their memories are rarelyreliable, and they completely misunderstand one anotherduring philosophical arguments without realising theimplications on themselves. At times, one of the pair appearsmore enlightened than the other, a position that they switchthroughout the play. The themes explored in this play are existentialism, free will asopposed to determinism, and the search for value. Thesethemes, and the presence of two central characters thatalmost appear to be two halves of the one character, areshared with another of Beckett’s plays,

Waiting For Godot

, andthe two plays are often compared to one another. Thecharacters from

Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead

pass thetime by asking one another questions, impersonating othercharacters, and either interrupting one another or remainingsilent for lengthy periods of time.One scene revolves around a game of ‘questions’, which in theplay is staged like a tennis match. The version of this scenethat I have chosen to perform is taken from the film adaptationof the play.Rosencrantz: Do you want to play questions?

Guildenstern: How do you play that?Rosencrantz: You have to ask a question.Guildenstern: Statement. One love.Rosencrantz: Cheating.Guildenstern: How?Rosencrantz: I haven’t started yet.Guildenstern: Statement. Two love.Rosencrantz: Are you counting that?Guildenstern: What?Rosencrantz: Are you counting that?Guildenstern: Foul. No repetition. Three love and game.Rosencrantz: I’m not going to play if you’re going to be likethat.Guildenstern: Whose serve?Rosencrantz: Err…Guildenstern: Hesitation! Love one.Rosencrantz: Whose go?Guildenstern: Why?Rosencrantz: Why not?Guildenstern: What for?Rosencrantz: Foul! No synonyms! One all.Guildenstern: What in God’s name is going on?Rosencrantz: Foul! No rhetoric! Two one.Guildenstern: What does it all add up to?Rosencrantz: Can’t you guess?Guildenstern: Were you addressing me?Rosencrantz: Is there anyone else?Guildenstern: Who?Rosencrantz: How would I know?Guildenstern: Why do you ask?Rosencrantz: Are you serious?Guildenstern: Was that rhetoric?Rosencrantz: No.Guildenstern: Statement! Two all. Game point.Rosencrantz: What’s the matter with you today?Guildenstern: When?Rosencrantz: What?Guildenstern: Are you deaf?Rosencrantz: Am I dead?Guildenstern: Yes or no?Rosencrantz: Is there a choice?Guildenstern: Is there a God?Rosencrantz: Foul! No non sequiturs! Three two, one gameall.Guildenstern: What’s your name?Rosencrantz: What’s yours?