The theatre of the absurd

Samuel Beckett: Waiting for Godot

The theatre of the absurd is a post World War ll
designation for particular plays of absurdist
fiction written by a number of primarily
European playwrights in the late 1950s. It is
also a term for the style of theatre the plays
represent.
The term "theater of the absurd" first appeared in the works of
theater critic Martin Esslin, who wrote a book with this title in
1962. Esslin saw in certain works the artistic embodiment of
Albert Camus's philosophy of the meaninglessness of life at its
core, which he illustrated in his book “The Myth of Sisyphus”
 "In a universe that is suddenly deprived of illusions and of light,
man feels a stranger. … This divorce between man and his life,
the actor and his setting, truly constitutes the feeling of
Absurdity."
The Myth of Sisyphus

Albert Camus dancing

Samuel Becket Arthur Adamov Eugène Ionesco Jean Genet Harold Pinter