A brief discussion
Modern
&
Post Modern
PLAYS
Modern Play Period parts in
MODERN PLAYS POST-MODERN PLAYS
staying away from flourished in the mid 20th
supernatural or non- century in Europe focusing
everyday matters and the failure of absolute truth
speech, thrived as a self- raising questions rather
conscious break from attempting solutions,
conventional artistic forms standing for the
stepping on naturalistic Theater of The Absurd –
and realistic principles in a dismissal of realism,
the late 19th - early 20th the concept of well-made
century in Europe play
Origin…
Modern dramatic themes derived from soaring
technological progress, escalating urban life, changes
among social classes, and the leap from agrarian to an
industrial economy.
Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906), the father of modern realism, George
Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), a brilliant satirist of social problems,
and Eugene O’Neill (1888-1953), revolutionary in style, came up
with social and psychological issues rather than just happenings.
Their subject-matter and forms confronted rather than coaxed.
Origin
World War I unraveled a new path to new literary
experiments – expressionism, surrealism, Dadaism,
Freud’s psycho-analytical theories, avant-garde
movement. and existentialism.
Modernism ended with World War II and the era of post-
modernism began as a reaction against the modernism
termed as the Theater of The Absurd.
Samuel Beckett (1906-1989), Jean Genet (1910-1983),
Eugène Ionesco (1909-1994)
are the lamp-bearers of absurd drama.
Distinguishing from Earlies
EARLIER PLAYS FOCUS ON MODERN & POST-MODERN
PLAYS CONTRADICT BY
3 Unities of Greek theater
Breaking the 3 Unities
where fate plays a pivotal
role in the action of the (action, time and place)
drama where fate is replaced by
Morality plays, masque-like human-choice (free will)
drama with restoration in the Ridiculing the Melodrama
Romances, tragic flaws by or well-made-plays
protagonists in the Prioritizing the form rather
Tragedies, and the Comedies action
with happy endings in the Portraying life and world as
Renaissance Age chaotic and futile
Made Ways to New Forms
The Bricks of Modernism and Post-Modernism
Expressionism
Arose as a reaction against materialism and rapid mechanization aiming at subjective
emotions rather objective reality through distortion, exaggeration or jarring application of
formal elements
August Strindberg, Frank Wedekind – notable forerunners of Expressionist drama and
outside Germany – Eugene O’Neill
Surrealism
The artistic bridge between reality and imagination overcoming the contradictions of
conscious and subconscious by creating unreal and bizarre stories full of juxtaposition
Freudian ideas of ‘free association’ steer readers away from societal influence and open up
the individual mind
Compels readers to reveal the subconscious meaning
Dadaism
A form of artistic anarchy that challenged the social, political and cultural values of that
time
The great paradox of Dada is that it is anti-art, anti-establishment – “art is alive to the
moment, not paralyzed by the traditions or restrictions of established value”
Made Ways to New Forms
The Bricks of Modernism and Post-Modernism
Avant-garde
Experimental theatre also known as avant-garde theatre began with Alfred Jarry
and Ubu plays opposing bourgeois theatre introducing a different use of language
Encourages playwrights to make society or viewers change their attitudes,
values and beliefs on an issue through representing real life by merging strange
and disturbing forms – Antonin Artaud’s Theatre of Cruelty – eventually leading to
the Theater of Absurd
Existentialism
The mid-twentieth century philosophy of Jean Paul Sartre: “Existence precedes
essence” focusing on man’s complete freedom to determine own existence.
Decisions form existence which don’t occur without extreme stress or struggle
Writers like Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Camus, Dostoyevsky and Kafka are the
pillars of existentialism
Made Ways to New Forms
The Bricks of Modernism and Post-Modernism
Theatre of Absurd
The term is credited to the critic Martin Esslin who gets it from the French writer
Albert Camus’ Myth of Sisyphus (1942): “human life is essentially meaningless and
absurd… man feels an alien, stranger…”
Samuel Beckett, Arthur Adamov, Eugene Ionesco, Edward Albee, Harold Pinter, Tom
Stoppard, Wole Soyinka are the prominent absurd playwrights
Contradicts with the earlier cause and effect relationship
Setting is incoherent and unclear but familiar
Characters are not rooted in the logic of motivation and reaction
Language has multi-layers serves no meaningful purpose
Puzzling devices formed to present the new relation between theme and presentation
Gaps between
MODERN PLAYS POST-MODERN PLAYS
Dialogue is made redundant and
Dialogue has a motive and
understanding meaningless or no communication
Comprehensive setting, and is prioritized
Unclear setting and passage of
passage of time
time
Rational in placing thoughts
Disregard accepted norms of
Pathos for pessimism seeing and representing the world
Characters represent a particular Rejoice of pessimism
class or background Characters are universal and
Rebuking the chaotic life or serves no specific background
society Celebrates the chaotic and
Sense of unified, centered self, fragmented life or society
unified identity Sense of fragmentation,
decentered self, multiple or
conflicting identity
Gaps between
MODERN PLAYS POST-MODERN PLAYS
Usually subjective, rhetorical, and
Truth as objective
Reject the romantic visions of relative
Reject all forms, self-contradictory
harmony, mirror realism
sometimes
Master narratives or meta- Rejection of master or meta-
narratives of history, myths of
narratives , counter-myths of
cultural and ethnic origin
origin
Faith in totalizing theory Rejection of totalizing theories
Hierarchy, order, centralized Subverted order, loss of
control centralized control
Faith in meaning, value, the Attention to play of surfaces, the
signifieds signifiers
Faith in real, authenticity of Hyper-reality or simulacra more
origins powerful than the real
Playwrights and Plays
Short Talk
Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906)
The father of modern realism
The Norwegian playwright adapted themes concentrating more on Man
versus Society , leaving Romanticism aside, focusing on political and social
problems. Prominent Plays: Peer Gynt (1876), A Doll’s House (1879), Hedda
Gabler (1891)
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)
A modern satirist of social problems
Shaw focuses on ideas and issues: Widower’s Houses (1892) on slum
landlordism; The Philanderer and Mrs. Warren’s Profession (1893) – a jibe at the
Victorian attitude toward prostitution; Arms and The Man (1894) – satirizing
romantic attitude toward love and war.
Playwrights and Plays…
Short Talk
Samuel Beckett (1906-1989)
The 1969 Literature Nobel Laureate
The ground-breaking playwright, one of the key writers of the Theatre of Absurd
Distinctive Features:
-Polarities of characters (foil characters): Didi-Gogo, Hamm-Clov, Pozzo-Lucky,
Nag-Nell, Krapp’s present and past voice
-Bizarre location and repetitive multi-layer meanings of language
-Absurd position of human in the universe leading to no resolution in the end
Well-known Plays:
‘Waiting for Godot’ (1952)
Endgame (1957)
Krapp’s Last Tape (1958)
Happy Days (1960)
Act Without Words 1 (1965)
Not I (1972)
Playwrights and Plays…
Short Talk
Harold Pinter (1930-2008)
The Master of Pregnant Pause
Silence is communication, an integral element of linguistic function: Pinter
WELL-KNOWN PLAYS: The Room (1957), The Birthday Party (1959), The Caretaker
(1960), The Dumb Waiter (1960), The Homecoming (1965)
FEATURES:
-Communication is fractured, language leads to misunderstanding
-The world is hostile and confusing
-None possesses full-fledged identities
-Room works as a shelter or womb, a safe place
-language: repetitions, self-contradiction, irrationality of everyday spoken word
- They do not speak with, but to each other
-Sequences of ridiculous series, verbal barrages, chaos, but also rhythmic silences
-Visit of outsiders as intruders and protagonists often as extra-terrestrial beings
