The post-war Theater witnessed the alterations that the whole world underwent in the course of the Second World War. Right after the war, the European theatrical scenes were occupied by the plays of three authors. They are Tennessee Williams with his “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof”, Jean-Paul Sartre with “No Exit”, and Samuel Becket “Waiting for Godot”;
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Modern Theatre comes from the European Renaissance Theatre of the 16th-17th centuries that dates back to the Ancient Greek and Roman Theatre. Its foundation was laid down in England and Italy, especially by the English Renaissance Theatre between in the period between Reformation and theatre closure in 1642;
The beginning of the 19th century was swept by the never-before-seen cultural movement known as Romanticism. One of the first European dramatists who got himself involved in this process was August Schlegel that considered W. Shakespeare the greatest playwright;
Absurd Theater
Absurd Theater dates back to the book by Martin Esslin that is of the same word combination. It was published in 1961. However, the first Absurd Theater plays appeared in the 1940s.
Actually, this term applies to a number of certain plays and spectacles that although being rather different, these pieces have a lot in common among which the most essential this is their foundation, absurd or opposition to the reality in other words.
One of the best-illustrating works of the Absurd Theater is the "Sisyphus" by Albert Camus. By the way, he is regarded to be one of the earliest and most profound Absurd Theater dramatists.
The most obvious and characteristic peculiarities of this non-traditional theatrical trend were broad comedy (similar to Vaudeville); personages, finding themselves in hopeless situations being unassured and not being aware of what to do; pun-game; absolute nonsense; and uncovered parody of "well-made: play.
The four most distinguished and outstanding playwrights of the Absurd Theater were Samuel Becket, Eugene Ionesco, Jean Genet, and Arthur Adamov that laid the groundwork for this never-before-seen theatrical art style.
The most popular of the Absurd Theater plays was tragicomedy.