Absurd, Theatre of the

Avant-garde drama originating with a group of dramatists in the 1950s, including Samuel Beckett, Eugène Ionesco, Jean Genet, and Harold Pinter. Their work expressed the belief that, in a godless universe, human existence has no meaning or purpose and all communication breaks down. Logical construction and argument gives way to irrational and illogical speech and to its ultimate conclusion, silence, as in Beckett's play Breath (1970).

To some extent, this work has its roots in the drama of early German expressionism, which is concerned with the influence upon individuals of an increasingly mechanized and uncaring society. Writers of absurdist theatre divide from those in epic theatre in that absurdists see no hope, whereas the German epic dramatist Brecht argues that the role of drama is to change people's attitudes and, through this, society. Although absurdist theatre appears completely opposed to the realistic ideas of naturalism, the work is often founded on very precise observation of human nature and behaviour.