Theatre of the Absurd: The meaningless of human existence - How does Theatre of the Absurd use dramatic forms and stylistic features to comment on the meaningless of human existence?

The term 'Theatre of the Absurd' is used to categorise plays which do not follow conventional play structures. The main aim of these plays is to transfer the writer's vision of the world onto the stage, and generally comment on the human condition. Plays such as Waiting for Godot (Samuel Beckett), The Dumb Waiter (Harold Pinter), and The Bald Prima Donna (Eugene Ionesco) all comment on different types of the human condition but ultimately reflect …

…such as symbolism, comedy, violence and language are combined to form a complex interpretation of the playwright's view of human life. Godot's tramps - Estragon and Vladimir, Pinter's hitmen - Ben and Gus, and the crazy families in Ionesco's Bald Prima Donna, through a variety of forms and styles ranging from silence to rhythm, and from comedy to violence, all display how banal, mundane and completely useless human life can actually be. By Leo Boudib