Existentialism

Existentialism







Existentialism is a concept that became popular during the second



World War in France, and just after it. French playrights have often used



the stage to express their views, and these views came to surface even



during a Nazi occupation. Bernard Shaw got his play "Saint Joan" past the



German censors because it appeared to be very Anti-British. French



audiences however immediately understood the real meaning of the play, and



replaced the British with the Germans. Those sorts of "hidden meanings"



were common throughout the period so that plays would be able to pass



censorship.







Existentialism proposes that man is full of anxiety and despare



with no meaning in his life, just simply existing, until he made decisive



choice about his own future. That is the way to achieve dignity as a human



being. Existentialists felt that adopting a social or political cause was



one way of giving purpose to a life. Sartre is well known for the "Theatre



engage" or Theatre 'commited', which is supposedly commited to social



and/or political action.







On of the major playwrights during this period was Jean-Paul



Sartre. Sartre had been imprisoned in Germany in 1940 but managed to



escape, and become one of the leaders of the Existential movement. Other



popular playwrights were Albert Camus, and Jean Anouilh. Just like



Anouilh, Camus accidentally became the spokesman for the French Underground



when he wrote his famous essay, "Le Mythe de Sisyphe" or "The Myth of



Sisyphus". Sisyphus was the man condemned by the gods to roll a rock to the



top of a mountain, only to have it roll back down again. For Camus, this



related heavily to everyday life, and he saw Sisyphus an "absurd" hero,



with a pointless existance. Camus felt that it was necessary to wonder



what the meaning of life was, and that the human being longed for some



sense of clarity in the world, since "if the world were clear, art would



not exist". "The Myth of Sisyphus" became a prototype for existentialism in



the theatre, and eventually The Theatre of the Absurd.







Right after the Second World War, Paris became the theatre capital



of the west, and popularized a new form of surrealistic theatre called



"Theatre of the Absurd". Many historians contribute the sudden popularity



of absurdism in France to the gruesome revelations of gas chambers and war



atrocities coming out of Germany after the war. The main idea of The



Theatre of the Absurd was to point out man's helplessness and pointless



existance in a world without purpose. As Richard Coe described it "It is



the freedom of the slave to crawl east along the deck of a boat going



west". Two of the most popular playwrights of this time include Samuel



Beckett, who's most famous piece was "Waiting for Godot", and Eugene



Ioensco with "Exit the King". Most absurdist plays have no logical plot.



The absense of the plot pushes an emphasis on proving the pointless



existance of man. Quite often, such plays reveal the human condition at



it's absolute worst.







Absurdist playwrites often used such techniques as symbolism, mime,



the circus, and the commedia dell'arte, which are quite evident in the more



popular plays of the time, such as Waiting for Godot, The Bald Prima Donna,



and Amedee.