The Zoo Story

In this play, Edward Albee explores the dynamic between two contrasting characters in order to bring up questions of our reality as societal humans and our realizations thereof. Initially, we are made to believe that Peter, the seemingly well-adjusted, unassuming character represents life without tragedy and that the wildly troubled Jerry represents a life solely composed of suffering - the object of audience pity and revulsion. 

However, as the dialogue unfolds, we learn that Peter's life, which is not unlike many of our own lives at least by comparison to Jerry's alleged experiences, is equally tragic if not moreso than Jerry's in its sheer lack of meaning or purpose.

Though this play deviates from the strict minimalism of earlier Absurdist plays by displaying two believable characters in a slightly unbelievable situation in a tangible setting, I would argue that The Zoo Story continues in the tradition of absurdist theatre through its central message that each of our lives is equally meaningless.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead in Film

Further perplexing is the matter of Absurdist Theatre interpreted into film. The filmmaker can now make decisions regarding the visual storytelling of these minimalist plots, sometimes simply mimicking the play's theatrical staging, but at other times using more traditional cinematic techniques including elaborate sets and costumes, moving camera angles and editing. 

I plan to, in my own creative work for this class, develop a film adaptation of Absurdist Theatre myself, so the operative question here is does one adhere to the text as it is literally written or does one follow what is interpreted to be the spirit of the genre and continue the challenge of the presentation medium (in this case, stage performance) onto the more contemporary medium of cinema? Does one use the film medium in ways that refute traditional cinematic storytelling techniques like Beckett and Stoppard used the stage to challenge the stage, or is this a liberty one has no right to take?

This film version of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (1991) written and directed by Tom Stoppard himself seems to answer a few of these questions.

Waiting for Godot in performance

Absurdist Theatre creates an interesting literary situation by virtue of the fact that, though highly theoretical, it is meant to be performed. Because the audience does not have the advantage of the text to cross reference and refer back to in order to construct for themselves the meaning of the play, the audience's experience with the play is more direct, encountering these absurd situations for the first and last time just the same as they encounter the moments that make up their normal daily lives.

That being said, here is a video of an excerpt from a performance of Waiting for Godot: