26 February 2018
For our first look at absurdism we had to watch Waiting for Godot which two men are… waiting for a guy name Godot to show up. This is not my first introduction to absurdism (I had to read an absurdist play in AP Lit called The Sandbox or something) so I wasn’t super shocked to watch this video of the show and realize that nothing got accomplished for two or so hours. I feel as though absurdist shows would be the most fun to act in because of that exact reason – nothing seems to get accomplished or finalized but there’s a lot going on within the show that causes the actors within the show to have to really focus and get into their characters. Unlike a realistic or naturalist show, there’s isn’t a logical progression of events that occur so you can’t rely on those progressions in case you get lost or forget a line. Waiting for Godot is a great example of absurdist theater because the two main characters, Vladimir and Estragon, could literally just leave the setting and the show would be over, yet they take up multiple hours discussing topics of intense philosophical background and hope that this damned Godot finally strolls around the corner.
