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Avignon Festival
Jean Vilar started the Avignon Festival which is an annual arts festival held in the French city of Avignon. This festival is still being held to this day. -
Berliner Ensemble was established
Helene Weigel and Bertolt Brecht established the Berliner Ensemble which produced many popular plays as well as spread Brecht's ideas of theatre. This theatre was used to spread epic theatre which is a form of theatre where loosely connected events and also stops to argue or analyze the events with the audience. -
First group of absurdist playwrights comes together.
Several playwrights, who accepted the views of Sartre and Camus, came together and created the concept of Absurdism. These men weren't explicitly named but consisted mainly of people abandoning their faith after the horrific events of World War 2. -
"The Bald Soprano"
Eugène Ionesco wrote "The Bald Soprano" which first popularized using the absurd in playwriting. He also called it an "anti-play" of sorts because it challenged the ideas of standard playmaking. This play consisted of couples talking and slowly becoming meaningless babbling between characters. -
Samuel Beckett's Play
"Waiting for Godot" was written by Samuel Beckett and became one of the most influential absurdist plays. The play is about two men waiting for a man named Gobot who doesn't show. The men talk about their seemingly meaningless existence while contemplating killing themselves. As the play progresses they begin to realize there is no meaning behind their existence and they attempt to rise above the futility of their lives. -
Athur Miller's "The Crucible"
"The Crucible" is written to tackle and spread the misconceptions of witch-hunting for communists in America. This play was based on Senator McCarthy's accusations of communists in America. The play consists of several young girls performing witchcraft and blaming it on other girls to avoid punishment. -
Tennessee Williams's "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof"
Williams wrote this play to teach you not to lie to yourself or others because of the pain it can cause as well as the problematic nature of a dysfunctional family. In this play a family is shown and the father is dying of cancer. As the play progresses the siblings and their spouses feud over different topics. The family all seems to hate each other but put on a façade to gain the favor of the father and hopefully receive his estate. -
Festival Theatre conception
Sir Tyrone Guthrie experimented by combining a classical auditorium with the stage of Shakespeare. -
The Theatre of Absurd
Absurdism is recognized and named "The Theatre of the Absurd" by critic Martin Esslin. This is how the group received their name and continued using it as time progressed. -
"Rhinoceros"
This play was made by Eugène Ionesco and sought to reveal ideas about conformity by targeting the average middle class families. In this play the people of the town begin to become rhinos. People react differently to their loved ones becoming rhinos as their town crumbles around them.
