. BEYOND ABSURDITY: TOM STOPPARD AND EDWARD ALBEE: THE AVANT- GARDES

Abstract

For a century, people have assumed an obligation to the conventional realistic theatre as a proper expression of our culture, even as an uncolored picture of reality. However, realism is no more an impartial portrayal than any other style; each involves abstraction. Although realism was able to reflect the affective experience of the late nineteenth century, the style ceased to pursue the changing conditions of the twentieth-century world. Therefore, new attempts by experimental theatre artists emerged to create new forms to formulate artistic concepts, for which realism was hitherto insufficient. The resulting styles symbolism, dadaism, futurism, constructivism,

expressionism, absurdism - escaped from the realistic restrictions, but still depended on an all-embodying fictional illusion.