Towards the end of the school year, we touched on a type of Western play—Absurdism. The core idea of Absurdism is that life is meaningless. We watched the classic Absurdist play: Waiting for Godot. The dialogue between the characters was much more rhythmic and lively as opposed to the performance I watched by grade 12 students. I think this was because the grade 12s were more focused on the extension of tone to emphasize the absurdity; whereas the play had applied the language as a sort of gibberish to express the absurd.
Such as “Who?” “What?” “What's all this about? Abused who?” “The Saviour” “Why?” “Because he wouldn't save them.” The rhythm shows the inclination towards a truth, which is never achieved, further highlighting the precariousness of human life and its fundamental arbitrariness. Same goes for its contradictions between actions and lines of the play. “Adieu” and they don’t move.
