Postwar British Theatre: Absurdism and Kitchen-Sink Drama

Trends in Contemporary British Theatre

Before the war, British theatre did not address many of the new problems that were appearing at the time. Two new types of theatre emerged in post-World War II Britain: the Theatre of the Absurd and the kitchen-sink drama.

Absurdist Theatre — Waiting for Godot

Absurdist. Waiting for Godot: two men are waiting for another who never comes. The plot is simple and we do not learn much about them. They are tramps, Vladimir and Estragon. The conversation is simple, rambling and repetitive. The setting is minimalist: a tree with a few leaves. It does not follow a conventional plot; it is non-rational and illogical, reflecting the absurdity of the human condition.

Nothing the characters do has a clear purpose or finality. There is little illusion or hope, a pervasive sense of meaninglessness, and an emphasis on mere waiting. Many existentialists wrote about life in a rational way; Beckett avoided rational explanations. The tone combines pessimism and comedy.

Influences and characteristics:

• Influences: traditional clowns, Chaplin, the Marx Brothers, absurd and nonsense literature, Dadaism, and surrealism.
• Characters: short, direct, clown-like, complementary, absurd; frequent cross-talk and circular dialogue.
• Style: minimalist setting, emphasis on time and waiting, confrontation with meaning and identity.

Kitchen-Sink Drama — A Taste of Honey

Drama. A Taste of Honey is a realistic drama written by Shelagh Delaney. She was born in a poor city and was an intelligent student, though she did not like school. She sent her play to many companies, and only one accepted it: the Theatre Workshop. The play is a realistic depiction of people's lives — their families, relationships, and everyday problems.

The main influences include music-hall characters and melodrama. The dialogue sometimes uses cross-talk, and the characters are portrayed as real and believable. The play was radical for its time and very controversial.

Key themes:

• Motherhood: conflicting visions, extramarital pregnancy, and questions of sexual identity.
• Traditional values are questioned throughout the play.
• Racism: the play confronts racial prejudice, including negative attitudes toward Blackness expressed by some characters.
• Feminism: the play contains strong feminist elements.

The play has two acts. The climax occurs early (in the first scene), and the narrative has a cyclical quality. The title comes from the Bible and suggests a short moment of happiness.

Samuel Beckett

Beckett. Born in Dublin, Samuel Beckett studied French at Trinity College and later worked as a teaching assistant in Paris. While living in Paris he met James Joyce. He returned to Dublin for a time and worked in academia, then moved around Europe before settling again in France.

After the war he returned to Paris; this period produced the works for which Beckett is best remembered today. Samuel Beckett won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1969. He did not attend the award ceremony, and he donated the prize money to a library in Dublin.