Drama in contemporary period

Inspired by the changes in the literary and art world in the 20th century, in which numerous new artistic movements like Cubism, Surrealism and Futurism took place. A number of theatrical movements arose which rejected the 19th century realist model, choosing instead to play with the language and elements of dramatic convention which had previously been dominant. All this together formed the drama of the contemporary age. These included the Brechtian Epic theater, Artaud's Theatre of Cruelty and the so called Theatre of the Absurd. These can be understood under the following heads

1. Epic Theatre

Epic theatre arose in the early to mid-twentieth century from the theories and practice of a number of theatre practitioners, including Erwin Piscator, Vladimir Mayakovsky, Vsevolod Meyerhold and most famously, Bertolt Brecht. Epic theatre rejects the core tenants of realism and naturalism, asserting that the purpose of a play, more than entertainment or the imitation of reality, is to present ideas and invite the audience to make judgements on them. Characters are not intended to mimic real people but to represent opposing sides of an argument, archetypes or stereotypes.

The audience should always be aware that it is watching a play and should remain at an emotional distance from the action; Brecht described this ideal as the Verfremdungseffekt–variously translated as 'alienation effect', 'defamiliarisation effect', or 'estrangement effect'. It is the opposite of the suspension of disbelief.

Common production techniques in epic theatre include simplified, non-realistic set designs and announcements or visual captions, that interrupt and summarise the action. Brecht used comedy to distance his audiences from emotional or serious events and was heavily influenced by musicals and fairground performers, putting music and song in his plays. Acting in epic theatre requires actors to play characters believably without convincing either the audience or themselves that they are truly the characters.

2. Theatre of Cruelty

Brecht's own social and political focus departed also from surrealism and the Theatre of Cruelty, as developed in the writings and dramaturgy of Antonin Artaud, who sought to affect audiences viscerally, psychologically, physically and irrationally.

Artaud had pessimistic view of the world but he believed that theatre could affect change. His approach tried to remove the audience from the everyday chores and use symbolic objects to work with the emotions and soul of the audience. The goal was to attack the audience's senses through an array of technical methods and acting so that they would be brought out of their desensitisation and have to confront themselves through the use of the grotesque, the ugly and pain.

3. Theatre of the Absurd

Theatre of the Absurd is a designation for particular plays written by a number of primarily European playwrights in the late 1940s, 1950s and 1960s as well as to the style of theatre which has evolved from their work.

The term was coined by the critic Martin Esslin based on Albert Camus' philosophy that life is inherently without meaning as illustrated in his work The Myth of Sisyphus. Though the term is applied to a wide range of plays, some characteristics coincide in many of the plays: broad comedy, often similar to Vaudeville, mixed with horrific or tragic images; characters caught in hopeless situations forced to do repetitive or meaningless actions; dialogue full of clichés, wordplay and nonsense; plots that are cyclical or absurdly expensive; either a parody or dismissal of realism and the concept of the 'well-made play'.

In the first (1961) edition, Esslin presented the four defining playwrights of the movement as Samuel Beckett, Arthur Adamov, Eugene Ionesco, and Jean Genet, and in subsequent editions he added a fifth playwright, Harold Pinter – although each of these writers has unique preoccupations and techniques that go beyond the term 'absurd'. Other writers whom Esslin associated with this group include Tom Stoppard, Friedrich Dürrenmatt, Fernando Arrabal, Edward Albee and Jean Tardieu.