Absurd Theatre

After we performed our Comedia De'll Arte play for the next two weeks we focused on absurd theater and started to read the play Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett which included two men called Vladimir and Estragon who reveal they are waiting for a man named Godot. However they are stumbled by the thought of if they are waiting in the correct spot for Godot by the tree or if it's even the right day. Personally when I first started to read the play it was very peculiar and when things are strange to me, or something I'm not use to reading then sooner or later I'd find it boring, which I did. The thought of trying to understand why they are doing certain things in a certain why or saying them is frustrating when the answer is not right in front of you. It required me to analyze the characters, I realized that Vladimir was more of the dominant character who would take the lead in actions or dialogue. Just like at the start of the book the two characters repeat lines from one another and does so throughout the play, which I think is some type of general aspect they habitually do with one another. It is also evident from reading the play that Estragon is dependent on Vladimir, he always wants to be close to him. They have a very strong bond and embrace each other a lot and almost act as a married couple which gives the impression they might be gay. At first when I read the title the name 'Godot' in my mind created a connection between him and God since they do sound similar, Estragon and Vladimir do look up to Godot as being a religious type of figure. One important repetitiveness that struck me was how Estragon wanted to leave, but Vladimir refused to do so and told him they could not go because they are waiting for Godot. With the same lines being repeated reinforces the idea that the same actions are occurring over and over again. What we did in class though to make it more entertaining and lively is that we created accents for the characters and acted out their parts really well to get a sense of what they are like as characters, they were boring individuals when I look at their conversations but the actual gestures and stage directions, there are really a lot of active moment taking place. We also discussed the idea of existentialism which I never even knew about until we talked about it, I learned it is a philosophical movement which emphasizes on individual existence freedom and choice, meaning man can wander between choice and freedom. Existentialism is seen as determining our existence, which leads to the concept of choice making between bad or good is what defines ourselves, without confirmation of our acts we would not know what is right to choose from. The conclusion I found quite good, the play finally reached a point where Estragon and Vladimir realizes that Godot will not come and that they were both just living their lives on repeat and also because Godot never arrives by the tree gives me the impression that Godot might not be a real person and that maybe he is God, maybe he was there with them all along just not literally. I was not very fond of this type of theatre it did not really grab my attention or interest although it challenges your thinking skills and analyzation of things. 

We had to perform a scene from the play Waiting for Godot and I worked with Morcom who played Vladimir and I played Estragon, we decided to do a scene from the start of the play to show the significance of the characters relationship between Estragon and Vladimir since it portrays how dependent Estragon is on Vladimir. Even at the very beginning there is the concept of repititiveness that's reocurrng when Vladimir says And they didn't beat you? and afterwards Estragon says Beat me? Certainly they beat me (2)
Vladimir then says The same lot as usual? right after Estragon says The same? I don't know (2)
This to me depicts as though this is the way they have been communicating in general for most of their life time, this seemed strange to me at since since we normally don't speak that way to one another, but rather give a direct answer instead of repeating. In this scene in particular Vladimir plays the role of a 'bum' someone who acts as though he has been drinking since the saying 'a drunken mind speaks sober thoughts' applies here when Vladimir tells Estragon When I think of it... all these years..but for me.. where would you be, you'd be nothing more than a little heap of bones. (3) Vladimir belittles Estragon without Estragon having to realize it or it might be that he is already use to what he says and doesn't mind it since I expected Estragon to say something back at him for saying such a cruel thing. Morcom did a good job on playing the character of Vladimir he performed his role really well as a 'bum' and sometimes even mummbled when Vladimir was just blabbering things that didn't make sense. It was quite hard playing Estragon since I come to find him to be such an innocent character compared to Vladimir who's so demanding and 'a know it all' it seems as though whatever Estragon attempts to do will never be enough for Vladimirs satisfaction. Estragon says Taking off my boot, has that ever happend to you?(3) Vladimir then says Boots must be taken off everyday, I'm tired of telling you that! Why don't you listen to me? In this scene though however sometimes I did not understand what messages the characters were trying to convery, it felt as if they were just talking about random things all over the place. There was not much action taking place in this scene but rather focuses on clearly establishing the connection between the two with their dialogue. It was difficult for me to be Estragon as to not knowing what he was saying half the time sometimes I couldn't make sense of it. I did though try and maintain my character from being so aggresive towards Vladimir especially in this scene and the things he says to Estragon, I did not want to overpower the character and to let the audience percieve Vladimir as the superior one. One thing I could have improved on was the tone of my voice and the gestures. All the sentences are mostly all short, so when I would say something it would go by quicker than I anticipated and it all just felt like such a rush and despite that there were not many gestures, when there was I think I could have exagerated them a bit more since this aspect of absurd theatre has a connection with Comedia De'll Arte in expressing their gestures in an entertaining way to have an ongoing of the audience's attention and also to reach a humour climax to make the audience laugh. In both cases the two types of theatres are different and similar, different in the way that the Comedia characters all have a stereotypical and recognizable character to portray in their scenario and also have to wear masks to help identify to the audience who they are, in abusrd theatre the audience doesn't know right away who the characters might be acting as in Waiting for Godot for example Estragon and Vladimir who when you come to know of them eventually the audience will realize they are two tramps that have repititive dialogue back and forth making this absurd and having no point. The two are similar in the way that the characters act as clowns through their physical movement and tone of voice to prevent losing the audience's attention. In Comedia the laazi and zaini who are servants or even Brighella and Arlechinno act as clowns and jump on eachothers backs, swing eachother in the air to make the audience look at something aswell rather than just listening to their dialogue. Estragon especially does peculiar things inorder to make the audience giggle, such as smelling his boot, airing it and nibbling on it which might be odd but exposes humour. Honestly I would not like being the audience of watching an Absurd theatre play when I realize that in the end, the story doesn't even get anywhere and that there was no point to begin with. If it wasn't for their gestures to keep me entertained I think I'd fall asleep.
 
During class we also played some improvisation games one was where we had to divide into two groups and stand in two lines opposite one another and the person had to ask a question to the person in the other group and that person has to also then answer with a question for example. Kyla: Have you heard the song Maria Maria? then Asceal would have to answer in a question form aswell and say Oh is that song from Carlos Santana? And once you hesitate you have to go to the back of the line. This was a fun but challenging game to do since you have to think of what your question is going to be right on the spot without producing it into a statement or just repeating the same question over again but having the answer but questioning it. This exercise really made you think, I enjoyed it, I could tell everyone was heavily drawn into it once you get the hang of it. We also played another similar game which was more easier than the previous. It was the same concept just that the teacher would announce a topic lets say Fruit and then the two rows have to name fruits without repeating what the other group said. It required a lot of thinking and listening at the same time, you had to listen to what the other group is saying but at the same time think of your answer. The game just continues until someone runs out of a fruit to say then they are out. For me this game went by a lot faster since while I was waiting in line I could think of a fruit to name and when it was my turn I wouldn't have to think as much, this game had more of an advantage to it than the other one. The other one you wouldn't know what type of question they would ask you.