The Tragic Sense in The Theatre of The Absurd: The Case of Pinter's Birthday Party

Absurdity is one of the prominent philosophy associated with the emergence of modernist and postmodernist movement in literary text. In such texts, we notice that the embedded themes and ideas reflect the dilemma and the suffering of modern man. The purpose of this paper is an attempt to clarify the subtle feeling associates with the appearance of modernist and postmodernist movements, discussing the ideas of absurdity and absolutism. Also, it gives an idea about the sense of sickness associates with the anomalies of the human conduct on the projected scene such as a universe of meta--identity, named the hilarious theater. This type of theatre is commonly known as absurd theater as discovered by Martin Julius Esslin (1918-2002), who created this phrase to explain Meta identity has been substantially reinterpreted through an exterior identity mask, which invigorates one of the postmodern ideological conceptions of the enormous humanity. The paper consists of three sections: the first is an introduction to Pinter's Birthday Party. The second section discusses the concept of absurdity and the reason of its emergence. The third section deals with how absurd themes reflect the pain, the sense of loss and void that modern man experiences amid the chaotic world specifically after WWII. Finally, the study ends up with conclusion and recommendations for further studies

Cringe Histories: Harold Pinter and the Steptoes

This article argues that cringe humour in British television had begun at least by the early 1960s and derived from a theatre history in which conventions of Naturalism were modified by emergent British writers working with European avant-garde motifs. The article makes the case by analysing the importance of cringe to the BBC sitcom Steptoe and Son, tracing its form and themes back to the ‘comedy of menace’ and ‘Theatre of the Absurd’ emblematised by the early work of playwright Harold Pinter. The article links the play that made Pinter’s reputation, The Birthday Party, to dramatic tropes and social commentary identified in Steptoe and Son and in other British sitcoms with cringe elements. The analysis not only discusses relationships between the different dramatic works on stage and screen but also pursues some of the other connections between sitcom and Pinter’s drama via networks of actors and contemporaneous discourses of critical commentary. It assesses the political stakes of cringe as a comic form, particularly the failure of cringe to impel political activism, and places this in the context of the repeated broadcast of Pinter’s plays and episodes of Steptoe and Son over an extended period.

Seaside Resort as Entrapment and Escape in British Cinema

British cinema has portrayed seaside resorts throughout its history with much dedication. Films featured both residents and visitors, the providers and the consumers of the seaside experience decade after decade by focusing on the synergies between space and identity. This article explores Brighton Rock (John Boulting, 1948), The Entertainer (Tony Richardson, 1960), The Birthday Party (William Friedkin, 1968), Quadrophenia (Franc Roddam, 1979), Bhaji on the Beach (Gurinder Chadha, 1993), and Last Resort (Pawel Pawlikowski, 2000) as representative examples of how the motifs of escape and entrapment—as manifested in the pursuit of various imaginations, ideals, rites of passage and identity quests—changed through the decades that also saw a gradual decline in the popularity of seaside resorts. The fading reputation and eroding image of resorts is analyzed parallel with the identity crises of characters entrapped in subcultural, diasporic, and migrant environments. (ZsGy)

A Postmodern Allegory: Absurdity in Harold Pinter’s The Birthday Party

The Birthday Party is an absurdist play written by the British playwright, screenwriter, director and actor Harold Pinter. He is one of the most celebrated dramatists of the Theatre of the Absurd. The objective of the paper is to examine how Pinter’s play The Birthday Party incorporates the elements of an absurdist play. The paper also tries to explain how the fragility of language to communicate is being portrayed through the play.