Sick of the monotonous rigidity of everyday life? Tired of plowing through repetitive assignment after assignment? Give your brain a break with Roger Williams University’s Theatre’s snappy selection of one-act plays from the Theatre of the Absurd.
Over the past month, a small company has worked under the direction of Robin Stone to bring four one-act plays to life, all falling under the absurdist umbrella. The genre traces back to the 1950s, when Western playwrights, disillusioned by the mass death and suffering caused by World War II, began to write about the relentless yet ultimately fruitless search for meaning in life.
Characters are often confronted with ridiculous situations and must attempt to respond reasonably– or they respond to reasonable situations in ridiculous ways. Many are caricatures of the people we meet in day-to-day life; others are too strange to find familiar. All are entertaining. The resulting plays bewilder, question, and amuse.
One play details an odd radio show in which no one is quite sure what is happening; another, the pitfalls of helicopter parenting and the absurdity of war. A third deals in death, and the fourth is entirely unique for RWU Theatre– a one-act play written entirely by AI.
To guess for yourself which might be which, head to the Performing Arts Center on February 23, 24 and 29 and March 1 and 2 at 7:30 p.m. and February 25 at 2:00 p.m. Tickets are $15 for general admission and $5 for students; purchase ahead at rwu. booktix.com or at the door.
