Chapter -1

1.1 INTRODUCTION:
The early twentieth century denoted the split between 'frocks and frills' drama and
serious works, following in the footsteps of many other European countries. "In
Britain the impact of these continental innovations was delayed by a conservative
theatre establishment until the late 1950s and 1960s when they converged with the
counter-cultural revolution to transform the nature of English language theatre." The
West End, England's Broadway, tended to produce the (Greenblatt 1844) musical
comedies and well-made plays, while smaller theatres and Irish venues took a new
direction. The new direction was political, satirical, and rebellious. Common themes
in the new early 20th century drama were political, reflecting the unease or rebellion
of the workers against the state, philosophical, delving into the who and why of
human life and existence, and revolutionary, exploring the themes of colonization and
loss of territory. They explored common societal business practices (conditions of
factories), new political ideologies (socialism), or the rise of a repressed sector of the
population (women). (Chothia) Industrialization also had an impact on Twentieth
century drama, resulting in plays lamenting the alienation of humans in an
increasingly mechanical world. Not only did Industrialization result in alienation; so
did the wars. Between the wars, two types of theatre reined. In the West End, the
middle class attended popular, conservative theatre dominated by Nol Coward and
G.B. Shaw. "Commercial theatre thrived and at Drury Lane large budget musicals by
Ivor Novello and Noel Coward used huge sets, extravagant costumes and large casts
to create spectacular productions." (West End) After the wars, taboos were broken
and new writers, directors, and actors emerged with different views. Many played
with the idea of reality, some were radically political, others shunned naturalism and
questioned the legitimacy of previously unassailable beliefs. (Chothia) Towards the
end of the century, the term 'theatre of exorcism' came into use due to the amount of
plays conjuring the past in order to confront and accept it. Playwrights towards the

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end of the century count among their numbers: Samuel Beckett, Harold Pinter,
Andrew Lloyd Webber, Brian Friel, Caryl Churchill, and Tom Stoppard. The last act
of the century was a turn back towards realism as well as the founding of Europe's
first children's cultural center.

1.2 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The main drive of this term paper is to take a glance of Alienation and disconnection
in modern drama focused on 20th century drama. After completion BA program
demands a term paper on practical experience. Term paper is a must criterion for
Bachelor of Art's students. During the term paper training, students have the
opportunity to adopt themselves into the particular environment of the learning. It
provides a unique opportunity to see the reality of student life, which enables them to
building confidence and working knowledge in advance of the start of their career &
knowledge. To fulfill this requirement every university of business arrange a program
of term paper. Here we get a chance to apply our theoretical knowledge that we
acquired from class lectures, books, journals, case studies, seminar, project,
workshop, etc.

1.3 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The present paper is a study to bring out the nuances of the word alienation from
different angles. It also endeavors to analyze the theme of alienation in modern
literature in general and Indian Writing in English in particular. We have tried to
include as many writers as we can to bring out the various forms of alienation in
literature. Alienation forms the subject of many psychological, sociological, literary
and philosophical studies. It is a major theme of human condition in the contemporary
epoch. It is only natural that a pervasive phenomenon like alienation should leave
such an indelible impact upon the contemporary literature. The purpose of the study is
to acquaint students and teachers of English literature with theme of alienation in

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modern literature. The study, It is hoped, will help students, researchers and teachers
in enhancing interest and encourage them in their study, research and teaching.

1.4 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

The main limitation is observed at the time of gathering the potential data which is
the core ingredient to complete the study. Due to some unavoidable circumstances it
was not possible to do the research on large number of people. Time limitation was
another matter to full-full all purpose of the study.

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Chapter-2
Literature Reviews

Alienation emerges as natural consequences of existential predicament. It is necessary

to understand the meaning of existentialism. Existentialism is not a well organized
and systematic philosophy of life nor can its beginning be pinpointed. Jean Wahl
considers existentialism as Philosophies of existence. It is also considered as a
sharp reaction of all forms of rationalism. Kierkegaard reacted against Hegelian
idealism. Marcel reacted against the idealist like F.H. Bradley and Brunschvieg.
Another important point to be discussed is the dictum that the existentialists set forth
existence precedes essence. They asserted that man first of all exists and then only
he thinks of it. All his contemplations and his actions are possible only because of
his existence. Existence therefore, is the first principle from which everything else
flows. Sartre is worth quoting here. . We mean that man first of all exists,
encounters himself, surges up and defines himself afterwards(1) Modern
existentialism of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries moved in two different
directions from the two main sources, one led by Soren Kierkegaard, Danish thinker,
and the other by Friedrich Nietzsche, a German philosopher. Kierkegaard develops
Christian and theistic existentialism while Nietzsche develops anti-Christian and
atheistic existentialism. The German Karl Jaspers and the French thinker Gabriel
Marcel take the Kierkegaardian line of philosophical faith. On the other hand, the
German Martin Heidegger and the French Philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre develop it on
the Nietzschean way of a theism and godlessness. Albert Camus develops a kind of
existentialism of the absurd.

After the two world wars the word existentialism got currency all over the world. The
chaos, disorder, annihilation and fears and frustration on the one hand and the
crumbling traditional values and old world views including loss of faith and God and
trust in man along with anguish and anxiety, estrangement and loneliness rendered

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the life absolutely absurd, meaningless, directionless and futile. It is what Albert
Camus called as Sisyphean Act. Existentialism therefore rapidly flourished and
entered the realms of literature also. The entire West echoed the reverberations of
existential attitudes like, guilt, nausea, restlessness, despair, lack of intimacy and
estrangement and overarching absurdity. Existentialism in some way or the other
found manifestations in writings of Franz Kafka, Sartre, Camus, Marcel, Ionesco,
James Joyce, William Golding, Faulkner, T.S. Eliot, Proust, Hemingway and others.
Existentialism deals with values, attitudes and relationships, which determine mans
role in society and the freedom or bondage that he is subjected to. If he is under
undue pressure he will have to adopt methods for survival to salvage himself from an
aggressive society. This will be extension of the personality, the development of a
new dimension of the individual, which will override these critical situations.

The hollowness that man feels within the depths of his soul is existentialistic by
nature, and this has to be countered to bring the individual to the mainstream of life,
to rescue him from perennial isolation. Most existentialist thinkers conform to the
theory that life as a whole is futile and ones comprehension of life can never be
absolutely soothing. Thus, alienation is cogent to existence as an inherent solipsism
enshrouds the subconscious even while the mind is consciously attempting to reach
out to other living beings to make life meaningful.

Existentialism in Indian Writing in English

Existentialism is used in some of the Indian novels in English like in Across the
Black Water of Mulk Raj Anand and Anita Desais Fire on the Mountain. Across the
Black Water shows a close resemblance to existential art. It throws light on existential
concepts such as meaninglessness and subjectivity through the powerful
characterization of its several characters including its hero Lalu Singh. The novel tells
us about the limitation of the human life and the mystery of existence about infinitude
and guilt, death and hope, freedom and meaning, Lalu Singh the hero of the novel,

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observes that his condition is shaped by fear and loneliness and there is endless
suffering in his existence. He is confronted with the problems of understanding things
in human terms and the more he tries the more he fails. His experiences as a soldier in
the battlefield of France in World War I, when Indian troops land in Marcilles make
him a stranger in the face of the absurdities of war and consequent turmoils, agonies,
indifference, tiredness and depression.

The tremor of dead spread like a panic in his brain and the confusion of silence and
horrors of war overpower him completely. While the oppressions of war render him
completely unable to relate outside his own self, his inner urges, struggles, hopes,
aspirations as an Indian soldier in France indicate separation from the self. Lalu Singh
loves life irrepressibly despite all odds and his keen desire to live makes this novel
existentialist in the true sense of the term. Anita Desais novel Fire on the Mountain is
an existential novel. Anita Desai adroitly explores the emotional life of her characters,
especially female characters.

She chooses only those characters who are emotionally famished and who fail to
come to terms with reality. They choose to live in the cell of the self, building up a
world of fantasy. Their preoccupation with the self becomes an obsession with them.
All human relations are which in fact supposed to be authentic and the best means of
nourishing emotions, prove to be meaningless for these emotionally famished
characters - Nanda Kaul, Raka and Ila Das. Each one of them is a victim of emotional
agony and craves for privacy, isolation and fantasy to escape from unpleasant reality
of life. The novel is pervaded by an overpowering sense of loneliness and isolation in
the deserted life of the protagonist, Nanda Kaul.

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Alienation
Alienation it should be noted emerges as natural consequences of the existential
predicament both in intrinsic and extrinsic terms in order to approach and analyze
Joshis treatment of alienation and consequential dispossession it seems worthwhile
to understand various nuances of the word alienation. A dictionary of literary terms
defined as: "Alienation is the state of being alienated or estranged from something or
somebody; it is a condition of the mind". Encyclopaedia Britannica defines alienation
as "the state of feeling estranged or separated from ones milieu, work, products of
work or self". The English word Alienation is derived from the Latin word
Alienato. Alianato is a noun which receives meaning from the verb alienare which
means to make a thing for others, to snatch, to avoid, to remove, etc. In French
language Alienate andalienation, are used in the same sense as the English words
Alienate and Alienation. Anomie and Anomia are used as synonyms of Alienation.
The use of these words is considered modern. These words are Greek in origin The
meaning of Anomia isself-alienation and Anomie is alienation from society.
Anomia is an indicator of Personal disintegration of man from the society.
According to G.H.Nettler: ...... anomia is personal disorganization, alienation is
apsychological state of an individual and ..... alienated in the person who has been
estranged from, made unfriendly toward his society and the culture it carries(2).
Generally, Anomie, Anomia or Alienation are interchangeable. In English there are
other words other than Alienation. They are Estrangement Isolation and Separation.
Different interpreters of alienation have given different definitions. According to
Arnold Kaufman,
To claim that a person is alienated is to claim that his relation to something else has
certain features which result in avoidable discontent or loss of satisfaction(3).

Feur Lewis says ........ the word alienation is used to convey the emotional tone
which accompanies any behavior in which the person is compelled to act self
destructively(4). According to the views of Keniston, Most usages of alienation

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share the assumption that some relationship or connection that once existed that is
natural, desirable or good, has been lost(5). In the definition of these thinkers there
is an indication of an existing tension and disintegrating human relationship. Martin
Buber termed alienation as the proliferation of the It-World(6). Sidney Finkelstein
defines alienation as a psychological phenomenon, an internal conflict, a hostility
felt towards something seemingly outside oneself which is linked to oneself, a barrier
erected which is actually no defense but an impoverishment of oneself (7). According
to Hegel alienation is of two kinds. The first type of alienation arises due to mans
individuality or incompatibility in his personality and social substance. The second
type of alienation is of the same level as the alienation expounded by Rousseaue etc.,
in the principle of Social contract in which the theme of surrender or transfer of any
right is vested. According to Hegel, the situation arises when a change occurs in
mans concept of self. The second type of alienation is permanent and from this we
can control the first type. Karl Marx however puts forth a very comprehensive and
complex idea of alienation that comprises various extrinsic dimensions of human
existence in socio-economic context. His concept of alienation is often classified in
the following manners:

1. Political Alienation
2. Economic Alienation

Marx says about political alienation: The state does not care about Individuals
existence, in a society without communion between people and that individual in his
relation to such a state does not experience a feeling of solidarity, he is only able to
relate himself to it as an isolated monad, an individual. Mans inner life is divided in
world split up in such a way(8). Marx presumes democracy in which mans political
alienation can be controlled not in a state in absolute power as Hegel thinks.
According to Marx to get rid of political alienation, first of all we must get rid of the

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basic alienation, which is economic alienation. He finds the concepts related to state
faulty for political alienation.

The main procedure of every society is to produce for the fulfillment of needs and to
create social institutions. Any type of state of being out of this procedure will be
termed as the state of being alienated. Due to the state of being alienated the existence
of man becomes merely the existence of material human being. In the words of Marx,
Just as alienated labor transforms free and self directed activity into a mean, so it
transforms the species - life of a man into a mean of physical existence(9).
According to Erich Fromm, alienation is the result of capitalist society which disturbs
the feelings of man. The growth of the personality of man and factors responsible for
alienation are subject to the influence of social-conditions on human existence. In the
view of Fromm, among all types of alienation, self-alienation is the most important.
Self-alienation is the absence of self-awareness or a complete loss of it. He considers
self-alienation pertaining to feelings. He writes in his book Sane Society that: the
meaning of alienation is that process of feeling in which anyone feels alienation from
self(10). An Alienated man necessarily becomes alienated from society, because the
identity of self-alienation and the situation of the lack of or loss of self-awareness
necessarily alienate him from society.

After Erich Fromm many psychoanalysts have also discussed the process of self-
alienation. Karen Horney in her book New Ways in Psychoanalysis expresses her
views about self alienation. According to Horney, that man is self-alienated whose:
Spontaneous individual self (has been) stunted, warped or choked, he is said to be in
a condition of alienation from himself (or) alienated from self(11).

In another book Our Inner Conflicts, Horney again discusses the concept of self
alienation with a new approach. In Horneys views the condition of self-alienation is
such as the, person simply becomes oblivious to what he really feels, likes, rejects,

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believes in short to what he really is(12). Mans reality is his Real self and the
meaning of self-alienation is the alienation from this Realself. Horney thinks that
the situation of self-alienation arises when a man makes an, Ideal-image of himself
in his mind that is other than his Real-self. There exists a gap between his idealized
image and his real-self(13). Even the pride in ones respectability alienates a man
from his unsavory past(14).

Sociologists see loneliness as a kind of alienation, which is found in the absence of

intimacy with others. When a man says that he often feels lonely, it is clear that he is
dissociated and disconnected from others or his relations with others are not such as
the can overcome his loneliness by meeting them. McClosky points that, the feeling
of loneliness and yearning for supportive primary relationships(15) are the two sides
of a coin. According to him, the meaning of the feeling of loneliness is the loss of
significant relation with others. It is the lack or loss of this relation with others that
generates a source of alienation. The awareness of this loneliness is sociological in
nature; it is called social-isolation. In social reference, the meaning of
Socialalienation is the decay of creative and meaningful relations between man and
man and man and his environment, between man or the prevailing reality. Man finds
himself bereaved of the authentic footholds that grant meaning and directions to life.
Alienation thus occurs from unauthentic existence. Paul Tillich has used the word
Estrangement for alienation. Tillich has pointed out the difference between real
condition of mans existence and his basic - nature. He has termed this difference as
alienation. According to him, existence is estranged from essence ...... Mans
estrangement from his essential being is the universal character of existence(16).
Tillich asserts that estrangement thwarts the process of self-realization, it in fact
operates as a hostile force highly pernicious to the elemental self. He puts out:

Each expression of the estranged state contradicts mans essential being, his potency
for goodness(17). Sartres concept of alienation as propounded in his book Being

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and Nothingness is totally different from Marxs approach. Sartres approach is
existentialistic alienation. Sartre says, In the shock that seizes me when apprehend
the others look .... I experience a subtle alienation of all my possibilities, which are
not associated with the objects of the world far from me in the midst of world(18).
Sartre in his book Critique of Dialectic Reason has broadened Marxs concept of
alienation. Marx says that when the production and labor of man is controlled by
other man, alienation takes place. Marx saw alienation in the context of labor class
only but Sartre has tried to feel the alienation in the life and world of writers as well.
Taviss speaks of two different kinds of alienation, that is social alienation and self-
alienation. By social alienation she mean: the sense of estrangement brought out
by the sudden discovery that the social system is either oppressive or incomplete with
their desires and ideas. Selfalienation, however, means the loss of contact of the
individual selves with any inclinations or desires that are not in agreement with the
prevailing social patterns, as a result of which the individuals are forced to manipulate
in accordance with the social demands or feel incapable of controlling their
actions(19).

In one of the great, seminal heart-searching of our time, Camus diagnoses the human
Predicament as follows: A world that can be explained by reasoning, however faulty,
is a familiar world. But in a universe that is suddenly deprived of illusions and of
light, man feels a stranger. He is an irremediable exile, because he is deprived of
memories of a lost homeland as much as he lacks the hope of a promised land to
come. This divorce between man and his life, the actor and his setting, truly
constitutes the feeling of absurdity(20). In an essay on Kafka Ionesco defines the
true nature of this absurdity in precise terms. According to him, Absurd is that
which is devoid of purpose ...... cut off from his religious metaphysical and
transcendental roots, man is lost; all his actions become senseless, absurd and
useless(21). In-spite of unprecedented scientific and technological advancements,
which have added immensely to his physical pleasures and comforts, the

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contemporary man is doomed to find himself in a tragic mess. The prevailing
economic conditions culminating in the abject poverty of the masses and the
economic squeeze of the middle class. All these have made increasing and often
disturbing demands on the individual and contribute in their own ways to his
rootlessness and dispossession.

The present age has shrunk in spirit languishing in confusion, frustration,

disintegration, disillusionment, meaninglessness, alienation and dispossession. The
theme of alienation has been variously dealt with in modern literature. The alienated
protagonist is a recurrent figure in much of the twentieth century American and
European fiction. The artist as an alienated soul has been portrayed in James Joyces
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.Stephen the protagonist isalienated from
religion,family and culture. The Negro as an outsider in Ralph Ellisons Invisible
Man is alienated from society.The narrator is invisible because others refuse to see
him. . Albert Camus Meursault (The Stranger) is a serious attempt to sketch the
confusion, frustration, alienation, disintegration and estrangement of modern man.In
Kafkas The Castle,it is about alienation,endless frustration of mans attempts to
stand against the system,and the futile and hopeless pursuit of an unobtainable
goal.The protagonist is known as only K struggles to gain access to the mysterious
authorities of a castle who govern the village for unknown reasons.

Theme of Alienation in Indian Writing in English

Owing to historical and socio-cultural reasons, the Indo-English literature also, could
not remain unaffected by it. Meenakshi Mukherjee points out, alienation or
rootlessness is a very common theme in it(22). Alienation serves as a basic theme
and recurrent motif in many Indo-English novels. R.K. Narayans novels are the
foremost in emphasizing the loneliness of man. His treatment of alienation in The
Sweet Vendor is more systematic. Owner of sweet business, Jagan has a son, Mali.
Jagans wife died of a brain tumour when Mali was still a child. Jagan tried to do

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everything possible to give him proper education. But Mali arranges to go to
America. He returns three years later with an American (half-Korean) wife and a
scheme to market a novelwriting machine. Jagan is ostracized by his community.
He leaves Malgudi twice alienated for good. His loneliness and despair become all
the more keen because of his memories of his wifes death and Malis resentful
treatment. Jagans unhappy experiences are typical of Narayans alienated characters.
All his novels in varying degrees, convey this sense of unhappy frustration (23).
The earlier Indo-English novelists were thus aware of the dilemma resulting from
alienation. Their works bear witness to a certain involvement with the changing
national scene and a genuine concern for the destiny of the country. Even when they
felt cut off, their sense of isolation was never so acute as that of the later novelists.
The reason for the earlier Indo-English novelists feeling rather lonely were chiefly
socio-political. While delineating alienated persons, their main aim seems to have
been to demonstrate the potential dangers of two cultures meeting in one and the
same person and resulting in his unfortunate isolation. We find theme of alienation in
Manohar Malgaonkars Combat of Shadows. The novel is a powerful study of a
Eurasian young woman who sought to climb up and become a member of the white
English community. She lingers, however, between the two worlds - Indian and
Western - without belonging to the either, and finds herself a stranger to both. Rubys
English lover, Henry Winton, also suffers from loneliness Wintons marriage with an
English lady does not improve the situation for long. Winton and Ruby represent two
different aspects of alienation. In his case its effect is not so devastating; but in
Rubys, it is a question of life and death. The theme of alienation of different classes
of Indian society is Kamala

Markandayas continuing theme. From the pattern that emerges from her novels we
can deduce her message, i.e., as long as one has roots, one survives; and if ones roots
are injured or lost, one dies spiritually. Nathans roots, in the Nectar in a Sieve, are

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scarred when he is evicted from his land, and he dies, but Rukmanis roots are in her
children and therefore she lives.

Balachandra Rajan is another Indo-English novelist who deals with theme of

alienation. His novel,
Too long in the West, tells the story of a young lady named Nalini, who stayed at
Columbia University for three years. Ever since her childhood she had found her
fathers village, Madulur, oppressive with its loneliness. Her predicament gets
worsened by her stay and education in America. Her mother knows it that Shell
never fit in, in India, because shes been too long in the west (P.24) one of Nalinis
suitors also tells her: You wont fit in. Youve joined the lost generation, out of
place everywhere and acceptable nowhere. Youll always be an exile and an alien, a
self-created foreigner, a refugee from yourself. You cant belong. Youll live in two
worlds and fall between two stools(P.55). The themes of alienation has been dealt
with more persistently and unflinchingly by Nayantra Sahgal and Anita Desai also.
The alienated person is a stock figure in Nayantra Sahgals novels. She deals with
problems caused by a changing order. Sahgals novel called This Time of Morning,
Rashmi, the daughter of Kailash Vrind, flutter with the freedom of sex. She seeks to
divorce her husband, an IFS Officer. Having left him, she comes back to her parents,
alienated and utterly distraught. Her affair with Niel Berensen does not minimize her
isolation in any way. She herself is not aware of her ambivalence. Rashmis
problems, despite all her pronouncements, remain as they were. Her entire existence
appears to be paradoxical. She craves for modernity and individual freedom, but is
considered to be a hidebound, conventional, label-conscious, caste-ridden enigma
(P.144). It is this superficial approach to life that renders persons like Rashmi Self-
alienated, doomed to bear a stab of emptiness, almost of fear (P.216).

Anita Desai is another novelist who has dealt theme of alienation in a systematic way.
No other Writer, it is said is so much concerned with the life of young men and

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women in Indian cities as Anita Desai (24). In her novel Cry, the Peacock, we have
an exploration of the alienated human psyche in Mayas self-examination. Hers is the
story of a young, sensitive girl obsessed by a childhood prophecy of disaster, whose
extreme sensitivity is rendered in terms of immeasurable human loneliness.

The novels beginning itself brings to the fore the theme of husband-wife alienation
by unfolding the relationship of Maya and Gautam. Maya, an inverted favorite
daughter of a wealthy artistic father, is married to an older man, detached, sober,
industrious lawyer. They are complete opposite. Their married life is punctuated all
along by matrimonial silences(P.12). What pains her most is her loneliness in this
house. (P.9) A restlessness always boils within her. She feels defenseless and utterly
alone in the company of the bleak, comfortless figure passing as her husband (PP.
153, 146). The alienation between them is rooted essentially in his philosophical
detachment, which Maya brushes aside. Her rootless keeps on increasing every day.
The treatment of alienation is a major thematic preoccupation with Indo-English
novelists. Alienation occupies a particularly important place in the works of the later
novelists. Their protagonists are like Existentialist heroes, nomads alienated from
nature and society(25).

They are misfit in their society largely because of their some defects in themselves or
some evil in society. The Indo-English novelist is not so much interested in making
philosophical, objective statements as in presenting the plight of an alienated
individual and expressing compassion for him and disapproval for society. It is true
that a certain amount of alienation has affected, directly or indirectly the whole
generation of Indian writers of the present century. But the alienation of IndoEnglish
novelist is an extreme case of the general predicament of the Indian writer and he is
the most vulnerable of all(26). In most Indo-English novels, it is to the novelists
own outlook and approach to life that gets reflected in their themes and characters.

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Chapter-3

Absurdist Drama
Absurdist Drama was existentialist theatre which put a direct perception of a mode of
being above all abstract considerations. It was also essentially a poetic, lyrical theatre
for the expression of intuitions of being through movement, situations and concrete
imagery. Language was generally downplayed. (Barnet) Symbolism, Dadaism and
their offspring, Surrealism, Theatre of Cruelty, and Expressionism all fall into this
category.

Dadaism
Dadaism, or Dada, was a reaction against WWI. Like many of the movements, Dada
included writing, painting and poetry as well as theatre. Many Dadaists wrote
manifestos detailing their beliefs, which normally outlined their disgust in
colonialism and nationalism and tried to be the opposite of the the current aesthetics
and values. The more Dada offended, the better. It was considered to be (by
Dadaists), the 'anti-art'. It rejected the values of society and turned everything on its
head, preferring to disgust and offend.

Symbolism/Aestheticism
In England, Symbolism was also known as Aestheticism. A very stylized format of
drama, wherein dreams and fantasies were common plot devices, Aestheticism was
used by numerous playwrights from Yeats to Pinter. The staging was highly stylized,
usually using minimal set pieces and vague blocking. While the playwrights who
could be considered Aestheticists lived and worked at the beginning of the century, it
influenced all of the following styles.

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Surrealism
Like Aestheticism, Surrealism has its base in the mystical. It developed the
physicality of theatre and downplayed words, hoping to influence its audiences
through action. Other common characteristics of surreal plays are unexpected
comparisons and surprise. The most famous British playwright in the 20s surrealist
style is Samuel Beckett. Theatre of Cruelty is a subset of surrealism and was
motivated by an idea of Antonin Artaud. It argues the idea that theatre is a
"representational medium" and tried to bring current ideas and experiences to the
audience through participation and "ritualistic theater experiments." Artaud thought
that theatre should present and represent equally. This type of theatre relies deeply
on metaphors and rarely included a description of how it could be performed.

Expressionism
The term 'Expressionism' was first coined in Germany in 1911. (Michaelides)
Expressionism also had its hey-day during the 20s although it had two distinct
branches. The branches had characters speaking in short, direct sentences or in long,
lyrical expanses. This type of theatre usually did not name the characters and spend
much time lamenting the present and warning against the future. Spiritual
awakenings and episodic structures were also fairly common.

Epic Theatre
Epic theater was created by Bertold Brecht who rejected realistic theatre. He found
that such plays were too picture-perfect. Epic Theatre is based on Greek Epic poetry.
There are dramatic illusions such as "stark, harsh lighting, blank stages, placards
announcing changes of scenes, bands playing music onstage, and long, discomfiting
pauses" (Jacobus). Brecht believed that drama should be made within its audiences
and he thought that Epic Theatre drama would reinforce the realities that people
were facing rather than challenge them. Epic Theatre helped to preserve the social
issues that they portrayed.

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Physical Advances

To hear Yale University's Maynard Mack describe some differences between

Shakespeare's Globe Theatre and today's theatre, click HERE .

Cylindrical-shaped Globe Theatre

Architecture
In the late nineteenth century, early twentieth century, theatre architecture changed
from hosting as many audience members as possible without regarding their needs to
creating better acoustical, visual, and spatial arrangements for both actors and
audience members. Whereas before, theatres were cylindrical shaped, in the
twentieth century fan-shaped auditoriums were favored. Audiences liked them
because of

Fan-shaped Olivier Theatre

the clear sight-lines and favorable acoustics and actors liked them because the
natural style of acting that was becoming more popular was conducive to smaller
venues. (Klaus)

There was also a renewed interest in the earlier forms of staging such as the thrust
and arena stages (theatre-in-the-round). The theatre that most audiences are used to
are like the pictured Olivier Theate. Everyone has basically the same view of the stage
and the stage itself is viewed through the Proscenium arch, which acts as a picture

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frame surrounding the stage and framing the play. The Proscenium arch may be
anything from a gilded, brightly lit masterpiece surrounding the curtain at the
beginning of a show to the simple black walls preventing you from seeing into the
wings of the theatre. In a Proscenium theatre, the action takes place either behind
the Proscenium or slightly in front of it, on what is known as the apron of a stage.
(The piece closest to the audience and which the curtain generally does not hide.) In
a thrust theatre, the action takes place almost completely in front of the 'Proscenium
arch', if indeed there is one. The audience is seated on three sides of the stage and
many of these types of theatres make great use of entrances and exits by the hallways
through the audience. An arena stage has audience seating on all four sides and has
four entrances/exits called vomitoria. (from the Latin 'vomitorium' meaning
(generally): [an audience] spews forth from them). In today's American culture,
arena stages (and vomitoria) are most commonly found as sports arena.

Found Space is another recycled theatrical convention. The term 'Found Space' refers
to streets, personal homes, a grocery store, anywhere that is not specifically
designated as a theatre.

Set
The set in a theatre is the background upon which the story is told. It can be anything
from a very detailed box set (explained below) to absolutely nothing. The set can be
physical platforms and walls or it can be projections on sheets.

The box set, or three walls designed to look like the interior of a house, complete with
doors, windows and furniture, figured prominently in most, if not all, of the plays
performed in the modern realistic tradition at the beginning of the 20th Century.
(Klaus)

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Lighting
Before the invention of the electric light bulb in 1879, theatres used either gas or
carbon arc lamps. Both gas and carbon arc lamps were

1990 Light Board Example

prone to fires. Numerous theatres had switched to the carbon arc lamp during the
1840s, but since the concept of the arc lamp is to send voltage through the open air,
there was still a high chance of fire. The Savoy in London was the first public building
to operate completely on electricity. In 1882, a year after the Savoy opened, the
Munich Exposition displayed an electrified theatre, marking the beginning of a
general change-over to electricity-lit theatres. Existing theatres that already had gas
lines repurposed them by threading wires through the old gas lines and inserting a
row of light bulbs in front of the gas jets.

Unfortunately, electricity had quite a few drawbacks. The set designers or

scenographers (combination set designer/costume designer)

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21 of 37
The Colonial's original dimmer, photo courtesy of K Bilotti

did not adapt to the new medium, creating sets that were unsuited to electric light
placement. A second drawback was that electricity itself was very dangerous and
electricians were hard to find. It might not be as dangerous as gas, but there was still
the chance of fire. The front boards, also known as control panels (see above), were
live, with handles that could be in an 'on' or 'off' position. The 'on' position did not
have protection of any sort, and if the operator was not careful, he or she could die.
In the photo to the left, technology had advanced enough for fuses. The third
drawback to electricity was that it required a lot of power. Theatres often had to own
the generators powering their theatres.

Gordon Craig, a British actor, director,producer, and scenic designer made

invaluable contributions to lighting. Instead of putting most of his lights at the foot of
the stage (known as footlights or floaters), he hung lighting instruments above the
stage. He, along with Adolphe Appia of Switzerland, also realized the dramatic
potential of lighting, playing with color and form. Appia also established the first
goals of stage lighting in his books: La Mise en scne du drame Wagnrien or The
Staging of the Wagnerian Drama and L'Oeuvre d'art vivant (1921) or The Living
Work of Art. (Adolphe) (1895)

An American named Jean Rosenthal created the post of 'lighting designer' within the
theatre world. Before her career in the 1950s, either the master electrician or the set
designer would light the play. After her integral designs with the Martha Graham
Dance Company and on Broadway, the position of Lighting Designer was added to
the production staff. Many designers today credit her with specific lighting
techniques and lovingly refer to her as the Mother of Stage Lighting. (Wild)

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Advances on the Continent and their Impact on
British Drama

Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsens plays were first translated and performed in
England in London, 1888. His startling Real-ist drama jumpstarted modern British
drama. His serious drama based on moral and social issues hung over what has
been called the minority theatre [the 'Off-Broadway of England] (Smart). Ibsen and
Frenchman Andr Antoine pioneered the era of naturalistic drama that later snuck
into England through writers in the early 20th Century.

In Germany after the Franco-Prussian War, Georg II, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen,

became the first modern director. He enjoyed plays so much that he built a stage,
hired actors, had scripts written, and (because he financed it) told everyone what
they should do. His productions eventually became the Meiningen Ensemble and
toured Europe and England extensively, profoundly altering the actor/director,
manger/director or writer/director mindset of the past.

In Russia, Constantin Stanislavski organized the ideas of the Duke of Saxe Meiningen
and of Andr Antoine into the Stanislavski Method of acting. Stanislavski brought the
Eastern belief in dedication to the trade (some Japanese actors spend 30 years
developing their craft (Worthen)) to the Western world. The Stanislavski Method
states that the actor's primary goal is to be believed. It tells the actor that s/he must
use his or her own memories to evoke emotions. The Western world accepted this
view and used this method to teach it's actors for many 20th Century realist actors,
although towards the 1990s this method has fallen out of vogue.(American, Sawoski)

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 Chapter-4

Drama in Different Place and times

In Russia, the movement towards realism began earlier than anywhere else in the
world. Building on the work of earlier pioneers, Constantin Stanislavski and Vladimir
Nemirovich-Danchenko founded the Moscow Art Theatre in 1898, wanting to reform
a Russian theatre dominated by melodrama to one in which high-quality art was
available to the general public. In perhaps the most important theatrical meeting of
the 20th century, the two met for an epic 18-hours, from 2pm to 8am the next
morning, and laid the foundation for one of the most influential companies of the
century.[2] Together they would forge a professional company with an ensemble ethos
that discouraged individual vanity, selecting actors from Nemirovich's class at the
Philharmonic school and Stanislavsky's amateur Society of Art and Literature group,
along with other professional actors; they would create a realistic theatre of
international renown, with popular prices for seats, whose organically unified
aesthetic would bring together the techniques of the Meiningen Ensemble and those
of Andr Antoine's Thtre Libre (which Stanislavsky had seen during trips to
Paris).[3]
On December 29, 1898, the theatre opened Anton Chekhov's The Seagull with
Stanislavski himself playing the role of Trigorin and Vsevolod Meyerhold as Treplev
in "one of the greatest events in the history of Russian theatre and one of the greatest
developments in the history of world drama."[4] Nemirovich described the applause,
which came after a prolonged silence, as bursting from the audience like a dam
breaking and the production received unanimous praise from the press.[5] Later
analysts attribute the production's success to the fidelity of its delicate representation
of everyday life, its intimate, ensemble playing, and the resonance of its mood of
despondent uncertainty with the psychological disposition of the Russian
intelligentsia of the time.[6] Productions of Ibsen, Shakespeare, and Chekhov's Uncle

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Vanya, The Cherry Orchard and Three Sisters were also very successful in the early
days of the company.
After the success of the Moscow Art Theatre, Stanislavski set out to create a unified
system of acting that would train actors and actresses to create believable
characterizations for their performances. Developed mainly between 1911 and 1916
and revised throughout his life, the approach was partly based on the concept of
emotional memory for which an actor focuses internally to portray a character's
emotions onstage. Areas of study include concentration, voice, physical skills,
emotion memory, observation, and dramatic analysis. The Stanislavsky system was
widely practiced in the Soviet Union and in the United States, where experiments in
its use began in the 1920s and continued in many schools and professional
workshops.
In the early part of the 20th century, Russia experienced a cultural Silver Age and
theatre was no exception. By 1916, the total number of producing theatres in Moscow
alone totaled close to 200. These year-round and seasonal theatres produced mainly
farces, comedies, vaudevilles and even melodramas, but there were also a significant
number of theatres offering realistic or naturalistic theatre. These included Aleksey
Suvorin's Maly Theatre and the Moscow Dramatic Theatre (191419). While there
were a number of actress-managers in St. Petersburg and Moscow like Vera
Komissarzhevskaya and Ida Rubinstein, the course of Russian theatre in the Silver
Age was largely dominated by men.[7]
After the First World War and the Russian Revolution, many theatre artists left
Russia for other countries, including Georges Pitoff to France, Theodore
Komisarjevsky to Britain, and, famously, Mikhael Chekhov to the United States,
exporting the Stanislavski system and contributing to the development of a 'director's
theatre' in the post-war world.[8]

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Eugene O'Neill had a huge influence on the development of modern American drama.

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United States
In the United States, William Vaughn Moody's plays The Great Divide (1906) and
The Faith Healer (1909) pointed the way to a more realistic American drama in their
emphasis on the emotional conflicts that lie at the heart of contemporary social
conflicts. Other key playwrights signalling the move to realism in the beginning of
the century include Edward Sheldon, Charles Rann Kennedy and Rachel Crothers.
Onstage, the American theatre was dominated by the Barrymore family: Lionel
Barrymore, Ethel Barrymore (the "First Lady of American Theater") and John
Barrymore ("... the most influential and idolized actor of his day."). They were so
popular that a play was even written about them: The Royal Family by George S.
Kaufman and Edna Ferber, a parody of the Barrymores, with particular aim taken at
John and Ethel Barrymore.
Through the early century, no American dramatist had as much influence on the
development of drama as Eugene O'Neill. Born into the theatre from a young age, he
spent much of his youth on trains and backstage at theatres, before developing his
talent with the Provincetown Players in New York City. Between 1916 and 1920, he
wrote several plays for the company before debuting his first critical hit Beyond the
Horizon in 1920, which went on to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. He followed that
with critical and commercial successes, including The Emperor Jones, Anna Christie
(Pulitzer Prize 1922), Desire Under the Elms (1924), Strange Interlude (Pulitzer Prize
1928), Mourning Becomes Electra (1931), The Iceman Cometh (1939) and his only
well-known comedy, Ah, Wilderness!. After his death, his magnum opus and
masterwork Long Day's Journey into Night was published and is often regarded to be
one of the finest American plays of the 20th century.
The economic crisis of the Great Depression led to the creation of the Federal Theatre
Project (193539), a New Deal program which funded theatre and other live artistic
performances throughout the country. National director Hallie Flanagan shaped the
project into a federation of regional theatres that created relevant art, encouraged
experimentation and made it possible for millions of Americans to see theatre for the

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first time. The project directly employed 15,000 men and women and played 1,200
productions to nearly 30 million people in 200 theatres nationwide, with 65% being
presented free of charge, at a total cost of $46 million.[9]
Key figures of the early century include George S. Kaufman, George Kelly, Langston
Hughes, S. N. Behrman, Sidney Howard, Robert E. Sherwood, and a set of
playwrights who followed O'Neill's path of philosophical searching, Philip Barry,
Thornton Wilder and William Saroyan.

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Chapter-5

5.1 CONCLUSION
Alienated and disconnection protagonist is a recurrent figure in much of the twentieth
century American and European fiction. There are serious attempts to sketch the
confusion , frustration , alienation , disintegration and estrangement of modern
man.In Indo-English literature also alienation or rootlessness is a very common
theme. Alienation serves as a basic theme and recurrent motif in many Indo-English
fiction.The protagonists are misfit in their society largely because of their some
defects in themselves or some evils in society.The Indo-English novelist is not so
much interested in making philosophical statements as in presenting the plight of an
alienated individual and expressing `compassion for him and disapproval for society.

5.2 REFERENCES

1. Akram, Tanweer. Privatization of public Enterprise in Bangladesh: Problems

and prospects / of La Privatization Des Enterprise Punliques Au Bangladesh:
Problems and Perspectives. Saving and Development. 24.4.2000. pp 439-
458.<http://www.jstor.org/stable/25830742>
2. Hoque, M Ekramul and Alinoor Rahman. Quality of working life and Job
Behavior of workers in Bangladesh: A Comparative Study of Public and Private
Sectors. Indian Journal of IndustrialRelations.35.2.1999.pp175-
184.http://www.jstor.org/stable/277676505.
3. https://www.scribd.com/
4. http://www.assignmentpoint.com/
5. https://testbook.com/blog/government-jobs-vs-private-jobs/
6. http://trak.in/2011/advantages-government-jobs-vs-private-sector/
7. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=6&cad=rj
a&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjQsLrx4eXXAhXKLI8KHSVCBfAQFghNMAU&url

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 =http%3A%2F%2Freason.org%2Ffiles%2Fcomparing_correctional_costs.pdf&us
g=AOvVaw1TxC43HjUURiL_l-X5b8Hb
8. http://www.jstor.org/stable

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