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Event
Into the Absurd: Readings and Conversation - Sounds of Silence: Radio Plays by Beckett and Pinter
Absurd, abstract, intriguing, and seldom-performed describe the works taking center stage in the continuing script- in-hand reading series, Into the Absurd: Readings and Conversation presented by The Idiopathic Ridiculopathy Consortium, the Philadelphia-based theater company whose mission is to present absurdist theater to audiences in the Philadelphia region.
Sounds of Silence: Radio Plays by Beckett and Pinter features two works originally written for radio: Samuel Beckett's Rough for Radio II and Harold Pinter's Family Voices. The pair will be brought to life Sunday, July 24 @ 7:30 pm at LEtage Cabaret by IRC performers Andrew Carroll, Tina Brock, David Stanger and Bob Schmidt. Admission is free, with Pay What You Can contributions accepted. Seating is limited, tickets are suggested: RadioPlays.bpt.me.
Samuel Becketts Rough for Radio II originally aired in April 1976 on BBC Radio 3, directed by Martin Esslin, best known for his seminal work The Theatre of the Absurd (1962) in which he coined the title which defines the work of playwrights whose plays share similar qualities: Samuel Beckett, Eugène Ionesco, Jean Genet, and Harold Pinter. The production featured Harold Pinter, Billie Whitelaw and Patrick Magee. Harold Pinter's Family Voices premiered January 1981, also on BBC Radio 3. Voices features a series of interlocking monologues highlighting Pinter's well-known stylistic traits, exposing the enduring themes of difficulties in communication, the vicissitudes of memory, and family dysfunction.
Into the Absurd: Readings and Conversation was launched in April 2016 to a capacity audience, featuring Edward Albee's The American Dream. The series was developed in response to audience requests for more opportunities to see seldom-performed classic and modern works from this genre. The casual setting offers opportunity for conversation and inquiry following the readings. Into the Absurd will take place quarterly at LEtage, the next reading scheduled for October 2016.
Samuel Beckett is regarded as among the most influential writers of the 20th century. His work offers a tragicomic outlook on human existence -- often coupled with black comedy, his writing becoming increasingly minimalist later in his career. He is considered one of the last modernist writers. Harold Pinter was a Nobel Prize-winning English playwright, screenwriter, director and actor, and one of the most influential of the modern British dramatists, his writing career spanning more than 50 years.
In an introduction to Absurd Drama (1965) Esslin writes, The Theatre of the Absurd attacks the comfortable certainties of religious or political orthodoxy. It aims to shock its audience out of complacency, to bring it face to face with the harsh facts of the human situation as these writers see it. But the challenge behind this message is anything but one of despair. It is a challenge to accept the human condition as it is, in all its mystery and absurdity, and to bear it with dignity, nobly, responsibly; precisely because there are no easy solutions to the mysteries of existence, because ultimately man is alone in a meaningless world. The shedding of easy solutions, of comforting illusions, may be painful, but it leaves behind it a sense of freedom and relief. And that is why, in the last resort, the Theatre of the Absurd does not provoke tears of despair but the laughter of liberation.
In the 10 years since its formation, the IRC has become recognized for humorous, accessible interpretations of classic absurdist works from Eastern Europe and around the globe. In recent seasons, the company has produced critically-acclaimed, sold-out main stage productions of Eugène Ionescos Rhinoceros and George Bernard Shaws Misalliance as well as the Philadelphia premiere of Eugène Ionescos Exit the King for the 2015 Fringe Festival. Season 2016 will feature Ionescos The Chairs (September 2016) and David Ives The Lives of the Saints (November 2016).
The IRC is a 501C3 non-profit organization, and a member of The Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance. The IRC's 2016 season is made possible in part by generous grants from Wyncote Foundation; The Samuel S. Fels Fund; The Philadelphia Cultural Fund; The Pennsylvania Partners in the Arts program of the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency with support also provided by PECO and administered regionally by the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance; Arts & Business Council of Greater Philadelphia and The William Penn Foundation.
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LocationL'Etage Cabaret (View)
624 S. 6th Street (6th & Bainbridge)
Philadelphia, PA 19147
United States
Categories
| Kid Friendly: No |
| Dog Friendly: No |
| Non-Smoking: Yes! |
| Wheelchair Accessible: No |
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