Roza Tasneem
"DYLAN. (deadpan) Please, come in.
TEE. I need you to break my arm."
This scene was selected as it contained a long passage of her conversing, showing how much her dialogue changes and in what ways. Looking over a large passage is needed to allow for change to occur, and because she is conversing only with Dylan through this passage, it serves as a ‘control’ factor so that any changes can be attributed to her character and not to something else.
Research Question
What effect does the “inconstant words” of Tee’s dialogue in Scene 1 have in relation to Absurd Theatre?
This question was inspired by the discussion in class and with others involved in the production, where the genre of the play was examined. Absurd theatre was frequently brought up, so I decided to look at what characteristics of the genre were present. I chose to focus on how characters are styled
in Absurd theatre, and then narrowed it to the trait “inconstant words”. I looked at Tee specifically as she displays many of the characteristics found in absurd characters, and in Scene 1 specifically as it contains a long conversation between her and another character (Dylan).
Central Purpose
In this Research Report I provide my findings based on the inconstant dialogue of the character Tee in Scene 1 of the play The Waiting Room. To support my observations are references that include the article “Analysis on the Artistic Features and Themes of the Theater of the Absurd” by Jiang Zhu and “Dialogic Incongruities in the Theater of the Absurd” by Dina Sherzer, as well as supplementary image references. This research is important because it will offer insight into the character of Tee as well as the play’s genres, themes, and relation to absurdity, which can aid the direction of style for the production.
Main Concept
The main concept this report explores is that of distance and the Absurd. This connects to the play as the play can be classified under the genre of Absurd theatre, in part due to the characters. My research into the inconstant dialogue of Tee in Scene 1 illuminates in what ways the character is absurd and how this creates distance between the characters in the play as well as to the audience.
Central findings
In Scene 1, Tee’s dialogue goes from short sentences to longer answers, then back to short sentences. She begins by clearly stating her objectives, then at the end of the scene refuses to give Dylan a clear answer. She also switches topics in the
middle of the scene to Dylan’s ex, before it switches back to her test. The tone also changes throughout the scene, going from calm tofrantic, then from gleeful to defeated, then back to determined. The frequent changes can be characterized as “inconstant words”, which is one of the traits belonging to characters of Absurd Theatre (Zhu). Called a kind of “anti-character (Zhu)”, the frequency of changes in the dialogue in a short amount of space means that the conversation is without regularity and it is difficult to connect to the personality displayed through the language. It presents Tee as being ‘absurd’ in that her traits are out of harmony with each other (Zhu). While everyone has more than one emotion or personality trait, the frequency of the changes is what adds to the feeling of her being an absurd character. The inconstant words also make it difficult for the other characters (and the audience) to predict what will happen next (Zhu). The characters show themselves to be unpredictable through their changing dialogue, and as the characters drive the action, the action also becomes unpredictable. So, the audience must make sense of something they cannot understand. This is the theme Martin Esslin first used to characterize Absurd Theatre, relating it back to how Albert Camus explained Absurd as the contradiction between trying to find meaning but being unable to do so (Camus, 51). The contradiction between her words and tone, particularly at the beginning when she asks Dylan to break her arm, is another example of absurdity. The juxtaposition between tone and subject make situations more comedic even if the subject matter is serious (Sherzer). So the tone of the play as a whole becomes closer towards tragi-comic, with it becoming unclear to what degree a statement should be taken seriously. The lack of understanding once again creates separation between the characters with each other as well as the audience, reinforcing the themes of Absurd existentialism (Sherzer)