The absurd tradition in Turkish theather and character analysis

The absurd theater, which has emerged in the West at the end of the 1950s and remained influential until the 1970s, has also influenced Turkish theater. Although absurd theater playwrights, who have found their way into theatrical literature as a result of historical events, artistic and philosophical thoughts, have not written a manifesto, they have presented an opinion. The absurd theater found its way into Turkish theatre in a true sense in the 1960s. Turkish playwrights who wrote absurd plays were not only influenced by the West. Experiences at the social and individual levels influenced the Absurd Turkish theater. It was also observed that the characteristics of the absurd theater were not far from the traditional Turkish theater. It is seen that they have similar aspects especially in the process of character creation. Five playwrights have been selected from the 1960s in order to more clearly demonstrate the absurd tradition in Turkish theater. This period, in which a synthesis took place in terms of theater, is also rich in terms of the writing of absurd plays. Playwrights Sabahattin Kudret Aksal, Adalet Ağaoğlu, Aziz Nesin, Vüs'at O. Bener and Aydın Arıt, whose number of works are sufficient to compare with each other and with works in Western theater, have been selected for this study. Character analyses were made of the absurd play characters and the absurd worlds created by these five playwrights in their plays. It is aimed to explain common findings and differentiating aspects. The study proceeds in three stages. The first part consists of the definition, formation, principles and playwrights of absurd theater, and finally the expression of absurd tradition in Turkish theater. The second part is the main part of the study. The analysis of the absurd plays of the playwrights and the analyses of the absurd play characters take place in this section. The conclusion part is the third phase of the study. Here, in line with all findings, the factors in the creation of the character of the absurd play characters are presented.