{"id":177628,"date":"2025-06-19T16:39:34","date_gmt":"2025-06-19T15:39:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/centmagazine.co.uk\/?p=177628"},"modified":"2025-06-20T11:25:04","modified_gmt":"2025-06-20T10:25:04","slug":"in-the-absurd-we-trust-please-mind-the-existential-gap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.centmagazine.co.uk\/?p=177628","title":{"rendered":"In the Absurd We Trust: Please Mind the Existential Gap"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Imagine a man condemned to push a boulder up a hill for all eternity, only to watch it roll back down. On day 4,092, he snaps. He paints a face on the boulder, names it \u201cGreg,\u201d and starts charging admission for interpretive dance battles between them and sells \u201cYou Can\u2019t Win\u201d t-shirts. Welcome to absurdism, where logic has left the building, meaning is stuck in traffic, and the show must go on, especially when it makes absolutely no sense. Find out more in In the Absurd We Trust: Please Mind the Existential Gap<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Absurdism marched onto the literary stage in the mid-20th century, right around the time humanity looked at the rubble of two world wars. Rooted in a deep sense that meaning had quietly left the building, absurdist literature responded with characters lost in loops, conversations that go nowhere, and plots that abandon resolution like a bad habit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At its core, absurdism is the philosophical theory that the universe is irrational and meaningless, and that our desperate attempts to find meaning crash headfirst into that cosmic indifference.
S\u00f8ren Kierkegaard, one of the earliest philosophers to try this out, basically looked into the abyss and said, \u201cThis makes no sense\u2026 but let\u2019s believe anyway.\u201d Camus later took up the baton and replied, \u201cOr don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

There are times when the world feels too strange or too loud to be explained by logic. That\u2019s exactly where absurdist comes in, not to solve the chaos, but to sit in it, laugh at it, and maybe even find some comforting beauty<\/a> inside it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Take Albert Camus\u2019 “The Stranger”: Meursault (the protagonist) doesn\u2019t cry at his mother\u2019s funeral and later shoots a man because, essentially, it was a hot day. The real crime might be his lack of SPF. He\u2019s emotionally detached, disinterested in society\u2019s rules, and deeply relatable to anyone who\u2019s ever stared blankly at an Outlook calendar invite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enter the Theatre of the Absurd, a dramatic genre born from post-WWII disillusionment, where dialogue breaks down, logic goes missing, and people sit in dustbins pondering the void. Think Samuel Beckett\u2019s “Endgame”, where characters exist in a post-apocalyptic limbo, or Eug\u00e8ne Ionesco\u2019s “Rhinoc\u00e9ros”, where people start turning into rhinoceroses and no one seems particularly bothered. It\u2019s bureaucracy meets existential horror, with hooves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Consider Franz Kafka\u2019s book “The Metamorphosis”, in which Gregor Samsa wakes up one day as a giant bug. Not a metaphor. Just a bug. His family\u2019s reaction? Mildly annoyed. The real tragedy isn\u2019t his transformation, but how quickly people stop offering him coffee. It\u2019s bleak, yes, but it\u2019s also hilarious in that \u201coh god, this is my life\u201d sort of way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It thrives in this space between laughter and dread, clarity and chaos. It reassures us that yes, everything is weird, but you\u2019re not alone in thinking so. Absurdism flirts with existentialism and nihilism like they\u2019re emotionally unavailable students. Existentialism tells us to make our own meaning, nihilism tells us meaning doesn\u2019t exist, and absurdism says, \u201cCool, now let\u2019s write a play where no one says anything coherent for two hours and someone turns into a bug.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

That\u2019s exactly where the play Lost Watches plants its feet, then immediately loses its balance. The new work by Lorenzo Allchurch, directed by Alex Helfrecht, premieres this summer<\/a> at London\u2019s Park Theatre. It tells the story of Allen, a grief-stricken young man hiding in a shed filled with sculpture<\/a> dust, haunted memories, and, naturally, a talking statue of William Burroughs, voiced by none other than Jason Isaacs. It channels the core characteristics of absurdist, including the emphasis on existential isolation, and the dark humour that emerges from hopelessness, to create something urgently contemporary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s a play about grief, but also family, memory, and the fine line between a breakdown and a breakthrough, with plenty of surreal humour along the way. Lost Watches shares DNA with absurdist classics, but it\u2019s unapologetically modern, emotionally vulnerable, funny<\/a>, and just odd enough to feel real.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Rather than offering easy comfort, the play suggests that absurdity itself might be a form of resistance, a way of finding meaning in meaninglessness. In a theatrical landscape often dominated by safe revivals, this production dares to be genuinely experimental while remaining deeply human.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For those seeking refuge from their own moments, Lost Watches offers something more valuable than escape. In an age of late capitalism, existential burnout, and the fact that your fridge now judges your diet, absurdism might just be the most honest worldview we have. From July 30th to August 23rd at Park 90, you can book your ticket on parktheatre.co.uk<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you enjoyed reading In the Absurd We Trust: Please Mind the Existential Gap<\/em>. Then try The Revolution of The Book Cover as an Artform<\/em><\/a>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

.Cent magazine, London. Be Inspired; Get Involved<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Imagine a man condemned to push a boulder up a hill for all eternity, only to watch it roll back…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":324,"featured_media":177805,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[11,16,16613],"tags":[28,352],"features_issues":[],"featured_themes":[16925],"ppma_author":[16910],"class_list":["post-177628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-art","category-event","category-theatre-dance","tag-art-2","tag-london","featured_themes-function"],"yoast_head":"\nIn the Absurd We Trust: Please Mind the Existential Gap | Cent Magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A weirdly funny and emotionally raw absurdist play. 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