LONELINESS AS MOTIVE, THEME, AND STRATEGY IN AMERICAN THEATRE OF THE 1960S

This study examines loneliness in American drama of the 1960s. Loneliness is significant not only as a theme of many plays of this period, but also as a motive for their creation, and primary element in the strategies by which they achieve their dramatic effect. The study approaches a number of scripts as theatrical emblems of the times and examines them as manifestations of the socio-cultural state of the United States during the sixties, analyzing the treatment of loneliness in terms of dramatic technique, and exploring the relationship between loneliness in American society and its occurrence in the theatre.; The first chapter deals with the nature of loneliness, and analyzes it sociologically in historical perspective. A survey of representative plays then demonstrates a preoccupation among American playwrights with loneliness. In many instances loneliness was manifested through dramatic action in which one character seeks a kind of sympathetic connection with another solely for human contact. This engagement activity which embodies the quest of the lonely to achieve jointure is analyzed in works including those by Edward Albee and Robert Patrick. Another strategy was the use of a metaphysical stage world as embodiment of the conditions of isolation and loneliness. The device of the compressionistic mise en scene is examined as a physical metaphor of loneliness in a number of plays including those of Kenneth Brown, Frank Gagliano, and Paul Foster. A third technique was the creation of character-types which epitomize human isolation. The use of the "outsider" character is examined in the works of playwrights including Lanford Wilson, Leonard Melfi, Ronald Ribman, and Israel Horovitz. Experimental acting companies like the Living Theatre, the Open Theatre, and the Performance Group sought to bridge the distance separating man from man through a transformation of the theatre event into ritual. A number of their productions are assessed in terms of their intention to counter loneliness by creating ceremonies of togetherness, and the techniques employed to that end are evaluated. The study concludes that the ultimate goal of the various dramatic treatments of loneliness and the strategies which they employ is the creation of communion.