Performance as a Response to the Absurd: A Study of Morris Panych’s 7 Stories

Abstract

Albert Camus describes the Absurd as emerging from the confrontation between the human need for meaning and the unreasonable silence of the world. In dealing with the indifference of the world, Camus’s absurd hero dares to live the absurd. The characters in Morris Panych’s 7 Stories, having similarly realised the nature of the world, are consciously performing their lives. To escape boredom, they play the game of killing each other, pretend to be God, perform life like a theatre-artist and such. They are so engrossed in their act that nobody is bothered by the Man who is eager to jump from the seventh storey. This research aims to analyse the play 7 Stories by Morris Panych and study how the individuals in the play resort to performance to deal with the inevitable absurdity. It also aims to examine how their constructed reality helps them deal with their everyday existence. The researcher uses textual analysis and close reading to meet the aims of the study.