The Theatre of the Absurd began in the early 1950s. It was influenced by four major events: World War I, World War II, the emergence of liberalism, and the onslaught of epidemics. The two world wars had devastating effects on Europe and the European population as a whole. Europeans questioned their values and beliefs about society and were open to accepting many new ideas, especially those put forward by Freud. These ideas included accepting homosexuality and a post-war Europe.
             French writer, Albert Camus, originated the idea of Absurdist theatre and the ideas he came up with represented what life was like for people living in the early 20th century; those affected by war, assassinations, and political crisis. Camus' play "Myth of Sisyphus" expressed the absurdity of man and his lifetime of labor and the concerns and uncertainty of the war-conscious Europeans. Camus came up with a philosophy called the 'Cycle of the Absurd'. This cycle contained three main points:
             1. Life is absurd, and it is useless to find any pattern or irregularity within it.
             2. Man must accept life as the absurd and enjoy the absurdity with happiness.
             3. Man cannot fight the absurd, but simply accept that his life will never have meaning.
             Many other major Absurdist theatre productions included the works of Samuel Beckett, Eugene Ionesco and Jean Genet.
             The father of the theatre of the absurd was Eugene Ionesco. Ionesco was born in Romania and later moved to France with his family. He got this title through his range of "whimsical" language that he used to describe individual misunderstandings and communication difficulties. Some of Ionesco's greatest works include "The Great Sopranos", "Rhinoceros", and "The Lesson". Ionesco was largely influenced by the two world wars and he demonstrated this in his anti-Nazi play "Rhinoceros". "Rhinoceros" also displayed a sense of loneliness and fascism that was felt in society during this time.
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