Not long after the start of the 20th century, playwrights, influenced by the horrors of two world wars, began to experiment with theater in a way which depicted many long-held historical, social, and cultural beliefs and practices as being meaningless and chaotic. Incorporating interviews with influential directors Bijan Sheibani, Steven Berkoff, and others, this program traces the evolution of modern theater from its existentialist roots through Absurdism to Social Realism and British "kitchen sink drama" via the works of Ionesco, Beckett, Pinter and even the writers of the U.K. soap opera "Coronation Street."

Encoded with permission for digital streaming by Infobase on February 10, 2013. Learn360 is distributed by Infobase for Films for the Humanities & Sciences, Cambridge Educational, Meridian Education, and Shopware.

Twentieth Century Playwrights (1:32) -- Influence of World Wars on Playwrights (1:27) -- Post-WWII Existentialism in "Waiting for Godot" (1:45) -- Post-WWII Broadway Musicals & Tennessee Williams (1:07) -- 1950s Racial Diversity Among Playwrights (0:44) -- Kitchen Sink Dramas (0:59) -- Off-Broadway Alternative Theatre (0:36) -- Social Issues in "Look Back in Anger" & "A Taste of Honey" (0:46) -- Method Acting (1:47) -- Albert Camus & Absurdism (1:03) -- Existentialism in Theatre & Emphasis on Physicality in Performance (1:28) -- Samuel Beckett & "Waiting for Godot" (1:31) -- Eugene Ionesco & "Rhinoceros" (0:46) -- Harold Pinter (3:49) -- Credits: Theater in the Modern World (0:57).