For generations both the stage and movies avoided the heavier issues of life. Incest, pedophilia, pre-marital sex, abortion, copulation, miscegnation, ribald language, nudity and consumption of narcotics were taboo on stage and screen.
In the 1960's audiences in Europe and the US found themselves facing drama that brazenly brought the seamy side of life to the stage. Yet "Glengarry Glen Ross" would have been an unthinkable presentation in 1965.
European playwrights pioneered the Theater of the Absurd style in the late 1950's. Playwrights said that human existence has no meaning or purpose and therefore all communication breaks down. Logical construction and argument gave way to irrational and illogical speech and to its ultimate conclusion, silence.[1]
Radical plays which were examples of this were "The Bald Soprano" and "Rhinoceros" by Eugene Ionesco. Samuel Beckett published "Waiting for Godot" in 1953.
"Zoo Story," by Edward Albee, came out in 1959. In 1962 Albee's masterwork, "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" hit the European stage.
Albee frankly addressed infidelity, alcoholism, divorce and adult language in "Woolf."
It is a horrific story and a break-through production.
But there is a limit on the adventurous playwright who can address any topic under the sun: who will pay the fees and salaries? Sometimes producers find public grant money for the arts, often they appeal to private donors. One way or another, the budget is the building block of the stage.
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