The Theatre of Absurd and The Zoo Story

Albee’s early work shows his mastery of the American Theatre of the Absurd, which found its peak in the works of Samuel Beckett, Harold Pinter, and Jean Genet. The themes of Alienation, wealth and property, dehumanization, and loneliness have been discussed in the play "The Zoo Story" by the playwright. The play was originally titled "Jerry and Peter," but the New York producers rejected it. Later named The Zoo Story, It was published in 1958 and recognized as Albee’s first good absurdist play that depicts socio-economic inequity and dehumanization in today’s modern society. He said that The Zoo Story was a transforming experience for him.
The Theatre of the Absurd as a term was first introduced by the critic Martin Esslin in his book, The Theatre of the Absurd, which focuses on how the dramatists write from a "sense of metaphysical anguish at the absurdity of the human condition". The Theatre of the Absurd is a post-World War II classification for specific works of absurdist literature published by several predominantly European playwrights in the late 1950s as well as a form of theatre that has emerged from their work. Their work was primarily concerned with the concept of existentialism, and it represented what occurs when human life has no meaning or purpose and so all communication breaks down. Logical reasoning and development give way to irrational and illogical speech, as well as its final results and ultimate silence.
These plays were influenced by the political upheaval, scientific discoveries, and social discoveries that were taking place in the world surrounding the playwright at the time. While the absurdists believed that life is absurd, they also believed that death and the "afterlife" are absurd. And that whether people live or die, all of their activities are meaningless and will lead to the same result or conclusion, hence the repetition in many absurdist plays.
In the plays, the absurd looks like a part of man’s reaction to an apparently meaningless universe, and man is a puppet, manipulated or threatened by unseen external forces. Waiting for Godot is a 1950’s play by Samuel Becket, famous for his literary style. Though the term refers to a wide range of plays, some characteristics are shared by many of them: broad comedy, frequently related to vaudeville; a fusion of horrific or tragic images; characters trapped in terrible situations forced to do monotonous or meaningless actions; dialogues full of misconceptions, metaphors, and ridiculous plots that are repetitive and obscenely comprehensive; either a parody or expulsion of realism; and the concept of "well-made-play".
The Absurdity Elements in "The Zoo Story"
The Zoo Story, written by Edward Albee, is an absurdist play that diverges from the theatre. The absurd play is a type of theatre that highlights the existentialist idea of human existence's absurdity and meaninglessness.
The major characteristic of absurd plays is that they demonstrate that life is ultimately futile and so depressing. There seems to be no hope because men’s efforts are always futile. Death fascinates mankind because it irrevocably replaces fantasies and illusions. There is no plotline or conflict. Because nothing substantial can happen, very little does. The ending is either ludicrous or comical. The zoo story is a key piece since it explores themes that appear in most of Albee’s plays. The main facts are the loss of human connections and interaction, as well as deliberate apathy, indifference, consciousness, and brutality. A conversation between two characters, Jerry and Peter, brings up the point. 
The entire action takes the shape of a paradoxical discourse between them, culminating in Jerry’s death. While audiences generally demand "well-made" plays with soulful, psychologically realistic characters, witty speeches, and very well-written, casual narratives with well-built ultimately endings, beginnings, middles, and endings. The theatre of the absurd deconstructs these assumptions at every end.
Language
Despite their absurd language, many of the dialogues in the absurdist plays can be taken as realistic. The character’s use of meaningless language and confusion among the characters distinguishes theatre as absurd. Language frequently acquires a phonetic, rhythmical, and even musical aspect, allowing for a wide range of often humorous amusement. It is made up of ludicrous and naturalistic parts that are conflicting due to the incapacity of verbal communication and the conclusion of conversations in meaningless dialogues where absurdism lies in the discourse since it is, more or less, Jerry’s speech is unconstrained by time and place. Despite the absurdity of the title,
 "The Zoo Story" when no story is narrated. The title solely relates to the concept and its theme.
The title solely relates to the concept. More can be said about the play ‘The Zoo Story,' but Jerry never tells us what occurs in the zoo. And this is how communication takes place in this play—badly, strangely, oddly, and poorly. Jerry blathers on, and Peter doesn’t understand him, and then there’s extra chattering and less comprehension, and then their grief and yelling, and it all comes to a climax with blood on a bench. In this part, the theatre of the absurd doesn’t apply properly. Instead of providing insight and understanding, it just provides insight and understanding. It just provides confusion and agony. The language in the play appears to be meant to isolate us, which may explain why Jerry believes that the best kind of connection he can hope for is to have somebody stab him, "Uh... Yeah, that makes total sense (7)."
Characters
In this play, the emphasis is on a fictive place, and the characters, who lack individuality and are frequently nameless, feel imprisoned, disregarded, and rejected by their own society. The protagonists in the Absurdist play are lost and drifting in an inexplicable environment, and they have abandoned rational procedures and discursive reasoning is insufficient.  Many of the characters look to be automatically caught in routines and only communicate in clichés.
As in Commedia dell’arte, characters are usually stereotyped, archetypal, or flat character types.
Peter and Jerry, the two primary characters, are shown here. From beginning to conclusion, each of these characters is nearly identical. This drama contains no character development.
The dramatists made an effort to illustrate their psychological development process, and Albee applied only inter-personal psychological theory of suicidal behavior and knowledge to Jerry's internal conflict and motivations to choose consciousness, which led to an exploration of psychological, behavioral, and socio-cultural factors that influence Jerry to end his own life, which only appears absurd in the play.
Plot
In absurdist plays, traditional plot frameworks are rarely considered. Plots might be made up of the ridiculous repetition of clichés and routines. There is frequently a terrifying outside power that never explains why.
Absence, emptiness, nothingness, and unexplained riddles are prominent themes in Absurdist stories.
In The Zoo Story, there are two characters, Peter and Jerry, one of whom is screwed up. maintains two empty frames in his room because "I don’t have any images of anyone to put in them," which is the most emotional thing we’ve heard since Simple Plan apologized for not being "perfect." (pp.113–115)
Jerry is unpredictable, unexpected, and hazardous, but that is what keeps us interested. "I find it difficult to believe that individuals like that truly are" (9) (145), Peter adds, alluding to Jerry’s landlady but also to Jerry himself.
Peter adds that while he’s talking to Jerry’s landlord, he may very well be referring to Jerry himself. Jerry doesn’t belong; he doesn’t work –" and that’s unpleasant but also lovely, like getting tickled till you almost wet your pants." (10). Peter is a drab individual. He has a wife and two children, as well as a few cats. On Sundays, he goes to the park and sits on a bench, reading Time magazine. (11)
Albee wrote the play in part because he, too, believed Peter was a bit of a blank. "Jerry is a three-dimensional, perfect character. Peter, on the other hand, is like a backboard. He isn’t fully formed. Peter needed to be filled out further, "Albee told an interviewer 12 times."
The narrative of the zoo is never shared, which perpetuates the ludicrous concept since it symbolizes how the world sometimes doesn’t make sense. Humans, according to the philosophy of absurdity, want value and purpose; they want to know what occurred in the philosophy of absurdity; they want to know what occurred at the zoo. But the world frustrates them; it refuses to inform them about the zoo. This is why individuals are often grumpy and depressed. Or, at the very least, Jerry and Peter are. That’s the type of game it is. As a result, the story delves into modern man’s living predicament as well as the meaninglessness and absurdity of his particular circumstance.
As a result, The Zoo Story features practically all the components of an absurd drama. The drama exposes life’s irrationalism in a grotesquely humorous way, with elements of philosophical estrangement and emotional agony. At the time of its production, there were two opposing views on the play: some thought it was a fabrication or hoax, while others thought it was a masterpiece. However, The Zoo Story has established itself in literary history as a masterwork that altered the course of twentieth-century American theatre.