The Representation of Human Agony in Selected Contemporary in-Yer-Face

Contemporary life is the life of various complexities which are the products of extraordinary changes that accompanied human existence in this world during the Twenty-First century. Undisputedly, spread of aggression, violence, cruelty, brutality, and hostility have all been responsible for creating new agonies and ordeals that have turned Man's life into a nightmare. These ordeals and agonies have not been alien from Contemporary drama. Two Western theatres, In-Yer-Face and Verbatim respectively, have elaborated human agony in its different forms in their dramatic productions. The present study aims to trace the way(s) both theatres experience/experiment human agony in relation to elements of shocking and disturbing the audience through the employments of violent language, breaking taboos, portraying different acts of humiliation, and unconventional dramatic structures so as to force the audience to react to what is happening on the stage. By the Twentieth century, life becomes more complicated, the matter which demanded a different theatrical methodology. This is applied by a number of theatrical trends that have changed Western theatre in an avant-garde manner.