antiplay

Etymology

From anti- + play.

antiplay means A play (dramatical production) that deliberately avoids the typical conventions of the play, such as a coherent plot and resolution. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 88 out of 100.

Why “antiplay” is a great word

ANTIPLAY — [Noun] A dramatic work that deliberately subverts or rejects the conventional structures and techniques of traditional theater. From the prefix anti- (meaning "against" or "opposite of") + play (a dramatic work for the stage). Unlike the "well-made play," which builds a logical scaffold toward a tidy resolution, or "absurdist drama," which wrings metaphysical despair from broken communication, an antiplay is a cooler, more systematic dismantling of the stage's very machinery. It is the actor who addresses the audience to list stage directions, the scene that ends just as conflict seems imminent, and the curtain that falls on a deliberate, unresolved silence—a quiet manifesto proving that to negate a form is still to engage with its ghost.

noun

A play (dramatical production) that deliberately avoids the typical conventions of the play, such as a coherent plot and resolution.“Samuel Beckett wrote several absurdist antiplays.”