法國新戲劇盛起於1950年代。將其置於二十世紀戲劇發展歷程觀之，新戲劇的思維脈絡，實與二○年代達達主義及超寫實主義風格相關；對於當代前衛戲劇亦具深遠影響。法新高劇的形成基調，是反傳統、反制式、反邏輯、反理性；易言之，反對傳統戲劇的理性架構與線性發展。新戲劇實乃呈現反戲劇風格。本文以新戲劇之發展源起為研究縱軸，以貝克特《等待果陀》及惹內《女僕》兩劇為研究橫軸，依劇本地點、時間、情符等類項，分析劇作之人物、對白、主題。進而逐次勾勒人物關係緊密、對白言不及義、主題無望逃離及戲中戲等特色。透過看似荒誕之情節與對白，劇作家既帶嘲諷又含憐憫地質疑人性，是否喻葞面對人類宿命情境的審思與無奈，是為本文最終關切議題。

Le nouveau théâtre” flourished in France in the 1950s. in the development of the twentieth-century drama, the concept of “Le nouveau théâtre” was closely related to Dadaism and Surrealism of the 1920s and had a great influence on the avant-garde drama. “Le nouveau théâtre" is anti-traditional, anti-categorical, anti-logical and anti-rational; in other words, it is against the rational structure and the linear development of the traditional drama and thus represents the features of the “anti- théâtre". Focusing on the origin of “Le nouveau théâtre" and Samuel Beckett’s En attendant Godot as well as Jean Genet’s Les Bonnes, this project aims to analyze the characters, dialogues and themes of the two plays according to the location, time, and plots. The project will also tease out features of the plays, such as the complicate relationship between the characters, the meaningless dialogues, the vain attempt to escape and the play-within-a-play. Through the seemingly absurd plots and dialogues, I argue that Beckett and Genet question human nature with irony as well as sympathy. If such an attitude imply the playwrights’ feelings of hopelessness about human destiny is the final concern of this project.