What do you think?
Rate this book
The Bald Soprano and Other Plays
The leading figure of absurdist theater and one of the great innovators of the modern stage, Eugene Ionesco (1909-94) did not write his first play, The Bald Soprano, until 1950. He went on to become an internationally renowned master of modern drama, famous for the comic proportions and bizarre effects that allow his work to be simultaneously hilarious, tragic, and profound. As Ionesco has said, "Theater is not literature. . . . It is simply what cannot be expressed by any other means."
160 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1958
85 people are currently reading
4056 people want to read
About the author
Eugène Ionesco
455 books953 followersEugène Ionesco, born Eugen Ionescu, was a Romanian playwright and dramatist; one of the foremost playwrights of the Theatre of the Absurd. Beyond ridiculing the most banal situations, Ionesco's plays depict in a tangible way the solitude and insignificance of human existence.
Excerpted from Wikipedia.
Excerpted from Wikipedia.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 182 reviews
July 7, 2025
The Bald Soprano
☆☆☆☆
An absurdist play about the futility of language inspired by nonsensical examples in textbooks for learning languages. I loved this play the first time I read it some years ago, and I enjoyed it just as much this time around.
(“Rather a steak in a chalet than gristle in a castle.”
Pretty sure that's the only thing in this play that makes sense.)
The Lesson ☆☆☆
The true lesson of this play is that philology leads to calamity.
Jack or The Submission ☆☆☆
Don't settle for anything less than three noses.
The Chairs ☆☆½
A tragic one featuring an old couple and lots of chairs. My least favorite play in this collection, but only because it was a bit of a drag in the first half. Definitely one of those I would much rather see a performance of than read. As is typical with Ionesco's plays, the ending was still quite impactful, though.
An absurdist play about the futility of language inspired by nonsensical examples in textbooks for learning languages. I loved this play the first time I read it some years ago, and I enjoyed it just as much this time around.
(“Rather a steak in a chalet than gristle in a castle.”
Pretty sure that's the only thing in this play that makes sense.)
The Lesson ☆☆☆
The true lesson of this play is that philology leads to calamity.
Jack or The Submission ☆☆☆
Don't settle for anything less than three noses.
The Chairs ☆☆½
A tragic one featuring an old couple and lots of chairs. My least favorite play in this collection, but only because it was a bit of a drag in the first half. Definitely one of those I would much rather see a performance of than read. As is typical with Ionesco's plays, the ending was still quite impactful, though.
July 29, 2017
As a boy, my father and I, would drive nearby to meet his father, my grandfather, in a nursing home. On one visit, I witnessed this exchange:
We are walking down a corridor to my grandfather’s room, father and son.
Before we reach his room, an old-timer approaches, he seems lost as he wanders the halls in his pajamas.
-Excuse me, do either of you know how to get to Riordan’s General Store?
Remember, we are in the belly of a nursing facility for older people dealing with their unique challenges.
My father, points down the hall to the last room and says to the elder,
-If you go down this road, Essex Street, (as his eyes attend the carpeted floor) until you reach that last shop, (which is the last room) wait at the stop sign, look both ways, make a right turn, and you will find Riordan’s, about a quarter of a mile down the road, on the right-hand side (this route, the only one there is, will end at the nurse’s station where he will be brought back to his room).
The old man tips his invisible hat to us, a sign of appreciation, and exhales,
-Thank you very much. If you excuse me, I must go quickly. There is a water problem in the basement and I need a part to fix it. My wife is waiting for me.
My father and I both offer a slight bow to the man, in deference to his age, and we continue to my grandfather’s room.
**********
Ionesco could have written this preface, but he did not. I did. Everything that is said or heard, acted upon or not, studied or imagined, is all the same thing to a certain subset of the population. Ionesco appeals to this type of person.
Save your arguments for someone else. His followers accept that everything is folly and that your entreaties to refute this assumption, that life has merit or weight, is groundless.
We exist as long as we are motivated by our need to extirpate an extant, overwhelmingly quotidian ennui along with our incessant search of a continuous happiness that does not exist.
As we seek to deflect each mishap along our paths, Ionesco offers a clear and concise resolution;
Everything on this Earth is completely Absurd.
(this publication contains The Bald Soprano, The Lesson, Jack or the Submission, The Chairs)
We are walking down a corridor to my grandfather’s room, father and son.
Before we reach his room, an old-timer approaches, he seems lost as he wanders the halls in his pajamas.
-Excuse me, do either of you know how to get to Riordan’s General Store?
Remember, we are in the belly of a nursing facility for older people dealing with their unique challenges.
My father, points down the hall to the last room and says to the elder,
-If you go down this road, Essex Street, (as his eyes attend the carpeted floor) until you reach that last shop, (which is the last room) wait at the stop sign, look both ways, make a right turn, and you will find Riordan’s, about a quarter of a mile down the road, on the right-hand side (this route, the only one there is, will end at the nurse’s station where he will be brought back to his room).
The old man tips his invisible hat to us, a sign of appreciation, and exhales,
-Thank you very much. If you excuse me, I must go quickly. There is a water problem in the basement and I need a part to fix it. My wife is waiting for me.
My father and I both offer a slight bow to the man, in deference to his age, and we continue to my grandfather’s room.
**********
Ionesco could have written this preface, but he did not. I did. Everything that is said or heard, acted upon or not, studied or imagined, is all the same thing to a certain subset of the population. Ionesco appeals to this type of person.
Save your arguments for someone else. His followers accept that everything is folly and that your entreaties to refute this assumption, that life has merit or weight, is groundless.
We exist as long as we are motivated by our need to extirpate an extant, overwhelmingly quotidian ennui along with our incessant search of a continuous happiness that does not exist.
As we seek to deflect each mishap along our paths, Ionesco offers a clear and concise resolution;
Everything on this Earth is completely Absurd.
(this publication contains The Bald Soprano, The Lesson, Jack or the Submission, The Chairs)
July 31, 2019
Ionesco writes plays for masochists.
July 21, 2017
While Eugene Ionesco was studying the English language he fell in love with the intricacies of it. That led to these four crazy plays.
'The Bald Soprano' is about a dinner party that should have included the Mad Hatter. Two couples, crazy conversation, then a twisted ending.
'The Lesson' is about a professor that is helping a young woman achieve her doctorate. Its when they hit the arithmetic that things go wrong. (Tough subject)
'Jack or the Submission' is not about what you might think it is. (Get your mind out of the gutter. Lol) Jack is urged to marry Roberta, but when he sees she has two noses he declines. After all, he likes three noses. He still almost turns the three nose lovely away until he sees she has nine fingers on one hand. Then its true love.
'The Chairs' is a " tragic farce." It is an old couple. He has invited a ton of people to hear the speech he has waited his whole life to deliver. When the crowd begins to arrive they are all invisible, including the Emperor. Its actually a sad play with a tragic ending.
'The Bald Soprano' is about a dinner party that should have included the Mad Hatter. Two couples, crazy conversation, then a twisted ending.
'The Lesson' is about a professor that is helping a young woman achieve her doctorate. Its when they hit the arithmetic that things go wrong. (Tough subject)
'Jack or the Submission' is not about what you might think it is. (Get your mind out of the gutter. Lol) Jack is urged to marry Roberta, but when he sees she has two noses he declines. After all, he likes three noses. He still almost turns the three nose lovely away until he sees she has nine fingers on one hand. Then its true love.
'The Chairs' is a " tragic farce." It is an old couple. He has invited a ton of people to hear the speech he has waited his whole life to deliver. When the crowd begins to arrive they are all invisible, including the Emperor. Its actually a sad play with a tragic ending.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 5, 2008
The Bald Soprano is perhaps the most hilarious sample of writing i have ever witnessed. It absolutely reeks of non-sequitur and extreme linguistic skepticism. As i was reading this play all alone in my room, I burst out into uncontrolled laughter multiple times. After the dust settled, I was able to observe the clever and biting criticism of language manifest in cliche and proverb, the all-out martyrdom to keeping the conversation afloat and come off as witty in the end.
"I believe we have spend a Cartesian quarter of an hour here." exclaims Mrs. Smith, depending on the socially successful stream of nonsense comprising their finished conversation to prove her and their existence.
For Ionesco, it seems, language has become something altogether different than communication, but it is now simply rock and dirt that people throw at each other like physical objects. The play ends with everyone shouting words continually and incoherently, playing off each other's screams, stringing together words simply by sound and alliteration rather than by idea or meaning.
Every character in the play is more or less interchangeable with the others and, at the end of the play one couple actually takes the place of the other and the play begins anew, signifying that this is an undying pattern in which everyone plays and merely takes the place of the people in the seats before them. One episode of the play has the husband and wife Martin enter the scene and begin a tiresome dialogue in which they try to remember why or how they recognize each other, tracing back the events of the last few weeks and finding it a jolly coincidence that they, in fact, sleep in the same bed and even share the same daughter. The implication is that the characters are so invisible that husband and wife cannot even recognize each other, but can only assume affiliation based on physical juxtaposition in the world.
The nonsense comes to a climax when the Fire chief makes a meaningless reference to "the bald soprano" which no one could possibly understand and then Mrs. Smith replies with an inconceivable joke to wade through the impossible reference, saying, "she always wore her hair the same way."
The other notable play in this volume is The Chairs. In this play an old man and woman are preparing for a large party at which the man is to give his entire personal philosophy through a hired orator to a crowd of distinguished persons. The guests arrive and the old couple speak to them warmly and gratefully, though all the guests are invisible. Finally, the Emperor, a sort of god-figure, perhaps, shows up and the old man is pleased into resignation that the emperor will hear his life's culmination of thoughts. The orator soon appears as well, yet he is real, and after he appears the old couple jump out windows on opposite sides of the room into the river, a cool double suicide, being satisfied with the assurance that the orator will deliver to the people the old man's thoughts of significance, his existential casebook. Yet once they exit, the orator attempts to speak to the invisible, probably absent, audience, though, he is mute and deaf and is unable to convey a shred of meaning. He writes a bit of nonsense on the blackboard and, seeing that his audience failed to understand, wrote, in lightly cryptic text, adieu dieu: goodbye god.
It is a terribly depressing end for the old couple to kill themselves off with such blissful assurance that their lives were meaningful, the man, that a fine audience would behold his philosophical significance and the wife, that she could love and be with him during his last success. Yet the inane orator and absent crowd completely blacken the final hopes and dreams of the elderly couple and imply that their lives were, in fact, meaningless, and that they are allowed no final defense of themselves, for the hearing was canceled, no one attended, not even the emperor.
"I believe we have spend a Cartesian quarter of an hour here." exclaims Mrs. Smith, depending on the socially successful stream of nonsense comprising their finished conversation to prove her and their existence.
For Ionesco, it seems, language has become something altogether different than communication, but it is now simply rock and dirt that people throw at each other like physical objects. The play ends with everyone shouting words continually and incoherently, playing off each other's screams, stringing together words simply by sound and alliteration rather than by idea or meaning.
Every character in the play is more or less interchangeable with the others and, at the end of the play one couple actually takes the place of the other and the play begins anew, signifying that this is an undying pattern in which everyone plays and merely takes the place of the people in the seats before them. One episode of the play has the husband and wife Martin enter the scene and begin a tiresome dialogue in which they try to remember why or how they recognize each other, tracing back the events of the last few weeks and finding it a jolly coincidence that they, in fact, sleep in the same bed and even share the same daughter. The implication is that the characters are so invisible that husband and wife cannot even recognize each other, but can only assume affiliation based on physical juxtaposition in the world.
The nonsense comes to a climax when the Fire chief makes a meaningless reference to "the bald soprano" which no one could possibly understand and then Mrs. Smith replies with an inconceivable joke to wade through the impossible reference, saying, "she always wore her hair the same way."
The other notable play in this volume is The Chairs. In this play an old man and woman are preparing for a large party at which the man is to give his entire personal philosophy through a hired orator to a crowd of distinguished persons. The guests arrive and the old couple speak to them warmly and gratefully, though all the guests are invisible. Finally, the Emperor, a sort of god-figure, perhaps, shows up and the old man is pleased into resignation that the emperor will hear his life's culmination of thoughts. The orator soon appears as well, yet he is real, and after he appears the old couple jump out windows on opposite sides of the room into the river, a cool double suicide, being satisfied with the assurance that the orator will deliver to the people the old man's thoughts of significance, his existential casebook. Yet once they exit, the orator attempts to speak to the invisible, probably absent, audience, though, he is mute and deaf and is unable to convey a shred of meaning. He writes a bit of nonsense on the blackboard and, seeing that his audience failed to understand, wrote, in lightly cryptic text, adieu dieu: goodbye god.
It is a terribly depressing end for the old couple to kill themselves off with such blissful assurance that their lives were meaningful, the man, that a fine audience would behold his philosophical significance and the wife, that she could love and be with him during his last success. Yet the inane orator and absent crowd completely blacken the final hopes and dreams of the elderly couple and imply that their lives were, in fact, meaningless, and that they are allowed no final defense of themselves, for the hearing was canceled, no one attended, not even the emperor.
March 25, 2020
* I only read The Bald Soprano out of this collection (and it was enough).
Dear Friends,
I believe, yes I do genuinely believe, that this is the last time I will need to spam your feeds with negative play reviews. The coronavirus, along with everything else, has cut my Modern Theatre class short, and I don't have to read any more awful plays (HURRAH! I HAVE WAITED SO LONG TO SAY THIS!).
The Bald Soprano, while by no means an "enjoyable" read by any stretch of the imagination, was definitely not the worst of the lot of utter nonsense we had to read. Dare I say, it was even a little bit humorous, insofar as nonsensicality can be funny. What gave me a little spark of appreciation for it was the fact that Ionesco was inspired to write this play from using textbooks to learn a second language.
I was thrown back to German class, where we had one such silly textbook with unrealistic scenarios and conversations that no actual human ever has, but are meant to teach you how to "properly" speak the language.
Knowing that The Bald Soprano was, in a way, a textbook parody made it that little bit more entertaining and I could appreciate it for what it is without having necessarily liked it.
Some bits were funny. I chuckled. Out loud.
But it's also just a bunch of nonsense that has no purpose, and we all have better things to do and read than this ;)
MODERN THEATRE, OUT!
Dear Friends,
I believe, yes I do genuinely believe, that this is the last time I will need to spam your feeds with negative play reviews. The coronavirus, along with everything else, has cut my Modern Theatre class short, and I don't have to read any more awful plays (HURRAH! I HAVE WAITED SO LONG TO SAY THIS!).
The Bald Soprano, while by no means an "enjoyable" read by any stretch of the imagination, was definitely not the worst of the lot of utter nonsense we had to read. Dare I say, it was even a little bit humorous, insofar as nonsensicality can be funny. What gave me a little spark of appreciation for it was the fact that Ionesco was inspired to write this play from using textbooks to learn a second language.
I was thrown back to German class, where we had one such silly textbook with unrealistic scenarios and conversations that no actual human ever has, but are meant to teach you how to "properly" speak the language.
Knowing that The Bald Soprano was, in a way, a textbook parody made it that little bit more entertaining and I could appreciate it for what it is without having necessarily liked it.
Some bits were funny. I chuckled. Out loud.
But it's also just a bunch of nonsense that has no purpose, and we all have better things to do and read than this ;)
MODERN THEATRE, OUT!
November 29, 2012
Ionesco, you so cray.
August 19, 2022
The four plays in the book are: The Bald Soprano, The Lesson, Jack or the Submission, and The Chairs
The three stars are inclusively for the latter. “The Chairs” can be read as an allegory of the whole Ionescoean theatre, especially in regard to the present four plays. The Orator in “The Chairs” is Ionesco himself whom we as viewers have been anxiously waiting for. We have prepared the stage for the revelation of truth by Ionesco-Orator. However, what we hear in the end is the Orator’s mumblings of “mme, mm, mm. Ju, gou, hou, hou, heu, gu gou, gueue”, and a final “ADIEU” which Ionesco-Orator throws at our face to announce the end of waiting for some truth to be revealed on the stage. There is nothing to be revealed. Ionesco is the master of showing the failure of life and drama.
We shamefully leave the theatre, and on our way back, we stumble upon two dead old bodies.
The three stars are inclusively for the latter. “The Chairs” can be read as an allegory of the whole Ionescoean theatre, especially in regard to the present four plays. The Orator in “The Chairs” is Ionesco himself whom we as viewers have been anxiously waiting for. We have prepared the stage for the revelation of truth by Ionesco-Orator. However, what we hear in the end is the Orator’s mumblings of “mme, mm, mm. Ju, gou, hou, hou, heu, gu gou, gueue”, and a final “ADIEU” which Ionesco-Orator throws at our face to announce the end of waiting for some truth to be revealed on the stage. There is nothing to be revealed. Ionesco is the master of showing the failure of life and drama.
We shamefully leave the theatre, and on our way back, we stumble upon two dead old bodies.
January 23, 2019
2.5 stars? Gosh, thought I would read some absurdist plays. I thought I could handle it, and beginning of each play had me rapt, then somewhere along the way they lost me. It doesn't just get weird, it gets crazy... cubed. I want to be cool enough to appreciate this but, not quite there.
February 29, 2020
I guess these plays would have got another star if I hadn't read Beckett.
January 27, 2019
201118:i have read little of experimental plays but the ones i have read are great, waiting for godot, dumbwaiter, rhinoceros... the only reason it is only a four is variable appreciation, i really liked bald soprano, the lesson, jack, or the submission, but the chairs was too abstract... and then these are plays and the key art experience is to see a production (going to see rhinoceros at u soon) and some of it sounds very challenging acting (changes imperceptible in the lesson) so it will depend on how it is mounted...
July 10, 2017
აბსურდი ჩვენი არსებობისა! <3
Read
July 1, 2023The Bald Soprano: 5 stars.
The Lesson: 1/2 star.
Reviews to follow for each play in this collection upon completion.
The Lesson: 1/2 star.
Reviews to follow for each play in this collection upon completion.
September 11, 2024
my French teacher had us recreate this play in highschool - it was one heck of a ride
November 12, 2023
Best Sherlock Holmes story I've read in a while fr
March 9, 2017
genijalno
November 1, 2023
Absurdist plays on the relations between language/norms, miscommunication/conflict, and power/violence.
September 11, 2012
This is another play of the genre, "Theater of the Absurd". I read it as well as saw it performed live by a very talented theater troupe many, many moons ago. I don't want to give away the entire plot of this play, but "A-E-I-O-U" is an important part of the dialogue as well as revealing to how Eugene Ionesco might view society sometimes. I do recommend reading this play as well as other plays from Eugene Ionesco. You just might find yourself seeing and enjoying life with all of its absurdities. LOL!
October 31, 2015
Bald soprano 4/5
The lesson 5/5
Jack, or the Submission 2/5
The Chairs (3.5/5, because I can)
Interesting stuff about the futility of language, the pressure (and emptiness) of conformity. The lesson is my fave by far because it goes beyond its absurdists trappings to tackle misogyny in the 1950s. It's a lot to read all at once, but certainly a different idea of what theater can do.
The lesson 5/5
Jack, or the Submission 2/5
The Chairs (3.5/5, because I can)
Interesting stuff about the futility of language, the pressure (and emptiness) of conformity. The lesson is my fave by far because it goes beyond its absurdists trappings to tackle misogyny in the 1950s. It's a lot to read all at once, but certainly a different idea of what theater can do.
May 7, 2023
funny how it’s always felt like the end of the world
July 26, 2018
3.5/5 for me almost all the plays dragged in some places usually near the beginning but they get better as they go on. my fav parts were the end of jack or the submission when jack and roberta ii talk with each other, which was strangely beautiful to me ?, and the chairs gets extremely good when (mild spoiler i guess) the crowd of invisible people come in. the bald soprano and the lesson are more goofy and silly. ionesco was a goofster
December 22, 2018
4 1/4 stars
October 26, 2025
Typical Absurd plays, but I have to admit that I find Beckett’s and Genet’s works more profound
May 16, 2023
makes me bald just thinking about it
October 18, 2010
These four plays of Ionesco, among the very first that he wrote, already show him preoccupied with themes that will concern him for the rest of his career in theatre: the futility of language, the terror of ideological conformity, and theorizing about the play within the framework of the play itself. This volume includes “The Bald Soprano,” “The Lesson,” “Jack; Or, The Submission,” and “The Chairs.” Needless to say, giving a summary, insofar as one could even be adduced, would go against the spirit of absurdism generally speaking. After all, the plots are not the most interesting things in the plays.
Ionesco got the idea for “The Bald Soprano” while trying to learn Assimil method. His textbook had two characters, Mr. and Mrs. Smith (who also appear in his play), and who, despite being married to one another, feel compelled to describe one another’s physical appearance, tell one another that they are both English as if all of this was genuinely new information. Mr. and Mrs. are the epitome of the English bourgeois, speaking in stock phrases and clichés (How curious it is, how curious it is, how bizarre, and what a coincidence!”) so worn with use as to be devoid of any meaning. The dialogue between the characters provides a discursiveness with which he points to the emptiness and futility of language, the hopelessness of communication.
Ionesco describes “The Lesson” as a “comic drama,” though I found difficulty founding anything comic in it. In this play, he takes on the subject of authoritarianism as a professor of philology (which “always turns into calamity,” according to his maid) relentlessly and unmercifully lectures a female student. When she proves unable to understand much of the material, he grows increasingly violent, with the student ending up dead. At the very end of the play, we learn that she is the professor’s fortieth victim. And another one is walking in the door. So much for the victory of Reason.
Unlike the work of other absurdists, Beckett for example, Ionesco’s plays are ostentatious, full of lively dialogue, and never inward-looking or contemplative, although many of Ionesco’s themes are also Beckett’s. The narrativity of drama, or the lack thereof, or even the possibility thereof, is a subject of both of their work.
At least for me, these plays are fun, but only in small doses. The constant litany of illogical non sequiturs and trying to keep track of all the characters that have similar names can become a little taxing and grating if the exposure goes on for too long. Nevertheless, these plays have aged remarkably well, and they remain one of the best introductions to the Theatre of the Absurd for the uninitiated.
Ionesco got the idea for “The Bald Soprano” while trying to learn Assimil method. His textbook had two characters, Mr. and Mrs. Smith (who also appear in his play), and who, despite being married to one another, feel compelled to describe one another’s physical appearance, tell one another that they are both English as if all of this was genuinely new information. Mr. and Mrs. are the epitome of the English bourgeois, speaking in stock phrases and clichés (How curious it is, how curious it is, how bizarre, and what a coincidence!”) so worn with use as to be devoid of any meaning. The dialogue between the characters provides a discursiveness with which he points to the emptiness and futility of language, the hopelessness of communication.
Ionesco describes “The Lesson” as a “comic drama,” though I found difficulty founding anything comic in it. In this play, he takes on the subject of authoritarianism as a professor of philology (which “always turns into calamity,” according to his maid) relentlessly and unmercifully lectures a female student. When she proves unable to understand much of the material, he grows increasingly violent, with the student ending up dead. At the very end of the play, we learn that she is the professor’s fortieth victim. And another one is walking in the door. So much for the victory of Reason.
Unlike the work of other absurdists, Beckett for example, Ionesco’s plays are ostentatious, full of lively dialogue, and never inward-looking or contemplative, although many of Ionesco’s themes are also Beckett’s. The narrativity of drama, or the lack thereof, or even the possibility thereof, is a subject of both of their work.
At least for me, these plays are fun, but only in small doses. The constant litany of illogical non sequiturs and trying to keep track of all the characters that have similar names can become a little taxing and grating if the exposure goes on for too long. Nevertheless, these plays have aged remarkably well, and they remain one of the best introductions to the Theatre of the Absurd for the uninitiated.
August 3, 2011
I really enjoyed the first two plays in this book, not so much the latter two. I feel like Eugene Ionesco had a unifying theme a midst all the madness of his work in the first two plays but it was lacking in the second two.
The stage directions in one of the plays said that the goal was to leave the audience feeling awkward, shameful uncomfortable, and guilty. I'm not a fan of feeling that way after investing so much time in a play. Producing a play takes a lot of time and some "play-goers" would say that paying for a sitting down to watch a play should leave you with some sense of enlightenment. These plays don't really provide that. Reading them they inspired no enlightenment. I grew tiresome, monotone, droning, awkward, assaulted by large vocabulary that no-one in their right mind understands, muddled, and even angry at times.
The Bald Soprano - Someone told me this play can best be described as "a house of robots." I honestly can't put it any better. This play has little or no plot. The emphasis is really based on character and all those characters live in their own little worlds but know their place. During the play they just go through the motions of a normal day.
The Lesson - This one was probably my favorite play in the whole book. Great plot. Great build up to the end. Awkward ending on the last page or two but that is expected of absurdest theatre. This is a must read!
Jack or The Submission - Impossible vocabulary! If you look up every insane word that you don't know in this play while you read it, you would be doing yourself a disservice. If you were performing the play, yes, definitely look the words up and know what they mean. Since this play is so absurd the words don't fit into the context of the sentences or situations in a reasonable manor anyways. You could honestly make up anything you want to put in place of those words and it would all be the same play.
The Chairs - I hated this play. It's so repetitive and monotone. There is no visible plot. The ending makes the less sense than anything I have ever read before. This play felt very long because of it's repetitive nature and I am almost sorry I even read it. It really was a waste of an hour of my life. I recommend it for no one.
The stage directions in one of the plays said that the goal was to leave the audience feeling awkward, shameful uncomfortable, and guilty. I'm not a fan of feeling that way after investing so much time in a play. Producing a play takes a lot of time and some "play-goers" would say that paying for a sitting down to watch a play should leave you with some sense of enlightenment. These plays don't really provide that. Reading them they inspired no enlightenment. I grew tiresome, monotone, droning, awkward, assaulted by large vocabulary that no-one in their right mind understands, muddled, and even angry at times.
The Bald Soprano - Someone told me this play can best be described as "a house of robots." I honestly can't put it any better. This play has little or no plot. The emphasis is really based on character and all those characters live in their own little worlds but know their place. During the play they just go through the motions of a normal day.
The Lesson - This one was probably my favorite play in the whole book. Great plot. Great build up to the end. Awkward ending on the last page or two but that is expected of absurdest theatre. This is a must read!
Jack or The Submission - Impossible vocabulary! If you look up every insane word that you don't know in this play while you read it, you would be doing yourself a disservice. If you were performing the play, yes, definitely look the words up and know what they mean. Since this play is so absurd the words don't fit into the context of the sentences or situations in a reasonable manor anyways. You could honestly make up anything you want to put in place of those words and it would all be the same play.
The Chairs - I hated this play. It's so repetitive and monotone. There is no visible plot. The ending makes the less sense than anything I have ever read before. This play felt very long because of it's repetitive nature and I am almost sorry I even read it. It really was a waste of an hour of my life. I recommend it for no one.
October 5, 2014
اقا و خانم اسمیت یک زوج انگلیسی همخانه و همخوابه ، به تمام معنا،با کلاس،با دیسیپلین که حتی امکان دارد همدیگر را هم نشناسند مهمان دارند ولی انها را نمیشناسند .مهمانها میایند .ولی مهمانها هم انها را نمیشناسند.یک زوج با کلاس،زنو شوهر که هر دوی انها هم یادشان نیست کجا همدیگر را دیده اند.هیچ کدام حرفی برای گفتن ندارند.همگی سعی در صحبت دارند ولی حرفهایشان کاملا پوچ و بی معناست.همانطور که نام نمایشنامه کاملا بی معناست .اواز خوان تاس، فردی که اصلا در نمایشنامه ای چنین بی معنا نقشی ندارد و اصلا دلیلی ندارد که نمایشنامه به نام او باشد.نمایشنامه میتواند معنایی کاملا جنسی و نمادین داشته باشد ولی هیچ دلیلی برای این مطلب وجود ندارد.نمایشنامه میتواند بسیار پر معنا باشد ولی انچنان جملات پوچ و تهی و مسخره اند که هیچ معنایی را بازتاب نمیدهد.
اواز خوان تاس اولین نمایشنامه اوژن یونسکو نویسنده بزرگ رومانیایی است.او این نمایشنامه را زمانی به فرانسه نوشت که از زبان انگلیسی تنها کتاب راهنمای مبتدبان را داشت .نمایش انقلابی در تاریخ اجرا بود و یونسکو اولین نویسنده ابزورد.
در این معرفی نمی توانم شوقم را از خواندن و دیدن چنین نمایشنامه ای بیان کنم.با این نمایش خیلی خندیده ام و هنوز هم میتواند مرا شگفت زده کند .فقط میتوانم اصرار کنم که این نمایشنامه را بخوانید و فقط بخوانید.به هیچ چیز دیگر فکر نکنید .نمایش هیچ چیزی دیگر جز خودش نیست و این به متن قدرتی میدهد که با هیچ متن نمایشی دیگر قابل مقایسه نیست.نمایشی بزرگ خیلی بزرگ که هیچ معنایی در خود ندارد.فقط لذت دارد ،لذت،لذت.
نکته :این نمایشنامه ترجمه های گوناگونی دارد که یکی از انها ترجمه داریوش مهرجویی است که متاسفانه دو پرده پایانی نمایشنامه در ان بی جهت حذف و سه پایان محتمل یونسکو بر این اثر نیز حذف شده است (در واقع نمایشنامه بدون پایان بندی اثر اصلی است) من بنا به سلیقه خود ترجمه سحر داوری را بهتر می دانم.
اواز خوان تاس اولین نمایشنامه اوژن یونسکو نویسنده بزرگ رومانیایی است.او این نمایشنامه را زمانی به فرانسه نوشت که از زبان انگلیسی تنها کتاب راهنمای مبتدبان را داشت .نمایش انقلابی در تاریخ اجرا بود و یونسکو اولین نویسنده ابزورد.
در این معرفی نمی توانم شوقم را از خواندن و دیدن چنین نمایشنامه ای بیان کنم.با این نمایش خیلی خندیده ام و هنوز هم میتواند مرا شگفت زده کند .فقط میتوانم اصرار کنم که این نمایشنامه را بخوانید و فقط بخوانید.به هیچ چیز دیگر فکر نکنید .نمایش هیچ چیزی دیگر جز خودش نیست و این به متن قدرتی میدهد که با هیچ متن نمایشی دیگر قابل مقایسه نیست.نمایشی بزرگ خیلی بزرگ که هیچ معنایی در خود ندارد.فقط لذت دارد ،لذت،لذت.
نکته :این نمایشنامه ترجمه های گوناگونی دارد که یکی از انها ترجمه داریوش مهرجویی است که متاسفانه دو پرده پایانی نمایشنامه در ان بی جهت حذف و سه پایان محتمل یونسکو بر این اثر نیز حذف شده است (در واقع نمایشنامه بدون پایان بندی اثر اصلی است) من بنا به سلیقه خود ترجمه سحر داوری را بهتر می دانم.
October 26, 2012
First, a word of warning: The four plays in this book should not be consumed in one sitting - the absurdity is just too much and you're likely to form a negative impression of Ionesco. That said, after giving myself time to reflect upon each of these plays (and even going to performances of two of them), I feel justified in saying that they are a waste of time. You'd do better to read other existentialist writers like Sartre and Camus, whose limpid prose dramatize their belief that language and rationality is still, in some ways, adequate to the task of expressing the absurdity, purposelessness and senselessness of life - a belief that Ionesco, of course, shares, but that he conveys in meaningless, pared-down language. To be sure, some of the scenes (especially in The Bald Soprano) were funny and the banal dialogue is reminiscent of Austen's Ms. Bates and Harriet Smith, but overall, I feel that Ionesco is one of those rare writers where the criticism of his work far surpasses the work itself. It can be very interesting to consider, for example, whether "The Chairs" is about a character suffering from multiple personality disorder or from a splitting of consciousness.
September 10, 2011
Reading these plays made me desire greatly to stage them. I'm certain Ionesco's work has a visceral element to it that only comes through (or, perhaps, mainly comes through) in actually seeing the productions as opposed to merely reading them--especially "The Bald Soprano" and, my favorite in this volume, "The Chairs." Absurdist theater can sometimes be a bit repetitive and dull, but these early plays of Ionesco's still seem fresh, and still contain the seeds of social commentary: upon suburban English life, the relation of teacher to student, family inheritance and marriage rituals, and screeds proposing programs for the good of "humanity." His political position is quite to the right of mine, but I still enjoy the sheer ballsiness of throwing away theatrical conventions and requiring an audience to endure discomfort and bewilderment (with enough entertainment, one hopes, for them to stick with it).
December 13, 2017
I think watching these would be fun.
The plays decline in quality as you go along in the book and became a chore to read. I ended up skimming The Chairs due to how repetitive it was and seeing the arc of the plot about 10 pages in. Most of the plays have very similar endings that emphasize the recursive and nonsensical. Not a book to read in a week like I did, but one where to read a play and then come back a few weeks later to read another. Three due to the context of these being performed over being read is probably a lot more enjoyable.
The plays decline in quality as you go along in the book and became a chore to read. I ended up skimming The Chairs due to how repetitive it was and seeing the arc of the plot about 10 pages in. Most of the plays have very similar endings that emphasize the recursive and nonsensical. Not a book to read in a week like I did, but one where to read a play and then come back a few weeks later to read another. Three due to the context of these being performed over being read is probably a lot more enjoyable.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 182 reviews