Eugene Ionesco

1. Eugene Ionesco Presented by Vinester Smith Latonya Wigley

2. Eugene Ionesco • Eugene Inonesco, a Modern Dramatist, November 26, 1909 – March 28, 1994) was a Romanian and French playwright and dramatist, one of the foremost playwrights of the Theatre of the Absurd.In 1936 Ionesco married Rodica Burileanu. Together they had one daughter for whom he wrote a number of unconventional children's stories. Ionesco's plays depict in a tangible way the solitude and insignificance of human existence. Ionesco came to the theatre late. Though best known as a playwright, plays were not his first chosen medium. He started writing poetry and criticism, publishing in several Romanian journals. He did not write his first play until 1948 (La Cantatrice Chauve, first performed in 1950 with the English title The Bald Soprano). • In 1936, Ionesco married Rodica Burileanu. Together they had one daughter for whom he wrote a number of unconventional children's stories.

3. Eugene Ionesco

4. Eugene Ionesco • Martin Esslin regarded the term “Theatre of the Absurd” merely as a "device" by which he meant to bring attention to certain fundamental traits discernible in the works of a range of playwrights. The playwrights loosely grouped under the label of the absurd attempt to convey their sense of bewilderment, anxiety, and wonder in the face of an inexplicable universe. According to Esslin, the five defining playwrights of the movement are Eugène Ionesco, Samuel Beckett, Jean Genet, Arthur Adamov, and Harold Pinter. These writers were not always comfortable with the label and sometimes preferred to use terms such as "Anti-Theater" or "New Theater. • Three of Eugene Ionesco’s greatest works are “The Lesson”, “The Chairs,” and “The Bald Soprano.”

5. The Bald Soprano • Origin- first play of Ionesco • The idea of the play came to Ionesco while he was trying to learn English with the Assimil method. He was impressed by the contents of the dialogues, often very sober and strange, so he decided to write an absurd play named L'anglais sans peine ("English without pain"). He originally wrote the play in his native language Romanian, then wrote it again in his adopted language French. The current title was set only after a verbal slip-up made by one of the actors during the rehearsals.

6. “The Bald Soprano” • Plot summary • The Smiths are a traditional couple from London, who have invited another couple, the Martins, over for a visit. They are joined later by the Smiths' maid, Mary, and the local fire chief, who is also Mary's lover. The two families engage in meaningless banter, telling stories and relating nonsensical poems. Mrs. Martin at one point converses with her husband as if he were a stranger she just met. As the fire chief turns to leave, he mentions "the bald soprano" in passing, which has a very unsettling effect on the others. Mrs. Smith replies that "she always wears her hair in the same style." After the Fire Chief's exit, the play devolves into a series of complete non sequiturs, with no resemblance to normal conversation. It ends with the two couples shouting in unison "It's not that way. It's over here!," or in some translations, "It's not over there. It's over here!"

7. “The Lesson” • The Lesson (French: La Leçon) is a one-act play by Eugène Ionesco. It was first performed in 1951 in a production directed by Marcel Cuvelier (who also played the Professor). Claude Mansard played the Maid and Rosette Zuchelli played the Pupil in that production. Since 1957 it has been in permanent production in Paris on a double-bill with The Bald Soprano.

8. “The Lesson” • The play takes place in the office and dining room of a small French flat. The Professor, an elderly man of about 50 to 60, is expecting a new Pupil (aged 18). The third character is the Professor's Maid, a stout, red-faced woman of about 40 to 50, who is always worrying about the Professor's health. As the lesson progresses, the Professor grows more and more angry with (what he perceives as) the Pupil's ignorance and the Pupil becomes more and more quiet and meek. At the climax of the play, the Pupil is murdered by the Professor, after a long bout of non sequiturs (which are frequently used in Ionesco's plays). The play ends as a new Pupil is greeted by the Maid.

9. “The Chairs” • The play concerns two characters, known as Old Man and Old Woman, frantically preparing chairs for a series of invisible guests who are coming to hear an orator reveal the old man's discovery of the meaning of life. • The old couple then throw themselves out of the window into the ocean; they commit suicide because they claim at this point, when the whole world is going to hear the Old Man's astounding revelation, life couldn't get any better. As the orator begins to speak, the invisible crowd assembled in the room and the real audience in the theatre discover that the orator is a deaf-mute. • At the end of the play, the sound of an audience fades in. Ionesco claimed this sound of the audience at the end was the most significant moment in the play. He wrote in a letter to the first director, “The last decisive moment of the play should be the expression of ... Absence.”