"Rhinoceros", "The Chairs", and "The Lesson"

Eugene Ionesco

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0141184299 ISBN 13: 9780141184296

Publisher: Penguin Classics, 2000

Rhinoceros, The Chairs, The Lesson

Synopsis:

These three great plays by one of the founding fathers of the theatre of the absurd, are alive and kicking with tragedy and humour, bleakness and farce. In "Rhinoceros" we are shown the innate brutality of people as everyone, except for Berenger, turn into clumsy, unthinking rhinoceroses. "The Chairs" depicts the futile struggle of two old people to convey the meaning of life to the rest of humanity, while "The Lesson" is a chilling, but anarchically funny drama of verbal domination. In these three 'antiplays' dream, nonsense and fantasy combine to create an unsettling, bizarre view of society.

About the Author:

Eug ne Ionesco's first one-act "antiplay," The Bald Soprano, inspired a revolution in dramatic techniques and helped inaugurate the Theatre of the Absurd. He followed it with other one-act plays in which illogical events create an atmosphere both comic and grotesque, including The Lesson. His most popular full-length play was Rhinoceros. He was elected to the Acad mie Fran aise in 1970.