I want to read some short plays by Ionesco. Which should I go for?

Question

I need to do some wider reading for a university application, and want to read some of Ionesco's shorter works. I already read La Lecon, and really enjoyed that, so some more plays like that would be great.

What would you recommend?

Answer 1

The Bald Soprano and The Lesson are pretty short works. The theater company I belong to have done both plays and were even able to bring local flavor into it, tweak it a little to the theme of nationalism.

I wouldn't know if they are similar to La Lecon as I have not read it.

Good luck in your application!

Answer 2

I adored The Bald Soprano.

When I read/performed it, I was heavily into post-modern absurdist theatre, plus I had a double language major. The play was the absolute expression of my studies at the time.

Answer 3

You might enjoy "The Bald Soprano," "The Chairs," and "Jack or The Submission."

Answer 4

I think all Ionesco's plays were fairly short, although some are considered to be full-length plays. 'The Rhinoceros', 'Le Roi se meurt' come to mind. Theatre of the absurd, compare with Samuel Beckett's 'Waiting for Godot? and also Pirandello's 'Six actors in search of an author.'

Try Googling: Eugène Ionesco - plays.

Answer 5

He has a great 3 act play called Rhinoceros. It's mentioned in Kundera's 'Book of Laughter and Forgetting', I went out and read it on the basis of that, and it's quite funny and clever.