La cantante calva

It has been almost seven decades since the first performance of  La cantante calva (The bald soprano). Its author, still unknown at the time, did not like the theatre. We are talking about none other than Eugène Ionesco, who without intending to, created one of the masterpieces of twentieth century theatre and at the same time one of the most representative plays of what is known as absurd theatre. A great comedy which is also a great tragedy.

Ionesco explained that “in 1948, before writing The bald soprano, I did not wish to be a playwright. I just wanted to learn English and I bought a textbook for French-English conversation, but I did not learn English, instead I learnt many truths: that there are seven days in the week, that the floor is below and the ceiling is above, etc. I had a revelation. That I should communicate the truths revealed by the textbook by doing theatre. So I wrote The bald soprano, which was given that name because no singer, bald or hairy, makes an appearance”.