The Bald Prima Donna
| The Bald Soprano | |
|---|---|
| Written by | Eugène Ionesco |
| Characters |
|
| Date premiered | 11 May 1950 |
| Place premiered | Théâtre des Noctambules Paris, France |
| Original language | Romanian, French |
| Genre | Theatre of the Absurd |
| Setting | A middle-class English home. An English evening. |
La Cantatrice Chauve — translated from French as The Bald Soprano or The Bald Prima Donna — is the first play written by Romanian-French playwright Eugène Ionesco.
Nicolas Bataille directed the premiere on 11 May 1950 at the Théâtre des Noctambules, Paris. Since 1957 it has been in permanent showing at the Théâtre de la Huchette, which received a Molière d'honneur for its performances. It holds the world record for the play that has been staged continuously in the same theatre for the longest time. Although it went unnoticed at first, the play was eventually championed by a few established writers and critics and, in the end, won critical acclaim. By the 1960s, The Bald Soprano had already been recognized as a modern classic and an important seminal work in the Theatre of the Absurd. With a record number of interpretations, it has become one of the most performed plays in France.
The idea for the play came to Ionesco while he was trying to learn English with the Assimil method. Impressed by the contents of the dialogues, often very sober and strange, he decided to write an absurd play named L'anglais sans peine ("English without toil"). Another working title for the play was Il pleut des chiens et des chats ("It's raining cats and dogs"). The current title was set only after a verbal slip-up made by one of the actors during the rehearsals.
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. At one point, Mrs. Martin 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 styles her hair the same way." 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!" ("C’est pas par là, c’est par ici!" ) right before a blackout occurs. When the lights come back on, the scene starts from the beginning with the Martins reciting the Smiths' lines from the beginning of the play for a while before the curtain closes.
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