The Lesson says everything about the teacher/student relationship that there is to say, and unlike those four years of college, is comparatively briefer and incomparably pithier.

Jack is Ionesco's takeoff on marriage, an already bizarre and inhuman relationship to begin with, but stripped of the phoniness and presented unsalted, unseasoned, oozing and raw.

Mr. Allen's translation is so good it's...funny. You will enjoy reading these plays, or have to face the fact that you and great literature were not cut out for one another.


The Best of absurd theater !!!!   December 13, 1998
Ionesco's "la cantantrice chauve" (the Bald Soprano ) is one of absourd theater classic plays. It is a play that everybody who is interested in theater should read. with increadable characters and a unvilivable script, the Bald singer inmortalized Ionesco


Passionate applause for an extremely important book.   September 3, 1997
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"The Bald Soprano" was the first play I ever performed in. Thus began my fascination with, and utmost respect for Ionesco's work. This book became my bible for nearly two years, and as a playwright, I am sure that in the future my themes will be traced back to the plays in this volume. From crossing satire and disgust in "The Bald Soprano" to humor and sympathy in "The Chairs," Ionesco undoubtedly altered theater in the latter part of this century. This book is not only essential to a theater-lover's collection, but it also belongs in the libraries of all serious students of literature.