The Bald Soprano

Widely considered one of the foundational works of the Theatre of the Absurd movement, The Bald Soprano uses language in ways to disrupt all that we hold to be true. While the beginning of the play starts in relative normalcy, with an English couple enjoying a quiet evening resting in their armchairs after dinner, the play quickly upends any sense of logic through nonsensical conversations and scenarios. As meaning spirals further and further away from logic or sense, the play prompts the audience to question the stability of language and the process of meaning-making.

Ionesco describes The Bald Soprano as a “tragedy of language,” where language ceases to communicate anything of meaning. While the absurd dialogue, actions, and premises in the play make for a comedic farce, rather than a tragedy, the “tragedy” comes from the underlying truth that language is not as concrete as we think. This “tragedy” was inspired by Ionesco’s experience learning English from an English language primer, in which the act of communication was distilled into very basic facts and artificial exchanges. Ionesco channels his experience with the primer into a stylized form of language in the play, where everyday conversations and truths of the world become distorted.