The Bald Soprano

Ionesco’s “The Bald Soprano”, written in the 1950s, which the author himself called an “anti-play”, quickly became one of the key texts of absurd theatre. For writing this text, Ionesco was inspired by nonsensical dialogues from the materials of an English language course. The characters of the play are two English couples, the Smiths and the Martins, as well as the Smiths’ maid and the latter’s lover who is a firefighter. Their conversations consist largely of misunderstandings, repetitions, absurd arguments, and empty clichés. This results in a comedic parody, but at the same time, “The Bald Soprano” also raises the question of whether real, sincere communication between people is possible.