The leading figure of absurdist theater and one of the great innovators of the modern stage, Eugene Ionesco (1909-94) did not write his first play, The Bald Soprano, until 1950. He went on to become an internationally renowned master of modern drama, famous for the comic proportions and bizarre effects that allow his work to be simultaneously hilarious, tragic, and profound. As Ionesco has said, Theater is not literature. . . . It is simply what cannot be expressed by any other means. "

In Rhinoceros, as in his earlier plays, Ionesco startles audiences with a world that invariably erupts in explosive laughter and nightmare anxiety. A rhinoceros suddenly appears in a small town, tramping through its peaceful streets. Soon there are two, then three, until the movement is universal: a transformation of average citizens into beasts, as they learn to move with the times. Finally, only one man remains. I m the last man left, and I m staying that way until the end. I m not capitulating
Rhinoceros is a commentary on the absurdity of the human condition made tolerable only by...

The author of such modern classics as The Bald Soprano, Exit the King, Rhinoceros, and The Chairs, Eugene Ionesco is one of the most important and influential figures in the modern theater (Library Journal). This crucial collection combines The New Tenant with Amedee and Victims of Duty--the plays Richard Gilman has called, along with The Killer, Ionesco's greatest plays, works of the same solidity, fulness, and permanence as those of] his predecessors in the dramatic revolution that began with Ibsen and is still going on.
In Amedee, the title character and his wife have a problem--not...

Exit the King is a highly stylized, ritualized death rite unfolding the final hours of the once-great king Berenger the First. As he dies, his kingdom also dies. His armies suffer defeat, the young emigrate, the seasons change overnight, and his kingdom s borders shrink to the outline of his throne. At last, as the curtain falls, the king himself dissolves into a gray mist.

Eugene Ionesco gilt nicht allein als Begründer eines besonderen dramatischen Stils. Seit seinem ersten großen Erfolg mit "Die kahle Sängerin" (1950) feierten Kritiker und Publikum in seinem absurden Theater das moderne Theater schlechthin. §In seinem nach wie vor berühmtesten Stück "Die Nashömer" protokolliert Ionesco die Verwandlung einer ganzen Stadt in eine Schar schnaubender, mörderischer Dickhäuter. So, als sei das Normale heute schon Heldentum, entgeht einzig der ganz gewöhnliche, aber freie und verantwortungsbewußte Behringer der grausigen Verwandlung. »Behringer ist das,...

In einer kleinen Provinzstadt verwandeln sich alle Einwohner nacheinander in Nashrner... Ionescos berhmte Novelle ist der Vorlufer der gleichnamigen Dramenversion.

In einer kleinen Provinzstadt verwandeln sich alle Einwohner nacheinander in Nashörner - Ionescos berühmte Novelle ist der Vorläufer der gleichnamigen Dramenversion.