Ionesco, Beckett, and the Theater of the Absurd

A new genre of play appeared on French stages in the 1950s. Critics called it The Theater of the Absurd. The two most prominent playwrights were the Romanian Eugene Ionesco and the Irish Samuel Beckett, although both wrote in French. They were viewed as revolutionary. Ionesco was elected a member of the Academie Francaise, a bastion of conservatism, and Beckett was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. We will examine some of their works.

1. The theater in France in the first half of the 20^th Century
2. King Ubu and the Surrealistic Theater
3. Ionesco: The Bald Soprano and The Lesson
4. Jack or the Submission and The future is in Eggs
5. The Chairs
6. The Rhinoceroses
7. Exit the King
8. Ionesco and Beckett
9. Beckett: Waiting for Godot

10. Waiting for Godot (continued)

11. Endgame

12. Endgame (continued)

13. Summary