The Bald Soprano

Alternate Titles

• The Bald Prima Donna

Description

The idea of the play came to Ionesco while he was trying to learn English with the Assimil method. He was impressed by the contents of the dialogues, often very sober and strange, so he decided to write an absurd play named ***L'anglais sans peine*** ("English without toil"). Another working title for the play was ***Il pleut des chiens et des chats*** ("It's raining cats and dogs"). He originally wrote the play in his native language Romanian, then wrote it again in his adopted language French.

Description

The Bald Soprano Anti-play, Followed By an Unpublished Scene. Translated by Donald A. Allen, Typographical interpretations by Massin and Photographic interpretations by Henry Cohen (Based on the Nicolas Bataille Paris Production). New Grove Press Inc., 1965. Hardcover in pictorial DJ. 4to, unpaginated. First English language edition of this typographic interpretation of Ionesco's first dramatic work, the point of origin of absurdist theater. Designed throughout by experimental typographer Massin, who was also responsible for the design of Raymond Queneau's "Cent mille milliards de poemes", in which each line of poetry is printed on a separate strip of paper, forming a huge exquisite corps of words. These two book designs are considered the height of Massin's output. "In his design... each character is indicated not by name, but by a line image next to the speech which he is to utter. The shape of the words is distorted so as to give emphasis to the sound of the speech. By using techniques which fall somewhere between those of the cinema and the comic strip, he ensures that, in the dialogue, the primary constituents of word and image are balanced in a way that heightens the meaning of the play." [Gerald Woods et al., "Art Without Boundaries", pp. 148-9].

Subjects

Other Editions

• The Bald Soprano: anti-play, followed by an unpublished sceneHardcoverGrove Press1965-01-01
• The bald sopranoGrove Press1965-01-01
• The bald sopranoGrove Press1965-01-01
• The bald sopranoGrove Press2007-01-01