Eugène Ionesco

The Profile

Romanian-born French playwright (1909–1994), a leading figure associated with the Theatre of the Absurd; author of La Cantatrice Calva (The Bald Soprano), Rhinocéros, The Chairs and The Lesson.

Born 26 November 1909; died 28 March 1994. Romanian-born, later naturalized French. Key playwright of mid-20th-century absurdist theatre.

The review praises Eugène Ionesco as a pioneer of what has been called the Theatre of the Absurd. It highlights La Cantatrice Calva (The Bald Soprano) as an anti-comedy that exposes bourgeois emptiness and Rhinocéros as a furious political allegory. The critic emphasizes Ionesco's use of language to unmask social vacuity.