Ionesco, Eugène

Romanian-born French dramatist. He was a leading exponent of the Theatre of the Absurd. Most of his plays are in one act and concern the futility of language as a means of communication. These include La Cantatrice chauve/The Bald Prima Donna (1950) and La Leçon/The Lesson (1951). Later full-length plays include Le Rhinocéros (1958) and Le Roi se meurt/Exit the King (1961).

La Cantatrice chauve
The comic wordplay of La Cantatrice chauve was inspired by the artificial sentences of a teach-yourself English book, and parodies both everyday conversation and the theatre. It has played in Paris virtually without a break since its first performance in 1950.