To explain the success of King is dying, it was said that it's a classic. It shows the man returned to its basic condition. So the anguish of death. The man who speaks with the accents of King Lear is still our contemporary. It is so that our contemporary history - a life that has forgotten its limits - accurately reflects the famous "crisis of death" that shook Europe in the post-war period. The king is dying, however, is not a sad piece. First, because the humor is not absent. Second, and more importantly, because Ionesco proposes remedies to overcome the crisis. It is also a great classical work: a lesson in dignity to destiny.
Notice Emmanuel
Ionesco, for the general public, The Bald Soprano, The Lesson possibly (the piece that goes Bald Soprano in the Folio) The chairs even . So the theater of the absurd in all its brilliance, its folly and its grandeur. Less absurd parts of the playwright are therefore less famous, especially since in the last stage of Paris King dies at the Comédie des Champs-Elysees, the author has largely been overshadowed by the actor (Michel Bouquet), whose critical celebrates excellence of the game after seeing the play (this blog is not the right place to make criticism. There would, however, to say), I had by cons to resume reading the text with a cold .
Ionesco was clearly obsessed with the question of death and old age. The Chairs , featuring the ultimate reception, as delusional that desperate, organized by two doddering old had hitherto been to me the most poignant illustration. The King Died is somehow the next step and ultimate journey: that of confrontation with Death. The plot of the play is a simple one: I Beranger ruled recklessly on a flourishing kingdom for centuries, leaving the affairs of the royal care of his first wife, Marguerite strictly rational and his heart and soul the young Mary, his second wife. (and favorite). But along comes a surprise (for him at least) the time of his death. Death announced in the opening minutes by Margaret ("You'll die in an hour and a half. You will die at the end of the show"). And the world, like the king is falling apart before our eyes over the room. The
procrastination, hesitation and regret of the dying, are of course central to this piece and coated with a ionescien humor, which helps alleviate digestion without bitterness. Beware however, in Ionesco, humor does not always mean absurd because with the exception of some outputs of custody and evocations of the kingdom in ruin, it is closer to the classical theater of goodwill typical of the author.
procrastination, hesitation and regret of the dying, are of course central to this piece and coated with a ionescien humor, which helps alleviate digestion without bitterness. Beware however, in Ionesco, humor does not always mean absurd because with the exception of some outputs of custody and evocations of the kingdom in ruin, it is closer to the classical theater of goodwill typical of the author.
Moreover, it is not this aspect of the play that marked me most of all, but rather the idea itself as a moral silent, almost cons-intuitive but finally so true (she touches me in all cases fully), the idea that the death of a man is both the disappearance of a person's immutable world who will welcome him billions more after that of a universe individual who existed only to himself and fly with his last breath. And identify each of the decadent king, the kingdom apart and these sad subjects to those it maintains in his secret mind.
To read or not?
course. Advisor to read a play is always difficult. After all parts are made to be played. But my little experience makes me think that even when two (reading and "staging") are complementary, bringing different perspectives and pleasures on the same artwork. I did not really such "understood" The Chairs before seeing it on stage. And you may well spend your turn next to a major theatrical work if you just applaud her mouth full of praise by critics simmered the groans of agony of Michel Bouquet late career.
