''The Lesson'' (french: La Leçon) is a

one-act play A one-act play is a play that has only one act, as distinct from plays that occur over several acts. One-act plays may consist of one or more scenes. The 20-40 minute play has emerged as a popular subgenre of the one-act play, especially in wri ...

by French-Romanian playwright Eugène Ionesco. It was first performed in

1951 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the United ...

in a production directed by Marcel Cuvelier (who also played the Professor). Since 1957 it has been in permanent showing at Paris'

Théâtre de la Huchette The Théâtre de la Huchette is a theatre in Paris. This small theatre in Paris' Left Bank, located at 23 rue de la Huchette in the 5th arrondissement, is known for playing Eugène Ionesco's absurdist double-bill of The Lesson and The Bald Sopr ...

, on an Ionesco double-bill with

The Bald Soprano ''La Cantatrice chauve '' – translated from French as ''The Bald Soprano'' or ''The Bald Prima Donna'' – is the first play written by Romanian-French playwright Eugène Ionesco. Nicolas Bataille directed the premiere on 11 May 1950 at the ...

. The play is regarded as an important work in the "

Theatre of the Absurd The Theatre of the Absurd (french: théâtre de l'absurde ) is a post–World War II designation for particular plays of absurdist fiction written by a number of primarily European playwrights in the late 1950s. It is also a term for the style o ...

Plot summary

This play takes place in the office and dining room of a small French flat. The Professor, a man of 50 to 60, is expecting a new Pupil (aged 18). The Professor's Maid, a stout, red-faced woman of 40 to 50, worries about the Professor's health. As the absurd and nonsensical lesson progresses, the Professor grows more and more angry with what he perceives as the Pupil's ignorance, and the Pupil becomes more and more quiet and meek. Even her health begins to deteriorate, and what starts as a toothache develops into her entire body aching. At the climax of the play, after a long bout of non sequiturs (which are frequently used in Ionesco's plays), the Professor stabs and murders the Pupil. The play ends with the Maid greeting a new Pupil, taking the play full circle, back to the beginning.

Adaptations

The Danish choreographer

Flemming Flindt Flemming Flindt (30 June 1936 – 3 March 2009) was a Denmark, Danish choreographer born in Copenhagen. He studied at the Royal Danish Ballet and Ballet de l'Opéra National de Paris, Paris Opera Ballet schools, joined the Royal Danish Ballet and ...

adapted the play as the libretto to a score by

Georges Delerue Georges Delerue (12 March 1925 – 20 March 1992) was a French composer who composed over 350 scores for cinema and television. Delerue won numerous important film music awards, including an Academy Award for '' A Little Romance'' (1980), three C ...

for his first

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

, ''The Private Lesson'' (''Enetime'') in 1963. The Professor in Flindt's adaptation is a ballet teacher.. The date of Clive Barnes' December 1965 review was given incorrectly as October 8 in the

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

' March 12, 2009, obituary of Flindt. The ballet was commissioned by Danish television and received its 1964 stage premiere in Paris with the

Royal Danish Ballet The Royal Danish Ballet is an internationally renowned classical ballet company, based at the Royal Danish Theatre in Kongens Nytorv, Copenhagen, Denmark. It is one of the oldest ballet companies in the world and originates from 1748, when the R ...

on tour. Among other companies, it is danced by the Joffrey Ballet and the leading role has been performed by

Rudolf Nureyev Rudolf Khametovich Nureyev ( ; Tatar/ Bashkir: Рудольф Хәмит улы Нуриев; rus, Рудо́льф Хаме́тович Нуре́ев, p=rʊˈdolʲf xɐˈmʲetəvʲɪtɕ nʊˈrʲejɪf; 17 March 19386 January 1993) was a Soviet ...

as well as other '' danseurs''. In 2009, PK Productions, under the direction of Patrick Kennedy staged the play at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival as a naturalistic drama.

References

Sources

* Banham, Martin, ed. 1998. ''The Cambridge Guide to Theatre.'' Cambridge: Cambridge UP. .

External links

Eugène Ionesco & La Leçon
Eugène Ionesco, La Leçon, 1951 {{DEFAULTSORT:Lesson, The Plays by Eugène Ionesco 1951 plays French plays Theatre of the Absurd One-act plays