Initially dismissed by the critics and poorly attended by the public, Eugène Ionesco (1909-1994), the French-Rumanian playwright, went on to become one of the leading dramatists of the French avant-garde in the 1950’s. His plays were performed world-wide, attracting big names.
The Lesson, a classic of the Theatre of the Absurd, premiered in Paris in 1951 and has not had a major revival in Britain since the young Prunella Scales acted it in 1957. The last time I saw the play, was at the Royal Opera House in a dance theatre adaptation by the Danish choreographer Flemming Flindt.
A professor of mathematics and philology in his fifties gets so carried away with his own words that he abuses, rapes and kills an 18-year-old pupil.
The girl can’t subtract figures but she can multiply them and suddenly multiplies the most fantastic sum in her head, explaining to the astonished professor that she has memorised all the answers.
Hazel Caulfield plays the girl with a bright innocent girly smile. Jerome Ngonadi is cast as the serial killer who psychologically manipulates her.
Ionesco’s one-act play, a surreal satire on power and knowledge, ends with a blatant political statement. The professor’s maid and accomplice, gives the professor she controls a Nazi arm-band. The maid is played by Julie Stark.
Max Lewendel, founder of the Icarus Theatre Company, directs. The production is never hilarious nor sexually horrific enough.
Icarus is keen to make their work accessible to the deaf and the hard of hearing. It’s a worthy aim; but, in this particular instance, there is far too much creative captioning technology. It overwhelms the play. The constant opening and closing of cupboard doors is distracting. There is so much writing on the panels, the words flashing on and off, that the dialogue becomes difficult to read.
Following its London run, Icarus will be touring The Lesson, visiting 40 venues in the UK. For more information follow this link.
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