This weekend and next, the Thalie Theatre group will put on Eugene Ionesco's The Bald Soprano, one of the defining masterpieces of the genre known as the theater of the absurd.
Often described as an "anti-play," The Bald Soprano has little in the way of what would normally be called a plot, said Thalie member Susan Palm. "The Smythes are these really conservative Brits and the Martins are another married couple that comes over to visit them. Then the fire chief comes over and makes everything very awful -- actually, the play is all about the language," she said. "The dialogue and the emotions it generates in the audience really have nothing to do with plot."
Thalie Theatre is a company comprised predominantly of amateurs that has been putting on plays in Taipei for the past five years. Like most amateur expatriate troupes in Taiwan, the group is composed predominantly of English teachers with a love for the stage. The group is headed by Icelandic director Daniel Ingi Petursson, and has produced at least half a dozen well known plays over the last two years, including Oscar Wilde's Salome and Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire.
Though The Bald Soprano's sophisticated manipulation of language will present a challenge to the Thalie players, Palm described the play's tone as a natural match for both the actors and Petursson. "He's not afraid to make things silly," she said. "And by doing this play, we just want to convey Ionesco's original idea. We just want to show that the world is crazy."
WHAT: The Bald Soprano by Eugene Ionesco, a production of Thalie Theater
WHERE: Cafe Neruda, Hoping E. Rd., Sec 2, Lane 18, No. 9-10, B1 (和平東路二段9-10號B1)
WHEN: Saturday, 8pm, Sunday, 3pm and 8pm, and Sunday, Nov. 19 at 3pm and 8pm
ADMISSION: NT$150 Language: English
RSS