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Article: Ionesco and me: honoring the master in two new American translations.(Eugene Ionesco)
- Article from:
- American Theatre
- Article date:
- September 1, 2004
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 Theatre Communications Group. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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ON THE EVE OF IONESCO'S TRIUMPHANT 1960 LONDON OPENING OF RHINOCEROS (directed by Orson Welles and starring Laurence Olivier), the eminent critic Martin Esslin approached Madame Ionesco and remarked on how happy her husband must be.
"On the contrary," she said. "He is sad."
"But why would he be sad?" Esslin asked.
"Because he's afraid of death."
This terror pierced the great Romanian playwright Eugene Ionesco as a child and never left him. When he heard church bells peal, he thought of funerals. When he watched a Punch and Judy show, he grieved for its inevitable end, even while laughing. Everyone he loved was doomed to die, including ...