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The communication crisis in Ionesco’s text is not merely a stylistic device, but a defining element that profoundly shapes all components of our performance. This dissolution of traditional language generates strong reverberations in the overall atmosphere, the actors’ performance style, the scenographic concept, and, not least, the directorial vision.

In “The Bald Soprano”, words gradually lose their meaning, becoming mere sounds or verbal automatisms, a perfect reflection of everyday absurdity and of a genuine fracture in communication within contemporary society. The actors adopt a performance aesthetic dominated by elements of clowning technique: mechanical gestures, absurd repetitions, exaggerated yet controlled reactions, all emphasizing the emptying of language and human interaction.

Minimalist or symbolic, the scenography becomes an extension of this absurd universe, accentuating artificiality and conventions stripped of meaning. The system in which the characters spend their daily lives, although absurd and seemingly illogical, is coherent within its own rules. It is a real, true, and functional system precisely because of its ability to reflect a world in unconscious failure. As a result, existence itself becomes a routine emptied of meaning.

The audience does not remain a passive observer. Through the playful yet unsettling style of the performance, it is challenged to become a witness, a partner, and even an accomplice within this system.

A playful yet unsettling dive into Ionesco’s absurd world, where language unravels and meaning slips away.

Cast: Octavian Jighirgiu, Emilian Andrei, Petre Sapojnic, Andreea Rusu, Marius Mihăilă, Andreea Stratulă, Leonard Petrași, Otilia Rojniță, Irem Simay Bulut, Emanuel Stempel, Ion Ababei

Producer: Universitatea Națională de Arte „George Enescu” Iași

Co-producer: Asociația Artes

Romania