The Balcony a Play By Jean Genet Revised Edition

by Jean Genet

Book, 1966

Status

Available

Call number

PQ2613 .E53 B313 1966

Publication

Grove Press (1966), Edition: Revised, Paperback

Description

Jean Genet's The Balcony, which premiered in 1957, is acknowledged as one of the founding plays of modern theatre: philosopher Lucien Goldmann dubbed it 'the first great Brechtian play in French literature'. In a brothel of an unnamed French city the madam, Irma, directs a series of fantastical scenarios - a bishop forgives a penitent, a judge punishes a thief, a general rides astride his horse. Outside, an uprising threatens to engulf the streets. The patrons of the brothel wait anxiously for the chief of police to arrive, but in his place comes the queen's envoy to inform the assembled that the figureheads of the establishment have been killed in the uprising. Play-acting turns to reality as the patrons don their costumes in public in an attempt to quell the insurrection. Illusion and reality, order and dissolution - these are the grand themes of The Balcony.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member flutterbyjitters
nah. too existential for me. and a bit too confusing with the double talk.
LibraryThing member jmx
Genet manages to play magically with the real/unreal in the context of a brothel in the middle of a revolution. Suddenly the customers of the brothel play the roles of the real life judge, bishop, general and queen (killed in the revolution?), and the revolutionary comes to the brothel to achieve
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his fantasy of being an hero buried eternally in a mausoleum. The play ends with Irma, the owner of the brothel, addressing the audience and warning them that the live they live outside the theater is even more false than within.
Read and re-read to fully enjoy!
PS: the wikipedia article is comprehensive and helpful for understanding and appreciating the play
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LibraryThing member jonfaith
Would it perturb you to see things as they are? To gaze at the world tranquilly and accept responsibility for your gaze, whatever it might see?

I found this less Brecht and more Passolini. Revolution became chic at some point. This is about assuming roles in tumultuous times. I found the endearing
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aspect to be the role of the siren or chanteuse.

The pimp has a grin, never a smile

Much as Steven Godin asserted on GR today I think the experience would have been enhanced by viewing this staged. I don't feel that when I read Brecht or Beckett.
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LibraryThing member Devil_llama
A strange play, but what do you expect from absurdist theatre? Like much absurdism, nothing means what you think it means, nothing happens like you expect it to happen, and the ending just sort of...ends. It is a darkly humorous look at a world where rebels threaten outside, while inside revels
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occur. The Balcony refers to the grand balcony of a house of ill repute, and most of the play takes place inside the walls of the house. The scene that moves out of the house into the world of the rebels for a brief glimpse is jarring; it doesn't feel like it fits. It isn't part of the world of the play, which is a play of illusions. Though I suppose in this play, the rebellion itself is a form of illusion. Genet appears to be suggesting that we all are, in fact, living in illusion. He could be right.
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Language

Original publication date

1956

Local notes

OCLC = 1539
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