Trinity College Trinity College Digital Repository Senior Theses and Projects Student Scholarship Spring 2014 The Miracle of Being Carolyn Toner Trinity College,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/theses Part of the Acting Commons, Dramatic Literature, Criticism and Theory Commons, Other Theatre and Performance Studies Commons, and the Performance Studies Commons Recommended Citation Toner, Carolyn, "The Miracle of Being". Senior Theses, Trinity College, Hartford, CT 2014. Trinity College Digital Repository, https://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/theses/400 The Miracle of Being Exploring Humanness through the Thematic and Performative Elements in the Plays of Eugène Ionesco A Senior Thesis by Carolyn Toner Spring 2014 Theatre and Dance Department Trinity College, Hartford CT Toner 2 Contents Introduction 3 1. History of the Theatre of the Absurd 5 2. Eugène Ionesco 11 3. Thematic Elements of Ionesco’s Plays 16 Death Individuality 19 Instincts and Violence 20 Absurd World 22 Contradictions and Morality 26 4. Performative Elements of Ionesco’s Plays 30 Comedy and Humor Puppetry 32 Commedia dell’Arte and Clown Influence 34 Physical Acting 35 5. My Performance: Play Analyses 39 Victims of Duty 40 The Lesson 43 Hunger and Thirst 45 Exit the King 46 The Chairs 52 Amédée 54 A Stroll in the Air 57 The Killer 59 6. Performance Reflection 64 7. Works Cited 73 8. An Odd Collection 77 Toner 3 Introduction “Who has any interest in prolonging this confusion? I don’t know. Let’s not try to know.” - Eugène Ionesco, The Bald Soprano I was introduced to the plays of Eugène Ionesco when I was fifteen years old and played the Fire Chief in a scene from The Bald Soprano directed by a fellow high school student.