Eugène Ionesco
The best theatre of 2022
In a superb year for the stage, our chief critic gives 10 shows an extra round of applause. Plus, Guardian theatre reviewers each pick their 2022 standout
Arifa Akbar
15, Dec, 2022 @3:00 PM
The Lesson review – Ionesco’s sinister comedy still shocks
Southwark Playhouse, London
It can feel exasperating at times but this well-performed 1951 drama offers a smart balance of discomfort and laughs
It can feel exasperating at times but this well-performed 1951 drama offers a smart balance of discomfort and laughs
Arifa Akbar
08, Jul, 2022 @2:40 PM
The week in theatre: Two Billion Beats; Running With Lions; The Forest; The Chairs – review
A Hindu schoolgirl challenges all around her; Toby Stephens and Gina McKee star in Florian Zeller’s sketchy new play; and Kathryn Hunter excels in a frisky reworking of Ionescu
Susannah Clapp
20, Feb, 2022 @10:30 AM
The Chairs review – slapstick sadness from a spine-shiveringly good duo
Kathryn Hunter and Marcello Magni are perfectly grotesque in this timely revival of Eugène Ionesco’s absurdist classic
Arifa Akbar
11, Feb, 2022 @1:32 PM
The week in theatre: Exit the King; Pity; River Stage festival – review
Rhys Ifans ages well in Patrick Marber’s update of Ionesco’s classic, while Rory Mullarkey’s homage often palls. Plus tales of the River Stage…
Susannah Clapp
29, Jul, 2018 @7:00 AM
Exit the King review – Rhys Ifans’s dying despot is majestic
Ifans’ performance shows he’s ready for the big Shakespeare roles, though Ionesco’s absurdist drama is considerably less compelling
Michael Billington
26, Jul, 2018 @12:16 PM
Zinnie Harris brings stampeding rhinos and marooned lovers to Edinburgh
The Scottish playwright’s take on an Ionesco classic comes with added festival gags, while her drama Meet Me at Dawn looks at the difficulty of letting go
Michael Billington
07, Aug, 2017 @2:37 PM
Amédée review – Josie Lawrence and Trevor Fox take corpsing to another level
A dysfunctional couple do battle with a body in their bedroom in Sean Foley’s off-kilter adaptation of Ionesco’s comedy
Alfred Hickling
04, Mar, 2017 @10:00 AM
Olwyn Hughes obituary
Literary agent with a fearsome reputation who was devoted to the work of her brother, Ted Hughes, and the posthumous literary life of his wife Sylvia Plath
Jonathan Bate
05, Jan, 2016 @12:22 PM
When Orson met Larry: 'Welles was a very bad boy. But he was a great artist'
It was a clash of two massive egos. As Orson’s Shadow makes its European premiere, its playwright Austin Pendleton about how he turned Orson Welles and Laurence Olivier’s famous theatrical fall out into a play
Ryan Gilbey
01, Jul, 2015 @3:10 PM
Exit the King review – Alun Armstrong absurdly good in Ionesco’s drama
Alun Armstrong rules in Ionesco’s absurdist drama, writes Kate Kellaway
Kate Kellaway
30, Nov, 2014 @12:09 AM
Exit the King review – a production with panache
Ionesco’s imperfect study of a power-crazed monarch facing death is helped by a powerful performance from Alun Armstrong, writes Michael Billington
Michael Billington
26, Nov, 2014 @10:59 PM
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