critical Thoughts
As a cast and crew we started with the question, "what does the play mean?" Many theorists have attempted to answer this question and we studied several interpretations of the play. Some of the most common themes center on Alzheimer's or insanity. Others believe it is a post-apocalyptic tale. One critic argues that it is a play about space (as in outer space).
One concrete meaning can be found in The Chairs. It is about the failures of communication. The Old Man and Old Woman talk often about the message the Old Man has to convey. Yet, he states several times that he is not gifted with speaking and needs help to convey his message. When the Orator finally arrives, we find he is mute and unable to communicate. No matter how hard he tries, he cannot get the message across. Furthermore, we see a couple who communicate through make-believe and stories that may or may not be true. There are numerous examples of one of the couple telling a story or answering a question only to have the other one negate it. Ionesco makes a point of including in his script silences in conversations and meaningless dialogue with strangers. He questions the effectiveness of communication, pointing out that we fail to really listen to one another and talk to each other in an effective manner.
Albert Bermel in "Ionesco: Anything but Absurd" points out "some critics therefore assumed that Ionesco finds words meaningless. To say this is to deny him his comic gifts. His plays reveal how words can be used without regard to meaning, and often are, platitudes and misplaced proverbs."
Ionesco also felt that it was important to take away realism in order to make people see the world as it really is. That is why he found the absurdist mode so useful. Ionesco scholar Lamotte, writes that Ionesco "bludgeons" us out of our mental sloth. Ionesco wrote that in The Chairs "above all, I attempted to convey my own feelings as to the unreality of the world."
Some of the elements of The Chairs seem autobiographical. The Old Woman says several times that the Old Man "could have been" many things if he had only been more focused. Ionesco stated in Fragments of a Journal in 1968, "I could have done many things, I could have realized many dreams if weariness, an inconceivable, enormous weariness had not overpowered me for the last fifteen years or so, or even far longer." The play points out the many dreams that people have and don't fulfill for a variety of reasons; the reasons we tell ourselves and others.
Still others say The Chairs is about marriage, or the breakdown or end of marriage. We see two people who are completely comfortable with each other but who cannot really communicate effectively. We see a man who is dependent on his wife and a wife who is both mother and wife to her husband.
As you can see, the play has many meanings and it is certainly a play that is open to interpretation. We would love to hear your interpretation of this play. Please visit the blog to post your thoughts.