The Lesson, a play written by Romanian-French playwright Eugene Ionesco (1909-1994), will be staged at Iranian Artists Forum (IAF) in Tehran by theater director and photographer Parinaz Ale Agha, 36.
The one-act play, regarded as a significant absurdist work, will open on November 8 at the forum’s Entezami Hall and will run through December 2, Azad News Agency reported.
Starting each evening at 6:30 pm, the play is performed by Parnian Goudarzi, Tina Bakhshi and Ali Ebrahimi.
The Lesson satirizes totalitarianism in education, politics, language and psychology.
Absurd Plot
The story is about a middle-aged professor who is expecting a new young pupil. The professor’s maid is concerned about his health.
As the absurd and nonsensical lesson progresses, the professor grows more and more angry with what he perceives as the pupil’s ignorance, and the latter becomes more and more quiet and meek. Even her health begins to deteriorate, and what starts as a toothache develops into her entire body aching.
In the climax of the play, after a spate of non-sequiturs, frequently used in Ionesco’s plays, the professor stabs and murders the pupil. The play ends with the maid greeting a new pupil.
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