It is important to note that for Ionesco, the comic is not only an end, but it is also a method, a way that Ionesco employs for his dramatic constructions, “a tool used to counterpoint the dramatic action” (Notes 118).76 It is, in Ionesco’s view, one of the languages specific to theatre, and especially to comedy.
Some of the techniques the author uses are reminiscent of the comic tradition such as the automatism of humans, antagonisms through counterpoint, acceleration,
accumulation of objects on stage and interruptions. All these are the usual mechanisms of comedy employed from the times of Aristophanes.
These techniques, since they rely mostly on gestures, music, scenery—the language of theatre that is not dependent solely on words, are constitutive of what Emmanuel Jacquart calls the rhétorique de l’anti-théâtre. This anti-theatre rhetoric includes not only the word (la parole) but also the performance language (le langage scénique). In his analysis (Le théâtre de derision, 1974), Jacquart notes that the verbal and non-verbal components of this rhetoric provoke a shock reaction (265). The technique of counterpoint is often used by Ionesco, to cushion, with comical elements, the pathetic and dramatic. This association of contraries, constitutive of counterpoint, is key in the humoristic work of art, in Pirandello’s view, and it is the cause of the apparent disorganization and disconnection of humoristic works (Pirandello 119). As noted by the Italian dramatist, “humor is art with a characteristic of its own …; its source is a special activity of reflection, which decomposes the image created by an original feeling in order that from this composition a contrary image may arise…”(121). The antagonisms that are at the core of Ionesco’s works assure, in Giovanni Lista’s view, the vitality of the work of art, its breathing, its rhythm and its dynamics. This dialectic remains antagonistic at its core, and it is not resolved in the Hegelian sense of a synthesis, in a reconciliatory, conclusive reflection. The antagonisms are relevant through their acceleration,
densification and intensification77 rather than a formulated idea patterned after a dialectic procedure.78
Ionesco’s technique of modifying the dramatic by infusing a touch of burlesque may be found in the tragic-farce, Les Chaises. In this play, which dramatizes the theme of
waiting, briefly mentioned in the previous chapter, an elderly couple and their invisible guests desperately await the important message of the Orator, which is supposed to bring about redemption to all. The Orator, who is mute and deaf, arrives but his message contains incomprehensible syllables and disparate vowel sounds. The frantic anguish of the couple culminates with them jumping out of the windows and ending their life. Yet, before this dramatic event, the Vieux dedicates to his companion a love poem infused with morbid undertones. The burlesque and the pathetic meet in these dark, with romantic undertones, verses: « J’aurais pourtant/voulu tellement/finir nos os/sous une même
peau/dans un même tombeau/de nos vieilles chairs/nourrir les mêmes vers/ensemble pourrir… » (Théâtre complet 181). (“Above all I had hoped/ that together we might lie/ with all our bones together/ within the selfsame skin/ within the same sepulcher/ and that the same worms/ might share our old flesh/ that we might rot together . . . [The Chairs 158]). The pathetic declaration elicits laughter, which soon turns acidic because it
reminds the spectator of his or her own tragic human condition and about the imminency of his or her death. Moreover, the automatic gestures of the elderly couple as they
frantically bring empty chairs on stage serve as a comic relief, in contrast to the tragedy of their existence. In Bergson’s definition of humor, gestures (non-verbal language) are comical in the way that they make reference to mechanical movements: « Les attitudes, gestes et mouvements du corps humain sont risibles dans l’exacte mesure où ce corps nous fait penser à une simple mécanique » (Le rire 23). (“The attitudes, gestures and movements of the human body are laughable in exact proportion as that body reminds us of a mere machine” [Laughter 29]). The stage directions indicate this intensification of
movement, a farcical illustration of the elderly couple’s anguish, as well as the absurdity of their agitation:
Puis, un long moment, plus de paroles. On entend les vagues, les barques, les sonneries ininterrompues. Le mouvement est à son point culminant d’intensité. Les portes s’ouvrent et se ferment toutes à présent, sans arrêt, toutes seules. . . . Le Vieux reçoit les gens, les accompagne, mais ne va pas très loin, il leur indique seulement les places après avoir fait un ou deux pas avec eux ; il n’a pas le temps. La Vieille apporte les chaises. . . . Puis, enfin, la Vielle s’arrêtera, avec une chaise à la main, qu’elle posera, reprendra, reposera, faisant mine de vouloir aller elle aussi d’une porte à l’autre, de droite à gauche, de gauche à droite, bougeant très vite la tête et le cou; . . . [L]eurs mains, leur buste, leur tête, leurs yeux s’agiteront, en dessinant peut-être des petits cercles. (Théâtre complet 166)
Then a long moment, without words. We hear waves, boats, the
continuous ringing of the bell. The movement culminates in intensity at this point. The doors are now opening and shutting all together
ceaselessly. . . .The Old Man receives the people, accompanies them, but doesn’t take them very far, he only indicates seats to them after having taken one or two steps with them; he hasn’t enough time. The Old Woman carries in chairs. . . . Then, finally the Old Woman stops, with a chair in one hand, which she places, takes up again, replaces, looks as though she, too, wants to go from one door to another, from right to left, from left to right, moving her head and neck very rapidly . . . [T]heir hands, their chests, their heads, their eyes are agitated, perhaps moving in little circles. (The Chairs 141-142)
A similar example of counterpoint may be found in Le Nouveau locataire (1953), where Monsieur, the protagonist of the play is moving into his new apartment and brings his many belongings, which end up almost suffocating him, since, at the end of the play, he is somewhere up high in his apartment, cornered by furniture and boxes which cover even his windows, only source of natural light and communication with the exterior. The counterpoint is suggested in the contrast between the text and the performance recorded in the stage directions. With mechanical gestures, the two movers transport the fragile, apparently light luggage with enormous effort, whereas the heavy furniture is transported with the greatest easiness: «A mesure que les objets apportés seront plus grands et
sembleront lourds, les déménageurs auront l’air de les porter avec plus de facilité ; finalement en se jouant et en jouant » (Théâtre complet 358). (“The larger and heavier the articles that the furniture movers bring on, the easier they seem to carry them, until finally it looks like child’s play”[The New Tenant 253]). This traditional technique of counterpoint contains a subversive gesture in Ionesco’s interpretation because the aim is not only the comic alleviation of the Monsieur’s tragic, materialistic existence through this rhythmic contrast, but it is also an undermining of the naturalist performance of the play used in the traditional theatre.
The counterpoint between text and performance could be paralleled with what Bergson describes as the discrepancy between gesture and speech: «Jaloux de la parole, le geste court derrière la pensée et demande, lui aussi, à servir d’interprète» (Le rire 24). (“Jealous of the latter [the speech], gesture closely dogs the speaker’s thought,
demanding also to act as interpreter” [Laughter 31]). In the eighth scene of La Cantatrice chauve, the fire chief, seeking a fire in the neighborhood, interrupts the discussions of Madame Smith and her guests the Martins. Ionesco renders La Cantatrice chauve, this tragedy of language, comical through counterpoint techniques. The fire chief enunciates what he wants to do while his gestures do the opposite: « Je veux bien enlever mon casque, mais je n’ai pas le temps de m’assoir. (Il s’assoit, sans enlever son casque) » (29). (“I should like to remove my helmet, but I haven’t time to sit down” [ 27]). The stage instructions indicate the opposite movement: “He sits down, without removing his helmet” [The Bald Soprano 27]).
The parodical gestures of the elderly couple in Les Chaises, the movers from Le Nouveau locataire, the fire chief in La Cantatrice chauve all illustrate what Emmanuel
Jacquart defines as the « hétérogénéité du code », specific to the theatre of derision. It is a theatrical language that embraces anomalies (such as the contrast between text and gestures) and positions itself in reaction to the traditional theatre where there is a tendency towards homogeneity, which presupposes that the text and the play should complement each other. The difficulty of decoding the text and the performance,
experienced by both the reader and the spectator, opens the way to laughter, a response to the inexplicable and a different kind of knowledge that does not translate into words or logic. Laughter maintains a mysterious allure, as it creates connections among people that expand beyond conceptual knowledge. Emmanuel Jacquart notes a significant difference between what he calls traditional theatre and the theatre of derision in the connection of the theatre with the audience. In traditional theatre, language is the medium of
communication with the spectators, whereas in the theatre of derision, it is the sensorial that overrides the conceptual.79