Ignite presents

3 Short Absurd Works

IONESCO - ADAMOV - ARRABAL 

Shocking, bizarre, disturbing, perplexing, hilarious. 

Ignite presents three of the greatest moments of Absurdist playwriting in this rare triple bill of The Lesson by Eugene Ionesco, Professeur Taranne by Arthur Adamov and Picnic at the Battlefield by Fernando Arrabal.  Ionesco's darkest play which premiered more than 55 years ago, has the power to frighten and delight as only Absurdist plays can. The Lesson is a supurb example of Ionesco's Theatre of Derision which is concerned with the meanlessness of meaning. Creating criticism amongst his contemporaries, he derides the way we embalm ourselves in knowledge, creating a theatrical experience which is more easily absorbed than understood.Le Professeur Taranne is based on a nightmare the playwright once had; of a man trying to hold onto his identity though unable to establish conclusive proof of it. Adamov create an Absurdist classic in his depiction of dislocation and cruelty in a meaningless world.In Picnic on the Battlefield, controversial Spanish Absurdist Fernando Arrabal creates an corrosive antiwar satire, at the same time as a Chaplinesque comedy by depicting childlike innocence alongside the grim realities of war time.

Dates: August 21st to 30th, 2008
Times:  1pm Mon – Thurs,
8pm Sat 23, Mon 25, Wed 27,  Thurs 28, Sat 30
Tickets:  $20 Full/$15 Concession
Bookings:    9534 3388 www.theatreworks.org.au