The text of The Bald Soprano is subject to copyright however, you can find several different editions in English at the Toronto Public Library. The full text of The Doctor in spite of Himself in English and French as well as one-page summaries in English and French of both plays are available below. There are also Wikipedia articles about Molière and Eugène Ionesco. Photo by Philippe Alès CC-BY-SAįor more on the plays, see the Wikipedia articles about The Doctor in spite of Himself and The Bald Soprano.
Poster in front of the Théâtre de la Huchette where The Bald Soprano has played since 1957. It was Ionesco’s first play and has become one of the most performed French plays ever, it having been performed continually (as of 2016) at one theatre in Paris since 1957. The Bald Soprano (“ La Cantatrice chauve”) is a one-act Theatre of the Absurd comedy by Eugène Ionesco that opened on at the Théâtre des Noctambules in Paris.
One of the main themes it satirizes is medicine in 17th century France. The Doctor in spite of Himself ( “Le Médecin malgré lui”) is a three-act farce in prose that was first performed on Augat the Théâtre du Palais-Royal in Paris where it enjoyed great success. Our 2016 show in French was a double bill of Molière’s comedy The Doctor in spite of Himself ( “Le Médecin malgré lui”), and the celebrated absurdist play The Bald Soprano (“ La Cantatrice chauve”) by Eugène Ionesco. Illustration by Pierre Brissart for a 1682 edition of The Doctor in spite of himself