The Killer (Masterplots II: Drama, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Eugene Ionesco
- First Published: 1958
- Type of Plot: Absurdist
- Time of Work: The twentieth century
- Setting: A large city in France
- Principal Characters: Berenger, The Architect, Dany, Édouard, Mother Peep, The Killer
- Genres: Drama, Absurdist literature
- Subjects: France or French people, Twentieth century, City life, Death or dying, Bureaucracy or bureaucrats, Fascism, Joy or sorrow, Isolation
- Locales: France
The Play
The Killer opens on an empty, bare stage. Suddenly the stage is brightly illuminated with blue and white lights, which gives an impression of silence and peace. This is the Radiant City, an enclave within the “dark and dismal” metropolis where Berenger lives.
Berenger, an ordinary, middle-aged man, enters to see the Radiant City; he hopes to move here. He is accompanied by the Architect, who later turns out to have a variety of other civil servant duties. Berenger is enraptured by the City, whose climate is controlled by concealed ventilators; flowers...
[The entire page is 2364 words long]
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