a bold plan. Since the palace and its dignitaries have been blown up, he wants Irma to pretend to be the queen and her clients the real Bishop, Judge, and General. It is the only way they can squelch the rebellion. The people need the image of the Queen and state figureheads to keep fighting. He warns them, however, that the revolution also has a figurehead in Chantal. The plan calls for the fake Queen and the other puppets to appear on the grand balcony of the house along with the real Chief of Police. The people will rally, and the leaders of the country will ride through the streets in a carriage, their images encouraging all.

Scene 8 implements the plan. They stand silently on the balcony, simply allowing themselves to be seen. Chantal appears and the Queen bows to her. A shot is heard and Chantal falls to the ground dead.

In scene 9 photographers arrange the figureheads for photographs. The photographs will solidify their tenuous, once-false positions into real, definitive images. In discussing their masquerade, the Bishop decides to assume the actual duties that come with being head of the church. All agree that it is time to assume the real roles they are impersonating.

The Queen enters. Government forces are now winning the war, and she is taking prisoners to do forced labor within the brothel. She is having a new studio built, an underground mausoleum. In listening to the conversations of the other figureheads, she reminds them that it was the Chief of Police who allowed them this public posture and it is he who wants the glory. The Chief of Police arrives. He reminds the others that they can never supersede him; their titles might be grander, but it is he who allotted them that power. The Bishop scolds the Chief of Police for having torn them away from their safe haven behind closed doors, where they could be what they wanted to be to “the point of rapture.” Now they will have to live in the light. The Chief wishes too that he could play a role and flee into an image.

The news finally comes that someone is trying to impersonate the Chief of Police at the brothel. All face the rear of the stage, where two mirrored panels draw apart to reveal the mausoleum studio. Carmen is descending a stairway and drawing behind her Roger, who is dressed like a statuesque chief of police. He seems somewhat inept, requiring Carmen to show him which end of a cigar to light. They continue their charade, and the beggar appears, his sole job to worship the chief of police. Watching, the real Chief of Police comments that he has finally made it. When Carmen tries to persuade Roger that his time is up and he must leave, he causes a ruckus. He pulls out a knife and, with his back to the audience, castrates himself. Carmen drags him offstage. He announces he wants the kitchens to send him enough food to last two thousand years. He is, at last, a figurehead. With that, he begins his descent into the mausoleum.

Amid new machine-gun fire, Irma tells the other three figureheads that they are free to go home. Left alone onstage, she switches off the light in all the studios except the one occupied by the Chief of Police. She stops in the middle of the stage, faces the members of the audience, and tells them that they must return to their homes now, where everything “will be even falser than here.” Then she extinguishes the last light to a final burst of machine-gun fire.

The Balcony employs a number of visual and audio devices in order to emphasize the relationship between the real and the illusory. Every scene of the play is staged with mirrors or screens, reflecting the images of the real or the fake. Genet called The Balcony “the glorification of the Image and of Reflection.”

Mirrors are essential to a house of illusions. The impersonators in the first four scenes do not feel fulfilled without seeing their reality in a mirror. In the fifth scene, Irma and Carmen appear to represent the real by being the directors of the charade. A closer look, though, reveals that for Carmen reality is the roles she plays; she tells Irma that the mirrors are her life. Genet’s stage directions suggest that Irma is just as fake; her tone of voice is supposed to be “equivocal” and “not quite right.” She is only a reflection of what a madam is imagined to be. Her boudoir even resembles the brothel studios, with the same chandelier hanging overhead.

Another technique Genet employs is theater within a theater. When the play opens, the audience assumes that it is seeing a real bishop and dignitaries instead of insignificant men who have shed reality to enter their own imaginary world. When Irma and these men are forced to take these illusions into the outside world, they are finally presenting theater to an audience. They have stepped out of the wings to perform in the light of the stage.

Nothing in The Balcony is as it appears. Not only do the men impersonate statuesque figures, but they do it unrealistically. The men walk on cothurni, large laced boots, and wear broad and padded costumes to make them appear larger than life. It is important to realize that these men do not want to become the people they portray. They want to be them in appearance only. They are more interested in being than doing because once they accept the role as real, they must accept its responsibilities as well.

The prostitutes take on roles such as thief, sinner, and horse but do not necessarily stay in character. The thief demands that the Judge lick her feet, the horse talks back to the General, and Arthur, who plays the muscular executioner, in reality likes to wear women’s silk blouses.

Reality and illusion are constantly intruding upon each other. Fantasies at Madame Irma’s brothel are interrupted by the sound of machine-gun fire from outside; Arthur is eventually struck in the head by one of the bullets. Later, the encroachment is reversed. The fake figureheads intrude upon the outside world, parading their illusion before an audience “blinded” by “the gold and glitter.”

It is appearance which finally wins when the symbol of the Revolution, Chantal, is shot down. Without a figurehead, the rebels cannot succeed. Able to step in with replacement figureheads, the establishment stifles the rebellion. The new figureheads realize their importance and decide to transform their appearance into reality. They know that they have a chance at seizing power so long as the Chief of Police is not represented in the brothel. After all, they are symbols; he is not. Genet employs photographers as a metaphor for the crystallization of the men’s images. It is the photographers, therefore, who ultimately have the real power. What they represent as real, through their images, will be unquestioningly accepted by the masses.

The imagery of Roger’s castration reconciles him to his defeat not only in reality but also in illusion. Since he cannot assault the Chief of Police in reality, he does so in fantasy, but all he achieves is his own pain and mutilation.

As the play comes to an end, the audience is informed that they too are part of this theater. In fact, they are looking at a reflection of themselves on the stage. They, like the Bishop, Judge, and General, will go home to a world that is just as fake as the one portrayed.

In the mid- to late-1950s, France was still recuperating from the effects of World War II. Throughout much of the war, the nation was under Nazi Germany's occupation. While some collaborated with the Germans, including the Vichy government which administered France under German control, an underground resistance movement also emerged. The French Resistance actively opposed the Germans. Under these circumstances, France endured significant political, social, and economic hardships.

Following the conclusion of World War II, France regained its freedom and conducted free elections. The establishment of the so-called Fourth Republic in 1946 brought significant political transformation. The prewar government was dismissed in favor of left-leaning parties. Although the governmental structure largely remained unchanged, there were some reforms, and the French populace felt more energized. By the mid-1950s, economic recovery was well underway, leading to Europe's largest economic boom. Despite facing inflation issues, France's influence grew both in Europe and globally.

For many years, France had been a cultural leader. In the postwar era, the Existentialism of Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus gained popularity. Simone de Beauvoir emerged as a prominent novelist and philosopher, publishing Les Mandarins in 1954. A new type of novel, characterized by nontraditional forms and philosophical themes, appeared in France in the mid-1950s. Since the late 1940s, the French government had subsidized theater in the provinces. During this period, Absurdism became prominent, with Eugene Ionesco and Samuel Beckett being two of the genre's foremost playwrights. There was also a new movement in poetry known as the "poetry of resistance."

France faced political challenges, especially concerning its colonial holdings in Algeria and Vietnam. The situation in Vietnam had been intensifying for many years and would continue to worsen. Fighting in Vietnam began in 1946 with the rise of a nationalist movement led by communist Ho Chi Minh. In 1954, Vietnam was temporarily divided into northern and southern parts to halt the conflict. However, this division eventually led to the Vietnam War, which would engulf much of the world until the mid-1970s when the communists triumphed. France withdrew from the Vietnam War in the mid-1960s.

Another French colony, Algeria, posed even greater problems. Located in North Africa, Algeria was a more immediate and significant threat. In 1954, Algerian nationalists began a rebellion against their French colonial rulers. Within four years, nearly 500,000 French soldiers were deployed there to maintain France's control over Algeria. The crisis in Algeria contributed to the independence of two other North African French colonies, Tunisia and Morocco, in 1956.

The Fourth Republic collapsed in 1958, mainly due to the crisis in Algeria. That year, Charles de Gaulle, a renowned French war hero and political figure, returned to power, ushering in the Fifth Republic. Once again, the French political landscape was transformed. By the early 1960s, the war with Algeria had concluded. Within a few years, most of France's African colonies, including Algeria, had attained independence. For the time being, France was not engaged in any significant conflicts.

Setting

The Balcony is an absurdist play set in an undefined time and place. Most of the play's events occur within The Grand Balcony, a brothel that caters to the fantasies of its male patrons. The brothel features various themed rooms or studios designed to fulfill these fantasies. Some of the studios depicted in The Balcony include the Funeral Studio, where Arthur's body lies after his death, and the Mausoleum Studio, specially created for the Chief of Police and those who wish to impersonate him. Irma has her own room equipped with a video monitoring system, allowing her to oversee activities in the other rooms. Scene eight unfolds on a balcony attached to the Grand Balcony. The only scene set outside the brothel is scene six, which takes place in a public square controlled by rebels, visible from the brothel.

Props, Costumes, and Scenic Decor

Integral to the themes and structure of The Balcony are the props, costumes, and scenic decor, particularly the mirrors. To bring the clients' fantasies to life and highlight the play's illusory aspects, these costumes and props must appear as authentic as possible. Irma complains about the expense of creating such detailed elements. However, when she is later required to portray the Queen for the public and her clients assume their fantasy roles, they seem to be accepted as genuine. The studios shown in The Balcony include the Funeral Studio, where Arthur's body is displayed. Props, costumes, and mirrors accentuate the play's tension between illusion and reality.

Play-within-a-Play

Throughout The Balcony, several smaller playlets are performed. These represent the clients' fantasies, with the men guiding the action through their words and deeds. The man playing the Bishop has his whore confess her sins to him. The client acting as the Judge has his prostitute play a thief who must confess her crimes and endure punishment from an executioner. After much grandiose dialogue, the Judge is eventually forced to crawl by the executioner. The General has his woman act as a horse, riding her towards what he imagines to be his heroic demise.

Numerous such minidramas unfold within the Grand Balcony, all overseen by Irma. The most significant play-within-a-play occurs in scene nine, when Roger requests to assume the role of the Chief of Police. As the chief, a heroic figure, Roger is venerated by a male slave who is one of many who have worked on his tomb. When the fantasy is declared over, Roger refuses to relinquish the illusion of power. He wishes for his fate to merge with that of the chief, but when denied, he castrates himself. These playlets underscore the illusory nature of the play and, by extension, reality.

Addressing the Audience

At the conclusion of The Balcony, following the resurgence of the revolution and the Chief of Police's retreat into his mausoleum for a 2000-year stay, Irma and Carmen begin tidying up the ravaged brothel. During this process, Irma disrupts the play's illusion by addressing the audience directly. She vows to reconstruct her house of illusions but also warns the audience that the deceptions they encounter at home are even greater than those found here. Genet critiques bourgeois social values, highlighting how he perceives their inherent falseness.

1956: For two years, a nationalist movement has been destabilizing the French colony of Algeria. In response, France has deployed a large number of troops to maintain control and suppress the uprising.

Today: Algeria has been a free, independent nation since 1962, but it faced economic difficulties in the late 1980s and 1990s.

1956: France is a hub of intellectual thought, with prominent philosophers like Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir gaining international acclaim for their works.

Today: France’s influence in the intellectual sphere has significantly waned. No contemporary French writer has achieved the same level of impact as Sartre and his contemporaries did in the mid-20th century.

1956: France maintained several colonial territories, including the contentious Algeria. Many of these colonies, like Algeria, were striving for independence from French rule.

Today: France retains only a few colonial territories.

1956: Television is emerging as a popular form of entertainment, while video security is not yet a viable industry.

Today: Nearly every household in the United States has a television. Video security systems are widely used in many businesses. With the introduction of affordable, portable web cameras, images can now be recorded and viewed online from anywhere, at any time.

The Balcony was turned into a film in 1963. This adaptation was produced by Lewis M. Allen, Ben Marlow, and Joseph Strick, with Strick also serving as the director. Shelley Winters played the role of Irma.

Sources

Abel, Lionel, ‘‘Metatheater,’’ in Partisan Review, Spring, 1960, pp. 324-30.

Atkinson, Brooks, review of The Balcony, in The New York Times, March 20, 1960, section 2, p. 1.

———, ‘‘Work by Genet Opens at Circle in Square,’’ in The New York Times, March 4, 1960, p. 21.

Brustein, Robert, ‘‘The Brothel and the Western World,’’ in The New Republic, March 28, 1960, pp. 21-22.

Clurman, Harold, review of The Balcony, in The Nation, March 26, 1960, pp. 282-83.

Esslin, Martin, The Theatre of the Absurd, Penguin Books, 1980, pp. 215-23.

Genet, Jean, The Balcony, Grove Press, 1966.

Malcolm, Donald, ‘‘Now Go Home,’’ in The New Yorker, March 12, 1960, pp. 117-19.

Reck, Rima Drell, ‘‘Appearance and Reality in Genet’s Le Balcon,’’ in Yale French Studies, Spring-Summer, 1962, pp. 20-25.

Further Reading

Jacobsen, Josephine, and William R. Mueller, Ionesco and Genet: Playwrights of Silence, Hill & Wang, 1968. This examination of absurdist theater delves into the plays and themes of Genet and Eugene Ionesco.

Sartre, Jean-Paul, and Bernard Fechtman, trans., Saint Genet: Actor and Martyr, Pantheon Books, 1963. This biography, written by one of France’s prominent intellectuals and a friend of Genet, established and propagated many myths about Genet’s life. It is said that this book caused Genet to experience writer’s block for several years.

Thody, Philip, Jean Genet: A Study of His Novels and Plays, Stein and Day, 1968. This critical work features commentary on Genet’s life, recurring themes in his writings, and detailed criticism of each of his major plays and novels.

White, Edmund, Genet: A Biography, Alfred A. Knopf, 1993. This comprehensive biography of Genet aims to distinguish the facts from the myths that Genet and others crafted around his persona.