The Time and the Place Setting of Writing the Play

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C. Context of the Play

1. The Time and the Place Setting of Writing the Play

The Chairs was written in 1951 in France, one year after the first Ionesco’s play, The Bald Soprano. 1951 was 6 years after World War II and the war was still happening, the cold war, at that time. At that time, the Marxist was so famous and dominating. Marxist was the role in French Revolution. It had the socialist politicians supporting Marxism at that time. It was marked by social struggle. Moreover, there was also pro-communist riot in Paris. In 1951, there was French Legislative Election; and communist party got the most popular party in the elective. The philosophy development was also concerned. The existentialism got the fame in French, even Europe. Furthermore, existentialism influenced the French literature. It had tried to mix with Marxism, but it was failed. Existentialism achieved that at that time because people still felt desperate with all of the ruin. The Chairs, then, was produced the first time on April 22 nd , 1952. 2. The Setting of the Play The old man was 96 years old. He lived with his wife, Semiramis. They had been married for seventy-five years. They lived in the island surrounding water. It was not clear enough whether it was sea, lake, river, or only water. The house they lived was simple, not too big or small. There were many chairs for the guests to sit. There was one big door in the middle and there were several side doors in the right and left of the main door. There were also two windows in the right and left of the main door where the old couple jumped through. 21

CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY

This chapter is divided into three parts. The first part is the Object of the Study which presents the information related to the play used in this study. The second part is the Approach of the Study which presents the approach used in analyzing the play. The last is Method of Study which presents the sequence actions in analyzing the play.

A. Object of the Study

The object of this study is a play entitled The Chairs. The Chairs is a play written by the absurdist playwright Eugene Ionesco on April, 1951 in France. It was produced for the first time in 1952 at the Théâtre Lancry. It was directed by Sylvain Dhomme. Moreover, this play has been on the staged for many times. This play was also directed by the students from University of Pittsburg, Tara Estelle Adelizzi and the production was also become her thesis. Ionesco influences many playwrights in the world and Indonesia is the one of them. In Indonesia, the well-known poet and playwright, W.S. Rendra has adapted this play with the other title namely Kereta Kencana. Eventhough it is not the translation version of The Chairs, Kereta Kencana still keeps the characters from the The Chairs. This play was famous at that time before Samuel Backet’s Waiting for Godot was published then.