This may be the perfect time to revive a play about the consolations of the imagination, and of theatre, in the aftermath of apocalypse – and one written by the godfather of the absurd.
In Eugène Ionesco’s 1952 tragic farce, a pair of ancient performers create entertainment out of the nothingness of their living room to fend off fear of the destroyed world outside. Director Omar Elerian’s translation (with added meta elements) reaches for all its laughs and is woven into sparkling gold by husband-and-wife team Marcello Magni and Kathryn Hunter. The latter comes fresh from playing the witches in Joel Coen’s The Tragedy of Macbeth and the pair are as magnetic as each other.
