The Balcony

Description:

The setting of Jean Genet's celebrated play is a brothel that caters to refined sensibilities and peculiar tastes. Here men from all walks of life don the garb of their fantasies and act them out: a man from the gas company wears the robe and mitre of a bishop; another customer becomes a flagellant judge, and still another a victorious general, while a bank clerk defiles the Virgin mary. These costumed diversions take place while outside a revolution rages which has isolated the brothel from the rest of the rebel-controlled city. In a stunning series of macabre, climactic scenes, Genet presents his caustic view of man and society.

subjects: Intellectual life,  Continental european drama (dramatic works by one author),  Drama,  False personation,  Revolutions,  Brothels,  Power (Philosophy),  Prostitution,  Drama (dramatic works by one author),  French drama,  Translations into English

Times: 20th century