The Lesson — E. Ionesco (dir. R. Kazlas)

Rolandas Kazlas invites you to “The Lesson”*—an educational, scientific, cultural and health mystery**, a teaching drama, comedy, tragedy, therapy and Wikipedia***, as well as other absurdities****—in this premiere production of “The Lesson.” Based on the play of the same name by French playwright Eugene Ionesco, it is for anyone who wants to find out what chalk was (and still is) eaten with. Without a breather or an intermission... The length of “The Lesson” will depend on the pupil’s knowledge, abilities and willingness or unwillingness to learn, and on the teacher’s mood and patience—which will depend on the pupil’s knowledge, abilities and willingness or unwillingness to learn, and on the teacher... And there is every reason to expect “The Lesson” to be fun, playful, interesting and useful: three very distinctive and interesting actors from different generations will meet on stage—Taura Kvietinskaitė (Pupil); the expressive actor Audronis Rūkas (Duty Staff); and the director of the production, Rolandas Kazlas, who plays the Teacher and always knows how to pleasantly surprise. Neringa Keršulytė is the head of the art club and living corner, and the costume designer.

The Romanian-born French playwright Eugene Ionesco (1909–1994) is considered one of the founders of the Theatre of the Absurd and one of the most significant playwrights of the 20th century. Among his best-known examples of absurdist drama are the tragicomedy “The Bald Soprano” (“La Cantatrice chauve,” 1950), “The Lesson” (“La Leçon,” 1951), as well as “The Chairs” (“Les Chaises,” 1952) and “Rhinoceros” (“Rhinocéros,” 1959). His one-act plays are full of illogical situations and clichéd, exaggeratedly polite dialogue. By ridiculing banality, they reveal the absurdity of human existence. The playwright himself called them “anti-plays.”

Director Rolandas Kazlas shares his thoughts on the premiere of “The Lesson”: “Although the plays of the French playwright E. Ionesco are considered absurdist, to tell the truth, I see no absurdity in them. There is far more absurdity in life itself—in everyday life, in people’s thinking and communication, or in any other sphere—and it is much funnier, more painful and cruel. The text of the play itself is like a carnival costume, a jester’s or clown’s outfit, covering a real body: that of a person, society, states, humanity... You can sense that, beneath the juggling of words, acrobatics and absurd phrases that seem like nonsense, the playwright is urging us to see and recognise serious things. In E. Ionesco’s one-act play “The Lesson,” which the playwright himself described as a comic drama, there is plenty of comedy and drama, and even a hint of tragedy. In short, the play has everything needed for a good production, and it is no coincidence that the playwright gave it such a simple and precise title: “The Lesson.” Lessons not learned often have painful consequences. Life’s exams and tests are harder and more serious trials, and the strictest teacher at school may seem like a “gentle lamb” compared with those “Teachers” who want to teach everyone at once, the whole world—and, unfortunately, such people appear from time to time and, as we know, have never been lacking in human history. I think the playwright is talking about th”