39 pages • 1 hour read
The Bald Soprano
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The Clock
The strokes of the Smiths’ clock underpin everything that happens in The Bald Soprano. From the very first moments of the play, the clock roots the Smiths’ world in absurdity by striking 17 times, prompting Mrs. Smith to deliver the first line of the play: “There, it’s nine o’clock” (9). As the play continues, the clock continues to strike at irregular intervals, following no sort of pattern, at times striking a record 29 times (18), or at times striking “as much as it likes” (19). It strikes loudly and repetitively during moments of awkwardness, and it strikes nervously as the characters grow increasingly hostile toward each other at the end of the play. When the Fire Chief asks for the time, Mrs. Smith informs him that they “don’t have the time” as the clock is “contradictory, and always indicates the opposite of what the hour really is” (34). The clock seems to have a mind of its own, responding to the events of the play and its own desires, rather than any external concept of time.
The erratic striking of the clock contributes to the sense of chaos and collapse of meaning on stage, helping support the theme of absurdity. This is a world where time doesn’t matter and, at least for the Smiths, perhaps doesn’t even exist. The clock also contributes to the theme of alienation. Without a proper sense of time, the Smiths are kept alienated from the rest of society, unable to measure their days in a way consistent with everyone else.
Time is such a strong organizing principle of society. However, in The Bald Soprano, this temperamental clock renders time completely meaningless. In a play where social conventions and meaning disintegrate into absurdity, this distorted clock reminds us that even time is also a social construct—we just choose to accept its existence as fact.
Englishness
There are frequent references to the characters’ Englishness throughout the play. The play is set in the home of the Smiths—Smith being among the most common English surnames. Their home has an “English interior” and they own English armchairs, English clothing, and an English clock. They drink “English water” (9) and “English beer” (10), and are proud to live in the London suburbs. Mary the maid’s true name is “Sherlock Holmes,” who is, of course, a very British detective. The characters believe in British morals and the prevalence of a “native British modesty” (36)—and they are shocked when anyone acts contrary to this belief. These characters are the picture of Englishness, which seems to be one of the only consistent identities for anyone in the play.
The elaborate emphasis on Englishness and allusions to English cultural references parody Ionesco’s experience learning English as a Romanian speaker. While studying an English language primer, Ionesco saw absurd philosophical opportunity in the way cliché English characters delivered simple facts and phrases throughout the lessons, with emphasis on English biases and beliefs. The caricature of Englishness in the play contributes to themes of alienation and of bourgeois social conventions. In The Bald Soprano, the characters have no sense of identity outside their very basic Englishness and status as married couples, a maid, and a fire chief, respectively. In a world almost solely defined by Englishness, the characters also seem alienated from the rest of the world, with a hyperfocus on only English communities and ideals. These ideals are subverted throughout the play, making a mockery of these “very English” tenets of modesty, good water, and social decorum, to parody wider themes of conformity to social conventions.
Embarrassment
Embarrassment is a recurring motif and prevalent emotion experienced throughout the play. The Martins experience extreme embarrassment when trying to socialize with the Smiths—for no obvious reason. This embarrassment leads to long, uncomfortable silences that make conversation almost impossible. The Fire Chief shows distinct embarrassment when confessing to the group that he’s been put in charge of extinguishing all the fires in London, and then again when the group asks him to tell stories. Then, when the Fire Chief asks the group about the bald soprano, his question is met with “general silence, embarrassment” (37) from the Martins and Smiths.
Although the characters are devoid of personality and identity, their experiences of embarrassment point to more self-awareness and inner-experience than the rest of the play conveys. Yet embarrassment is often the result of a failure to understand or a recognition that one has committed a violation. In the world of the play, in which language and meaning shift and collapse, embarrassment becomes the primary emotive experience. The embarrassment of the characters may also mirror the embarrassment of the audience who watch with uncertainty about their circumstances watching a play that ultimately makes no sense. In setting up these moments of discomfort among the characters and the audience, especially since the meaning behind or reason for the embarrassment is never given, Ionesco challenges the very relationship between character and audience. Through the motif of embarrassment, Ionesco dissolves the boundary between the fictional reality of a play and the actual reality of the audience, challenging audiences to consider the fictitious nature of all reality.
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By Eugène Ionesco
