Jean Genet (1910-1986)
Genet’s life:
Jean Genet was a French novelist, playwright, poet, essayist, and
political activist. Early in his life, he was a vagabond and petty criminal,
but he later took to writing.
In 1948, he was sentenced to life imprisonment for robbery. Then he is
forgiven by the President upon a petition signed by the most prominent
artists.
Genet’s Theatre:
Genet's theatre is sheerly a rebellion theatre. In his plays, life is only
recalled in a world formed by fantasies and dreams. For Genet, even if
life can be perceivable it is impossible for us to define it because it
cannot be explained or clarified completely. A person can only perceive
his/her identity when s/he sees his/her imaginary reflection in
someone else. A person who does not recognize his/her identity begins
to roleplay in order to escape from the uncertainty and space.
The Balcony
Genet, in The Balcony, designs the society as a brothel in which people make
their dreams real. At the beginning of the play, a bishop in pompous clothes
giving a flashy speech. As the play progresses, we understand that the bishop
is actually a civil servant and he tries to satisfy his sexual and power fantasies
in a brothel called 'The Balcony'. Madame Irma's brothel is a palace of
delusions. There are lots of mirrors and people try to make their inmost
dreams real. A judge who punishes a thief woman, a general loved by his
warhorse, a sick man who is cured miraculously by mother Mary, or a dying
legionary who is helped by an Arabic beauty are some of the fantasies that
the customers can roleplay. The Balcony is a striking play that emphasizes
Genet's approach in which fantasies and dreams are not faker than their
duplicates in real life.
Plot synopsis
The play sets in an unnamed city that is experiencing a revolutionary
uprising in the streets. Most of the action takes place in an upmarket
brothel in which its madam, Irma casts, directs, and co-ordinates
performances in a house of infinite mirrors and theatres.
The Balcony begins in Madame Irma’s house of illusions. It is an
elaborate brothel which enables men of little stature to live out their
most decadent fantasies.
In the first few scenes the customers assume the roles of a bishop who
forgives a penitent, a judge who punishes a thief, and a general who
rides his horse.
Meanwhile, a revolution is progressing outside in the city and the
occupants of the brothel anxiously await the arrival of the Chief of
Police.
Chantal, one of the prostitutes, has quit the brothel to become the
embodiment of the spirit of the revolution.
An Envoy from the Queen arrives and reveals that the pillars of society
(the Chief Justice, the Bishop, the General, etc.) have all been killed in
the uprising.
Using the costumes and props in Irma's "house of illusions" (the
traditional French name for a brothel), the patrons' roles are realised
when they pose in public as the figures of authority in a counter-
revolutionary effort to restore order and the status quo.
Analysis
In Madame Irma’s brothel, things are truer than life. There, people have
the possibility of experiencing their illusions. Customers can play the
parts of a bishop, a sado-masochist judge, and others.
«‘What the brothel does is give men a presentment of their dreams in
their essential meaning’.»
The play strips away the mask of the society itself, by giving a close
analysis of it.
The characters try to bring back the reality of the universe but they
always fail. The reality is unattainable for people have no control over
it. So, the customers tries to give a meaning to their ‘meaningless lives’
in the house of illusions.
The play reflects a problematic life in a chaotic environment due to the
revolution.
We see a strong-minded reaction to the absurdity in the play because
George, Chief of Polie, and Irma are aware of the absurdity and they
confronts it. They, in some way, revolt against it.
Genet portrays an uncomprehensible life in the play, meaningless
because of the revolution and killings.
