Impromptu or the shepherd and his chameleon
Impromptu or the shepherd and his chameleon (French original title: L'Impromptu de l'Alma ou Le caméléon du berger ) is a one-act play by Eugène Ionesco in which the author himself is the main character and in which modern theater itself is themed. Ionesco wrote the piece in 1955 and it premiered on February 20, 1956 in the Studio des Théâtre des Champs-Élysées .
action
Ionesco fell asleep at the desk. There is a knock, Ionesco wakes up and lets Bartholomew I in, who asks about a new piece. Ionesco hesitates at first, then gives the title of the piece: "The Shepherd and his Chameleon". Then he reads the beginning of his manuscript: It is the beginning of the piece he is currently in. A metaleps mixes two levels of reality with one another. Then Bartholomäus II and Bartholomäus III arrive and the whole thing repeats itself - ironically, Ionesco emphasizes that he wants to avoid repetition in his plays.
The three Bartholomäusse want to convince Ionesco that he really doesn't understand anything about writing plays and is dependent on their teachings, since he is not a scholar. They torture him more and more with their arrogant, pseudo-intellectual statements about the theater and unsettle him more and more.
The doorbell rings and knocks repeatedly, but the Bartholomews forbid Ionesco to open it, as he is supposed to continue listening to their teachings. When the three of them are deep in argument, he sneaks to the door; outside his neighbor and housekeeper Marie is waiting. The Bartholomäusse continue to prevent him from letting them in because he is not yet ready to appear in front of the audience. He should first learn not to be himself, but only to play himself and to distance himself from himself. They also put up signs in Ionesco's room and take off his suit and put it on again - only then is the suit a costume and the room a theater backdrop. They hang two signs around his neck that read “Poet” and “Scholar”. Many of the teachings and measures of the Bartholomäusse are parodies of Bertolt Brecht's Epic Theater and the alienation effect applied in it.
The grotesque situation reaches its climax when all four put on donkey ears and jump around screaming Eeyore. Startled by this, Marie runs in the door, drives off the Bartholomew with a broom and saves Ionesco from her hands. In a final monologue, Ionesco addresses the audience directly and criticizes the dogmatism of some critics who want to directly influence the work of the authors. Meanwhile, Marie hangs the robe of one of the Bartholomew's on him and he notices that he himself was becoming more and more pedantic and academic in his speech.
Adaptation
In 1970 Swiss radio produced a radio play adaptation directed by Klaus W. Leonhard.
literature
- Eugène Ionesco: Two pieces. Impromptu or the shepherd and his chameleon. The rhinos. Trans. V. Claus Bremer and Christoph Schwerin. Frankfurt / Main: Fischer 1964. pp. 5-49.