num_pages: 96
description: Book jacket/back: 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 on 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.
language: English
title: The Balcony
titlecomplete: The Balcony
genres: Fiction, Plays, French Literature, Theatre, Classics, 20th Century, France, Drama, Literature, School
ratings_count: 2937
awards: awardedAt: -315590400000
name: Obie
category: Best Foreign Play
publisher: Grove Press