Title: Le Balcon
First published: December 1, 1997
Description: 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 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.
Subjects: Intellectual life, Continental european drama (dramatic works by one author), Drama, False personation, Revolutions, Brothels, Power (Philosophy), Prostitution, Drama (dramatic works by one author), French drama, Translations into English, Balcony gardening, Bibliography, Roof gardening
Time periods: 20th century