- First Image/Scene
Genet's central, eminently psychoanalytic insight in The Balcony is that, because, in a world of speaking subjects alienated in and by language, the forms of social power are internally split in such a way that their official symbolic embodiment is haunted by a disturbing stain of jouissance, we are prone to succumb to the fantasy of an.
Clip from the 1963 film of Jean Genet's The Balcony, directed by Joseph Strick and starring Peter Falk and Shelley Winters. See also: http://hellenicantidote. The Balcony, play by Jean Genet, produced and published in 1956 as Le Balcon. Influenced by the Theatre of Cruelty, The Balcony contains nine scenes, eight of which are set inside the Grand Balcony bordello. The brothel is a repository of illusion in a. The Balcony: A Play - Ebook written by Jean Genet. Read this book using Google Play Books app on your PC, android, iOS devices. Download for offline reading, highlight, bookmark or take notes while you read The Balcony: A Play.
A ‘Bishop’ sits in an armchair.Next to him, a young woman (‘Woman’) wipes her hands with a towel.
There is another woman standing, around forty years old.
She is madam ‘Irma’. She’s clearly agitated and asks to get paid.
The ‘Bishop’ insists that the ‘ceremony’ is still under way and proceeds to listen to the confession of his partner (‘Woman’), demanding to know if she’s actually committed the sins.
The two women leave the room and after a while return, with ‘Irma’ repeating to the ‘Bishop’ that she must be payed immediately and that he must leave because he is danger.
He turns towards the mirror and sees his reflected image.
- Second Image/Scene
In front of her stands a ‘Torturer’.
A ‘Judge’ is crawling on the floor, face down, towards the ‘Thief’. She’s a newcomer in the house, she doesn’t know the script and she confess rather quickly.
Through the ‘Torturer’, the ‘Judge’ brings the ‘Thief’ back to the script rules, explaining that both the process of extracting a confession of guilt and the guilt itself, are prerequisites to experience the relationship as real.
The scene ends with the ‘Judge’ begging the ‘Thief’ and her ordering him to lick her high heels.
- Third Image/Scene
The ‘General’ is in the room.
‘Irma’ is standing next to him.
They are both terrified by the uprising that has broken out in the city and they are discussing about the preparations of the ritual.
The ‘General’s’ goal is a perfect illustration of the script, which once again will repeat his glorious death.
A very beautiful ‘Girl’, disguised as a horse, eloquently describes the ‘General’s’ death.
He is lying on the armchair, which the ‘Girl’ drags with her, while leaving the stage.
- Fourth Image/Scene
Beside him there is the beautiful ‘Girl’(the same actress who played the horse).
He wipes his face with a handkerchief, he took out from his pocket.
His moves are mirrored onto three mirrors.
‘Irma’ opens the door slightly and hands the ‘Girl’ a leash and a dirty wig.
The ‘Girl’ puts the wig on the ‘Old Man’s’ head and starts whipping him.
His face is illuminated.
Machine gun fire are heard at close range.
Genet The Balcony Pdf
- Fifth Image/Scene
In ‘Irma’s’ room there is a machine, with which she sees everything that takes place inside her salons.Her room has two doors; One to the right, one to the left.
The Patron (‘Irma’) is checking her finances with ‘Carmen’; One of her girls who got promoted to an accountant.
‘Carmen' dreams of meeting her daughter, but 'Irma' prevents her, because she needs her to be close: she fears that the uprising, roaring outside, is not aimed at the Palace, but at the ‘Great Balcony’.
The left door opens.
The ‘Torturer’ enters, called from now on ‘Arthur’.
‘Irma’ explains to him that it is of a grave importance that he should go and find the ‘Chief of Police’.
‘Arthur’ kneels and obeys her.
He leaves from the left door, walking on his knees.
At that moment, the ‘Chief’ enters from the right door.
He informs them that an assault is imminent on the Palace.
At the same time, he expresses his regret on the fact that no customer thought of disguising himself as the ‘Chief of Police’.
Suddenly, a bell rings.
‘Carmen’ leaves the room (it is not mentioned from which door, but from the plot we can assume that it is the right door).
There’s a moment of silence, in which ‘Irma’ and the ‘Chief’ look each other straight in the eyes.
‘Irma’ is scared.
The ‘Chief’ (‘Georges’) calms her down.
There’s tenderness between them.
‘Carmen’ enters and announces the arrival of the ‘Court Envoy’.
The left door opens and ‘Arthur’ enters.
He’s shaking and his clothes are torn.
A bang is heard.
The glass window is shattered.
A bullet, coming from the outside, hits ‘Arthur’ in the head and kills him.
‘Irma’ gets ready to receive the ‘Court Envoy’.
- Sixth Image/Scene
‘Chantal’, a former prostitute of the whore house and ‘Roger’, the leader of the rebels, are hugging each other.
In the background, we can distinguish the facade of the ‘Great Balcony’.
Three armed men that seem to be guarding the couple, ask ‘Chantal’ to become the symbol of the revolution.
‘Roger’ declares he’s in love with her and asks her to remain with him.
‘Chantal’ is heading towards the ‘Grand Balcony’, as the rebels take her with them.
‘Roger’ goes away, talking to himself.
- Seventh Image/Scene
‘Irma’s’ clothes and those of the ‘Chief of Police’ are ragged.
‘Arthur’s’ body is on top of a fake grave.
Next to it is the ‘Court Envoy’.
Only he appears to be in good shape.
‘Carmen’ is dressed exactly like the first time she appeared.
The deafening sound of an explosion shakes everything.
The ‘Court Envoy’, with unintelligible words, announces that the palace has been occupied and that those who possess the true power have gone missing.
The only thing certain is that they are not in a position to exercise their functions.
Against the will of the ‘Chief’, who wants to fight heroically to the very end, the ‘Court Envoy’ suggests to squash the rebellion using the reflections in the mirrors and then proposes to ‘Irma’ to disguise herself as Queen.
In an effort to appease the ‘Chief’, the ‘Court Envoy’ promises him unlimited circulation of his reflection (effigy/image) in the mirrors.
- Eighth Image/Scene
Jean Genet The Balcony Pdf
The door to the balcony opens.First the ‘Bishop’ goes outside, then the ‘General’, then the ‘Judge’, then the ‘Hero’ (‘Chief of Police’) and finally the ‘Queen’ (‘Irma’).
A ‘Beggar’ also appears outside of the Balcony.
The ‘Court Envoy’ presents ‘Chantal’ to the ‘Queen’.
The ‘Queen’ bows in front of her.
A gunshot is heard.
‘Chantal’ drops down dead.
- Ninth Image/Scene
Beside each camera there is a photographer.
One after the other, the ‘Bishop’, the ‘Judge’ and the ‘General’ appear.
The photographers take their pictures.
For a while now, that the ‘Queen’ and the ‘Court Envoy’ are in the room.
The ‘Queen’ gets her picture taken.
The ‘Bishop’, the ‘Judge’ and the ‘General’ are plotting to seize power, while the ‘Chief’s’ image is not reenacted/reflected in the salons of the whore house.
After a while the ‘Chief of Police’ enters and ends their ephemeral temptation.
‘Carmen’ appears.
She whispers to the ‘Queen’ that a client has come, to play the role of the Chief, in the mausoleum’s salon.
Through the surveillance device in the room, they all watch the reenactment.
The client is ‘Roger’.
‘Carmen’ and the ‘Beggar’ accompany him. The ‘Beggar’ appears in this Image as ‘Slave’.
‘Roger’ finishes the reenactment by chopping off his testicles.
Having taken his picture by the photographers, the ‘Chief’, unaffected by the mutilation of ‘Roger’, descends to the grave that has been built for him (‘Chief’).
‘Irma’ asks everybody to leave and go home.
Then she turns out all the lights of the ‘Great Balcony’, telling the audience that it is time for them to leave.
Machine gun fire are heard.
Jean Genet's The Balcony (Le Balcon in original French) is considered by many to be the one of his masterpieces, though it was written after he said he would give up writing plays altogether. The Balcony was his first commercially successful play. Like many of Genet's works, the play was inspired by Genet's contempt for society and obsession with topics such as sex, prostitution, politics, and revolution. Set inside a brothel where common men play men of power in their sexual fantasies, The Balcony reflects on the emptiness of societal roles. Reality and illusion feed off each other in the difficult play. Dreams may make reality tolerable, but when they come true, as when the customers are forced to live the roles they play, it is not as satisfying.
The Balcony was first published in 1956, and was first produced in London on April 22, 1957, at the Arts Theatre Club. Genet did not like the production because it was done in a way that was too tasteful and realistic. His protests led to his banishment from the theater during the production. The play made its American debut in March 1960 at the Circle in the Square Theater, in New York City. There The Balcony ran for 672 performances and won an Obie Award for Genet. It was generally well received, though some critics thought it was hard to understand because of its complexity and reliance on illusion. The first French performance of The Balcony took place in May 1960. Since these initial performances, the play has been produced on a regular basis. As Donald Malcolm of the New Yorker wrote, 'M. Genet's vision of society is both perverse and private, and his play is a species of Grand Guignol arresting, horrific, and trivial.'