Eugene Ionesco, born in Romania in 1912, is known as the father of the theater of the absurd. He grew up in France and Romania, settling in France in 1939. His first play, The Bald Soprano, satirized the deadliness of life frozen in meaningless formalities. Some of his other important plays include The Lesson, The Chairs, Rhinoceros, and Hunger and Thirst. His novel Le Solitaire was the basis for the 1971 film La Vase in which Ionesco played the lead. Eugene Ionesco was elected to the Academie Francaise in 1970. He died in 1994.
Martin Crimp was born in 1956. His plays include Three Attempted Acts (1985), Dealing with Clair (1988), Play with Repeats (1989), No One Sees the Video (1991), Getting Attention (1992), The Treatment (1993, winner of the John Whiting Award), Attempts on her Life (1997) and The Country (2000). He has translated or adapted work by Ionesco (The Chairs, 1997), Genet (The Maids, 1999) and Moliere (The Misanthrope, 1996).His work in the UK has been produced by the Orange Tree Theatre, the West Yorkshire Playhouse, the Stephen Joseph Theatre, the RSC, the Young Vic and the Royal Court, where he was writer-in-residence in 1997. In New York his work has been seen at the Public Theater and the… Classic Stage Company, as well as on Broadway.