It can often be a challenge to bring anything new or groundbreaking when reviving an already beloved classic. However, this adaptation of the one-act play by Eugene Ionesco presents an idiosyncratic modernist spin while not straying too outrageously far from the original text we know and love so much. In a sea of new writing emerging this Fringe, this production seems to have been unjustly overlooked despite bringing us something both familiar and fresh to the stage.
In The Chairs Revisited, an unnamed elderly couple immerse us in their secluded world living in a Lighthouse surrounded by endless bodies of water. The vivacious and wild-eyed pair played by Bart Vanlaere and Louise Seyffert have us rooting for them from the onset as we see their history together unfurl. These brilliant actors bring natural chemistry to the stage that has the audience more invested in the couple’s undying love connection than in the madness that ensues as the two prepare to host a roster of guests in their home. As a two-hander production, all the guests that appear are invisible and may or may not be figments of the couple’s imagination, or perhaps, ghosts of their past which they desperately cling to in this absurdist reality. Some of the original monologues were cut or shortened to condense the play into one hour, but none of the story’s charming eccentricism was lost in doing so.
While this play was written in the 1950s, its notable themes of isolation and social starvation are equally as pertinent to modern viewers, and this production uses these themes to its advantage in rendering the play more relatable to its contemporary audience. The Chairs Revisited accomplishes creative innovations in this department by situating the characters in the context of a pandemic, as Vanlaere’s character states “I’m tired of these lockdowns,” and later asks one of his invisible guests if he brought a face mask; thus inviting a subtle yet clever critique of people who hosted social gatherings during COVID-19. Throughout the play, other relevant issues such as AI and climate change are confronted by these characters in their back and forth dialogue coupled with captivating rhythm and precision even when talking over one another. This leaves the audience struggling to dismantle whether it is the outside world that has deteriorated or their minds.
Within the web of madness that leaves discrepancies in reality and imagination, The Chairs Revisited deftly portrays love as the only consistently sane and comprehensible thing in this surreal and dying world. With the help of fun sound effects, lighting, a toy robot, and lots and lots (and lots) of chairs, this production is just as beautifully bizarre and timelessly ingenious as you would hope.
The Chairs Revisited is running until the 26th of August at Gilded Balloon Patter House, at 10:30.
Tickets can be purchased here.
Image provided to The Student as press material.