Reality and fantasy are interwoven with terrifying power as two actors on tour―brother and sister―find themselves deserted by the trope in a decrepit "state theatre in an unknown state." 

Faced (perhaps) by an audience expecting a performance, they enact "The Two-Character Play"―an illusions within an illusion, and "out cry" from isolation, panic and fear.

In the course of its evolution, several earlier versions of The Two-Character Play have been produced. The first, in 1967 in London and Chicago; the next, staged in 1973 in New York under the title Out Cry, was published by New Directions in 1973. The third version, produced in New York in 1975, was again titled The Two-Character Play, and is the one Tennessee Williams wished to include in New Directions' The Theatre of Tennessee Williams series.

"I think it is my most beautiful play since Streetcar," Tennessee Williams said, "and I've never stopped working on it....It is a cri de coeur, but then all creative work, all life, in a sense is a cri de coeur."

 “…a rarely-seen fever dream of an eternal folie à deux…they don’t just strike sparks. They’re a raging conflagration that keeps changing form and direction...low on plot and high on poetry, and it presents the painful spectacle of a talented, desperate mind chasing itself in circles.”

--Ben Brantley, The New York Times

"A doctor once told me that we were the bravest people he knew. I said "Why, that’s absurd, my brother and I are terrified of our shadows." And he said, "Yes, I know, and that’s why I admire your courage so much…"”--Clare, from The Two-Character Play

The IRC’s Mission     is to bring classic absurdist theatre to an international audience in the Philadelphia region. These rarely-produced, renowned plays explore and illuminate the human purpose and meaning, promoting reflection about the human condition in a contemporary world.  Our dedicated group of artists invites you to explore with us these questions and share the word with friends; since 2006, a loyal IRC audience has been built largely through word of mouth.

PRODUCTIONS

2021

Into the Absurd: A Virtually Existential Dinner Conversation (Interview Series)

The Stronger by August Strindberg, adapted by David Robson, based on a translation by Sonja Robson (A Virtual Event)

2020

The Bald Soprano by Eugène Ionesco

2019

Dream Girl by Elmer Rice

Betty’s Summer Vacation by Christopher Durang

Come Back, Little Sheba by William Inge

2018

Time Remembered (Leocadia) by Jean Anouilh

The Eccentricities of a Nightingale by Tennessee Williams

2017

The Enchanted by Jean Giraudoux

Into the Absurd: Reading of The Witnesses by Tadeusz Różewicz

Into the Absurd: Reading of A Lovely Sunday for Creve Coeur by Tennessee Williams

The Bald Soprano by Eugène Ionesco

2016

The Government Inspector by Nikolai Gogol

Into the Absurd: Reading of The American Dream by Edward Albee

Into the Absurd: Readings of The Radio Plays of Beckett and Pinter

The Chairs by Eugène Ionesco

2015

Misalliance by George Bernard Shaw

Exit the King by Eugène Ionesco

All in the Timing by David Ives

2014

Ondine by Jean Giraudoux

Rhinoceros by Eugène Ionesco

A Streetcar Named Durang by Christopher Durang

2013

Paradise Park by Charles L. Mee

The Castle by Franz Kafka

2012

Marriage: An Utterly Improbable Occurrence by Nikolai Gogol

Ivona, Princess of Burgundia by Witold Gombrowicz

2011

The Empire Builders by Boris Vian

The Arsonists (The Firebugs) by Max Frisch

2010

The Gnädiges Fraulien by Tennessee Williams

The Madwoman of Chaillot by Jean Giraudoux

2009

The Lesson by Eugène Ionesco

The Chairs by Eugène Ionesco

2008

Oh! For the Love of Love!: Durang, Beckett & Ionesco

A Streetcar Named Durang: The Parodies of Christopher Durang

2007

Victims of Duty by Eugène Ionesco

Four of a Kind: Pinter, Durang, Beckett & Ionesco

2006

Three One Acts: Albee, Beckett & Ionesco