In the 25 December 2025 edition of the TLS, Deborah Levy mentions the time I accompanied her to the Théâtre de la Huchette to see The Bald Soprano. Thankfully, she omits my coughing fit:

“…On a warm evening in October, I made my way with a friend to see The Bald Soprano / La Cantatrice chauve at the Théâtre de la Huchette, where it has been staged since 1957 in its original production, directed by Bataille and designed by Jacques Noël.”

“…My friend and I went to dine afterwards at a local bistrot, not on Rue de la Huchette. A few English tourists arrived and, as if summoned by Ionesco from the other side, began to talk loudly about shooting ducks on a country estate. All the clichés that Sontag loathed in Ionesco’s writing were performatively on display in 2025, as if harvested from an English-language textbook from 1948.”