Theatre
Ping-Pong
Le Ping-Pong
Arthur Adamov · 1955
Synopsis
Victor and Arthur become passionate about a slot machine, an electric pinball table. With Annette, they soon live only to play it, while others earn their living from the machine: its manufacturer, his secretary, a collector. From one scene to the next, over the years, the machine is perfected and governs everyone's actions, in an endless game of chance to which the characters abandon themselves.
Context
The play was first performed on 2 March 1955 at the Théâtre des Noctambules in Paris, in a production by Jacques Mauclair. It has two parts. According to the Larousse, the pinball machine stands in it for the dreams and disillusionments produced by the economic machine. The author, himself passionate about the game, gave his own first name to one of the characters. The play is one of the first in which he takes up political and social themes, without giving up humour.
Who it is for
A play in two parts, with a biting humour, that reads quickly; the pinball machine plays the leading role.
Prizes and reception
Britannica regards it as the author's best-known work; Grove Press published an English translation as early as 1959.
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