Genet’s horrifying vision has aroused violent controversy; the play has been called “a theatrical experience as startling as anything since Ibsen’s revelation about syphilis”. The setting is a brothel in the midst of a revolution that has wiped out all the real holders of power except the Chief of Police, who now enlists the regular customers to play out the fantasy roles that destiny, has denied them. In macabre, climactic scenes, the playwright develops his mocking view of man and society.
