Symbols are objects, characters, figures, and colors used to represent abstract ideas or concepts.

Semicircular Stage

Ionesco's semicircular stage design evokes one of the main themes of The Chairs, that the present is circular and repetitive. But the semicircle is just that—a half-circle. While the complete half can be seen as the present that the couple must circle around endlessly, the missing half is the inaccessible past.