Jack, or The Submission is an absurd

Theatre of the Absurd

The Theatre of the Absurd is a designation for particular plays of absurdist fiction, written by a number of primarily European playwrights in the late 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, as well as to the style of theatre which has evolved from their work...

 play by Eugène Ionesco

Eugène Ionesco

Eugène Ionesco was a Romanian and French playwright and dramatist, and one of the foremost playwrights of the Theatre of the Absurd...

, the first of two (the second being The Future is in Eggs) about Jack and his family, all of whom are named after Jack (Father-Jack, Mother Jack, etc.).

The thrust of the narrative

Narrative

A narrative is a constructive format that describes a sequence of non-fictional or fictional events. The word derives from the Latin verb narrare, "to recount", and is related to the adjective gnarus, "knowing" or "skilled"...

 involves Jacques's arranged marriage to Roberta and, when the first Roberta is not satisfactory, Roberta II. The play contains nonsensical exchanges and strings of clichés, similar to The Bald Soprano

The Bald Soprano

La Cantatrice Chauve — translated from French as The Bald Soprano or The Bald Prima Donna — is the first play written by Franco-Romanian playwright Eugène Ionesco. Nicolas Bataille directed the premiere on May 11, 1950 at the Théâtre des Noctambules, Paris...

and the sort of surreal

Surrealism

Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members....

 conceits (Roberta's multiple noses, for example) common in many of his later plays.

Sources

• Allen, Donald M., trans. 1958. The Bald Soprano and Other Plays: The Bald Soprano; The Lesson; Jack, or The Submission; The Chairs. By Eugène Ionesco
  Eugène Ionesco
  Eugène Ionesco was a Romanian and French playwright and dramatist, and one of the foremost playwrights of the Theatre of the Absurd...
  
  . New York: Grove Weidenfeld, 1982. ISBN 0802130798.