When The Chairs opened in Paris in 1952, critical reaction was less positive than to Ionesco's other early plays, perhaps because the critics expected "more wit, more verbal fireworks and less pathos", or because the production followed the text with "painstaking literalness".[16] Professional writers, by contrast, defended the work. Jacques Audiberti described the play as "a masterpiece".[19]
Its opening in London in 1957 was controversial, arriving soon after the realist drama Look Back in Anger, which had been praised by Kenneth Tynan, as recalled by its leading actress Joan Plowright:
Tynan expressed his dislike of Ionesco's nihilistic view that communication between human beings is impossible; and went on to chastise those who championed the playwright's evocative escape from realism. He warned that it must not be held up for emulation as the gateway to the theatre of the future. This sparked off a vigorous controversy on the merits of the Romanian-born author, and escalated into a debate on the role of the artist in society. Ionesco wrote to The Observer in his own defence, claiming a work of art has nothing to do with doctrine and saying that a critic's job was to look at it and decide whether it was true to its own nature. Devine wrote defending his author's conception of theatre as an art and Orson Welles joined in on Tynan's side, saying "an artist must confirm the values of his society; as he must challenge them". The correspondence grew larger as half of London's artistic and literary community battled it out... I found it exciting to be involved in such a hullabaloo, and of course it meant that the theatre was packed every night.[20]
Michael Billington included The Chairs as one of his "101 Greatest Plays" on the strength of its central image of "two old people rushing about in a manic frenzy filling the stage with chairs for a set of invisible guests".[5]
