The play “Balcony” takes place in a brothel. In the first four scenes, Genet shows what is happening in the salons of Madame Irma, the owner of the Grand Balcony brothel. Irma is able to satisfy not only the sexual, but also the “spiritual” needs of her clients. With the help of lush decorations and girls diligently performing their roles, she creates a world of illusions. Here everyone can fulfill their dream: to become, for example, a bishop or a judge, to forgive sins or condemn them. It turns out that visitors to a brothel play roles that they cannot realize in everyday life. Unlike the maids, the character’s initial social function also turns out to be just a mask. We don’t know the real position of the heroes, it doesn’t exist at all. One can even say that there are no real heroes, because in the list of characters only the names of those who are portrayed are named - Judge, General, Bishop, and not those who portray. True reality is achieved not in the offices of a brothel or in the elements of the revolution raging behind the wall, but in some third hypostasis of existence - in the event that a character becomes a role played by another character, i.e., again, a person finds himself through another .