Rhinoceros

Eugène Ionesco wrote “Rhinoceros” in 1958 as a response to his experience of fascism in Romania in the 1930s. In a small-town cafe, the apathetic Beringer meets his friend Jean for a drink. Suddenly, a rhinoceros runs down the street! Not long after, they see another, then another, until soon, the square is overrun with rhinos! Where did they come from? Something must be done! Berenger realizes, to his horror, that people are actually TURNING INTO RHINOS! He watches as his neighbors' and co-workers' skin hardens, bumps form on their noses, and horns grow. It is an epidemic of 'Rhinoceritis' and almost everyone succumbs. In the end, determined to keep his humanity, Beringer finds himself beginning to mutate. But unlike the others, he puts up a fight. A physical theatre production that will showcase Ionesco’s haunting and urgent words, as it depicts the struggle of one man to maintain his individual identity and integrity in a world where others successively yield to the inevitable domination of brute force.