Rhinoceros (play)
Rhinoceros (original title Rhinocéros) is a play by Eugène Ionesco, written in the late 1950s. The play belongs to the school of drama known as the theatre of the absurd. Over the course of three acts, the inhabitants of a small, provincial French town turn into rhinoceroses; the central character, Bérenger, a flustered everyman figure who is often criticized throughout the play for his drinking and tardiness, is ultimately the only human who does not succumb to this mass metamorphosis.
The play was initially written in French. All of the 17 characters, even the secondary members of the cast, have well-defined and distinct personalities.
The play is often read as a response to the sudden upsurge of Fascism and Nazism during the events preceding World War II, and explores the themes of conformity, culture, philosophy, and morality.
Ionesco later adapted his play into a screenplay for a 1973 film (also called Rhinoceros) directed by Tom O'Horgan and starring Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder.
Trivia
In a postmodern twist, the play contains an ironic self-reference:
JEAN: [to BERENGER] Instead of squandering all your spare money on drink, isn't it better to buy a ticket for an interesting play? Do you know anything about the avant-garde theatre there's so much talk about? Have you seen Ionesco's plays?
BERENGER: [to JEAN] Unfortunately, no. I've only heard people talk about them. (...)
JEAN: [to BERENGER] There's one playing now. Take advantage of it.
- Rhinoceros and other plays. Ionesco, tr. Derek Prouse. Grove Press, Inc., New York (1960).