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COMING SOON: RHINOCEROS, by Eugene Ionesco
Produced by TLU Dramatic Media
David Legore, Director
November 11-13
Evenings: Friday and Saturday @ 7:30 PM
Matinees: Friday and Sunday @ 2:30 PM
Jackson Auditorium
On a tranquil Sunday afternoon, Berenger and Jean meet outside a café and find themselves at odds. Berenger, an everyman, struggles with the balance between work, his social life, and a fondness for alcohol. Jean, driven and refined, scolds Berenger for his sloth and apathy, encouraging him to get his act together. Their dispute is interrupted when a rhinoceros charges through the square, disrupting the placid locale. As the residents try to make sense of it all, the friendship between Berenger and Jean is tested. Soon, that tension extends to Berenger’s workplace, where his co-workers struggle to determine the significance and validity of the rhino sighting. When it is revealed that a sick colleague has turned into a rhinoceros, an expanding epidemic is introduced. Berenger distracts himself by attempting to mend his friendship with Jean, and developing a romantic relationship with his colleague Daisy. As more and more citizens become rhinos, however, he finds himself overwhelmed by it all—struggling to maintain his humanity.
Written in 1959, Ionesco’s play is a staple of the avant-garde theatre and political/existential philosophy that followed World War II, combining reality with the ridiculous in a fierce commentary on the human condition. With themes that remain relevant and timeless, Rhinoceros explores authoritarianism, conformity, mob mentality, morality, and the formation of human identity. Recently revived in London, in a production starring Benedict Cumberbatch as Berenger, Rhinoceros continues to be what the New York Times called "An allegory for our times."
Evenings: Friday and Saturday @ 7:30 PM
Matinees: Friday and Sunday @ 2:30 PM
Jackson Auditorium
On a tranquil Sunday afternoon, Berenger and Jean meet outside a café and find themselves at odds. Berenger, an everyman, struggles with the balance between work, his social life, and a fondness for alcohol. Jean, driven and refined, scolds Berenger for his sloth and apathy, encouraging him to get his act together. Their dispute is interrupted when a rhinoceros charges through the square, disrupting the placid locale. As the residents try to make sense of it all, the friendship between Berenger and Jean is tested. Soon, that tension extends to Berenger’s workplace, where his co-workers struggle to determine the significance and validity of the rhino sighting. When it is revealed that a sick colleague has turned into a rhinoceros, an expanding epidemic is introduced. Berenger distracts himself by attempting to mend his friendship with Jean, and developing a romantic relationship with his colleague Daisy. As more and more citizens become rhinos, however, he finds himself overwhelmed by it all—struggling to maintain his humanity.
Written in 1959, Ionesco’s play is a staple of the avant-garde theatre and political/existential philosophy that followed World War II, combining reality with the ridiculous in a fierce commentary on the human condition. With themes that remain relevant and timeless, Rhinoceros explores authoritarianism, conformity, mob mentality, morality, and the formation of human identity. Recently revived in London, in a production starring Benedict Cumberbatch as Berenger, Rhinoceros continues to be what the New York Times called "An allegory for our times."