Rhinoceros

Presented by the UFV SOCA Acting and Production Classes, Rhinoceros is a humorous and absurdist masterwork by Eugène Ionesco, written in 1959. The play comments on the dangers of conformity and acts as a metaphor to depict the rise of fascism and totalitarian ideologies. Rhinoceros challenges audiences to ask critical existential questions about human will and responsibility in today’s global crisis. Set in a small French town, the play centers around the character Berenger, an everyman figure who is initially presented as a slacker and outsider. As the play progresses, the town is gradually taken over by rhinoceroses. Berenger finds himself increasingly isolated and powerless as he watches his friends and fellow citizens succumb to a bizarre transformation.