Absurd Individualism

 “Rhinoceros” a play by Eugene Ionesco, 1959

“Rhinoceros” is a play by the ‘absurdist’ Romanian-French playwright Eugene Ionesco. I attended it on April 6, 2025 at the Southern Theater in Minneapolis, MN, USA.  Unlike the liner notes by Pangea World Theater, this play was inspired by Ionesco’s contact with the rise of the fascist Iron Guard in Romania in the 1930s.  Romania was Ionesco's home country.  The liner notes claim it is also about ‘the spread of Communism’ – which speaks to a political sentiment by someone in the theater perhaps, but not originally by Ionesco.  

One version of the play

I did a word search on several .PDFs of the play as well.  One character in an office in the play, Botard, does not believe in the rhinos, even though others have seen them.  Botard comes off as an arrogant dope.  Botard is also identified as a ‘union’ member in this translation of the play.  One of the .pdfs does not contain the word ‘union,’ while the other does.  Seemingly union people are oblivious according to that translation.  Botard also makes a comment about people seeing rhinos as an ‘opiate of the people’ – a clear Marx quote.  Aside from a reflection on his personality, Botard raises this in connection with fascism being a ‘mass delusion,’ much like religion or the Protocols of Zion.  In one .pdf the phrase was found, in another it was not – again referencing which translation was used by Pangea.

Historically it was the Left that was most aware of the rise of fascism, and the chief battler against it.  Berenger, the hero of this play, is not a leftist.  He is an individualist taken from Ionesco himself.  He alone opposes his friends and neighbors becoming rhino fascists.  But he would certainly be an ally of the Left in any anti-fascist front.

This points to certain other modernizations of the play to make it more current or acceptable in language. Computer words are projected onto walls behind the scene, a Pepsi is mentioned, as is #MeToo, and so on. A cat is trampled on by a rhino and this cat becomes symbolic of the cruelty of the rhinos.  Innocent, centrist and ignorant people believe that this rhino ‘epidemic’ will pass, but they are gradually caught up as conformists of a sort. If you’ve had people you are close lose themselves in conspiracy theories and right-wing bullshit, you know what the play is talking about.  Berenger’s best friend turns into a rhino in front of him, getting a rubber hoof and horns.  This reminds one of Kafka’s older story “The Metamorphosis,” where a man turns into an insect one morning.

The two manager/capitalists in the play also become rhinos, as does ‘the logician.’ The transformation of the logician especially affects Berenger, as this seemingly ‘rational’ person has also succumbed. Yet the play makes fun of the logician repeatedly, as empty ‘theses’ and predicates are shown to mean nothing in the real world.  Ionesco, after all, was a materialist of sorts, which is why human society and the ‘human condition’ struck him as absurd.  He knew humans die and that made their ‘logic’ and struggles somewhat pointless and inaccurate.  

On the philosophic front, the phrase ‘natural’ is repeated as the logic of the rhinos.  They are closer to nature as full-on animals, unlike the humans Berenger stands for and represents.  Berenger is a flawed character – drinks heavily, is frequently late, doesn’t seem to work much – but he is also kind and forgiving, unlike the rhinos. The dead cat, the odious noises and grunts of the rhinos, the thundering hooves, the hard green hide, the blinding bandanas – all repel the audience member. But even Berenger finds the rhinos to be, in a way, beautiful compared to his fat, old body.  Yet he does not succumb.

Ionesco is hoping that decent individuals will rebel, agreeing with Camus.  The flaw in the play itself is that Berenger is alone, even in his village.  His weak woman friend deserts him at the end as well.  There is no collective resistance, as befits the tortured existentialist intellectual, just his isolated fortitude.  As anyone knows, fascism, or any oppressive system, cannot be defeated by lone individuals.  It might start there but it cannot end there. Wikipedia notes that Ionesco actually sympathized with the Italian pacifist “left-libertarian Transnational Radical Party” in real life.   

“Rhinoceros” will be showing at the Southern Theater until April 19.  Prices vary based on what you want to pay.  The theater was half full for this matinee, which is followed by a chat with the actors.  The lead, Berenger, is outstanding.  For some others, their voices were not directed or projected towards the audience, so what they said was lost in mumbles.  The play especially dragged at the end.  A live musician and pre-recorded sounds provide the soundtrack.    

Prior blog reviews on this subject, use blog search box, upper left, to investigate our 19 year archive, using these terms:  “rhinoceros,” “theater,” ‘play,’ ‘existentialism,’ ‘fascism.’    

The Cultural Marxist / April 8, 2025