A timely revival of Eugene Ionesco's absurdist classic, Rhinoceros charges full speed at Boston's American Repertory Theater, with Tony Award winner Diane Paulus directing an acclaimed cast led by Emmy winners John Turturro, Paul Giamatti and Tatiana Maslany.

The story follows a seemingly ordinary town as its residents begin turning into rhinoceroses, forcing Brenger to confront the pressures of conformity and decide whether to follow the herd or stand his ground. But does Ionesco's decades-old allegory still feel remarkably relevant today? Read the reviews to find out!

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Rhinoceros Critic Reviews

"Rhinoceros" succeeds because it never loses sight of what makes Ionesco's story so unsettling; the absurdity is funny precisely because the underlying reality is not. The production's strength predominately lies in what happens after the laughter fades. It's the kind of show that leaves you thinking about the bizarre plot long after you leave the theater - and, more importantly, about what that plot is actually trying to say."
- Boston.com

"Sometimes the fortunate combination of the right director, the right cast, the right design team, and a historical moment combine to re-inject startling life into a work formerly dismissed as old-hat. Such is the case with Rhinoceros at American Repertory Theater. Superbly directed by Diane Paulus, with a stellar octet of players headed by John Turturro and Paul Giamatti, Eugne Ionesco's metaphor explaining Hitler's rise and Stalin's triumph seemingly rational people willfully transmogrifying into mindless beasts hits home with new force, at a time when we're beset by opportunistic greedheads and lickspittle toadies daily encroaching upon what it means to be truly human."
- New York Stage Review

"The A.R.T. has tinkered with the long-standard English translation by Derek Prouse, cutting some minor characters and streamlining scenes, but they've thankfully resisted the temptation to overplay any correlations to current movements or people no orange wigs or red hats on the rhinos in part because they don't have to. Not when there are lines in "Rhinoceros" that could come straight from an angry Facebook screed: "I never believe journalists. I don't need them to tell me what to think" or "All you get at universities are effete intellectuals with no practical knowledge of life" (both spoken by Clay Singer as another of Berenger's co-workers, a toothy Marxist with fiery opinions and no spine)."
 - Boston Globe

"Yet, for anyone who's had close friends or family members become unrecognizable over the past decades because of political extremismand grappled with how to breach that gulf in valuesRhinoceros will make sense of the absurdity of our current times. It deserves to be seen by an even larger audience, and here's hoping it makes its way to a New York City stage soon."
 - 1 Minute Critic