Die Nashörner

Eugène Ionesco’s play is considered a classic of the theater of the absurd and presents a parable about ideological seduction and the rise of a totalitarian system. “Rhinoceritis” begins insidiously but then spreads rapidly—until resistance seems futile and conformity becomes the supposed only option. How does one prevent oneself from becoming a rhinoceros when everything around you has already begun to trample?

Director Ulrike Arnold returns to the Schauspielhaus Graz for the fourth time, once again staging a theatrical evening brimming with absurd comedy that attempts to capture a grotesque reality. With a keen sense of humor, she takes on the characters in Ionesco’s play and, together with her successful team, creates a world in which the madness of *Rhinoceros* becomes palpable and the absurd is as comical as it is threatening.