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Following the successful production of Jean-Paul Sartre's "The Flies," Production Workshop announced this week that it will be holding auditions for their newest play, Eugene Ionesco's "Rhinoceros," this coming month.
"The Flies" was directed by James Rutherford '07, who came up with the unique idea of unleashing 30,000 live fruit flies onto his audience to allow them to actively participate in the play by thinking of themselves as citizens of the ancient city of Argos.
Theatre major Bennett Ford '08 attended the performance in December and was inspired by the idea of using live creatures to heighten the audience's theatrical experience. He immediately began work on his own interpretation of "Rhinoceros," in which he plans to release over a dozen rhinoceros into the audience over the course of the performance.
Ionesco's play tells the story of a small town in France in which all of the inhabitants turn into rhinoceros over the course of three acts. The play is often read as a response to the sudden uprising of Fascism and Nazism in Europe immediately preceding World War II. It explores themes of conformity, culture, philosophy and morality.
"James had the right idea with using live fruit flies," says Ford, "but his idea can be taken so much further. I think that having live rhinoceros in the audience will really open people's eyes to the dangers of conformity."
The rhinoceros are being rented from Roger Williams Park Zoo, but RWP Deputy Director Lisa Bousquet warns that "they are not trained actors and, therefore, should not be treated as such."
Ford added that although the actors have all been trained in the handling of these enormous creatures, prospective audience members should be advised that no food will be permitted in the theatre and any touching of the rhinoceros will be strictly prohibited.
Although some critics cite the rhinoceros's size and often violent nature as reasons not to allow them into a theatre with human beings, Ford maintained that his audience needs to "see, hear, smell, and, if it comes to that, feel exactly how vast and overbearing conformity can be in order to grasp the symbolism that is inherent in the play."
The actors, surprisingly, have reacted quite favorably to working with one of the earth's few remaining megafauna. "It really makes you feel privileged as an actor to have the opportunity to perform alongside an endangered species," says Lee Taglin '10. Taglin added that he had already chosen a favorite rhino and named her Darla.
