Rhinoceros takes place in a small village where locals pass the time and debate the issues of the day. One by one, the town’s people morph into rhinoceroses, until Berenger, who is a laid bank drunk, is the only villager still in human form.

Berenger’s struggle of identity is all about holding onto one’s integrity, and sense of being in a world where all others have succumbed to the new status quo, in this case, the perceived “beauty” of the rhinoceros.

For Ionesco - the play which is based on social conformity, was influenced by the events which led to the outbreak of the Second World War, and the alarming rise of Communism and Fascism in Europe. In a more contemporary context, the psychology behind this production could just as easily inform phenomena such as religious cults; neo-Nazism; or xenophobia.