ART Stages Ionesco's 'Rhinoceros' Through Sept. 27 as Turturro, Giamatti Lead Cast
Updated
Updated · The Boston Globe · Aug 22
ART Stages Ionesco's 'Rhinoceros' Through Sept. 27 as Turturro, Giamatti Lead Cast
3 articles · Updated · The Boston Globe · Aug 22
Summary
American Repertory Theater's new "Rhinoceros" turns Eugene Ionesco's 1959 absurdist classic into a sharply current warning about conformity and totalitarianism at Cambridge's Loeb Drama Center.
John Turturro anchors Berenger's resistance as townspeople become rhinoceroses, while Paul Giamatti delivers the production's standout turn with Jean's comic-terrifying transformation in Act II.
Diane Paulus keeps the staging spare and avoids blunt modern political caricature, letting updated dialogue, Fitz Patton's jackboot-like sound design and Riccardo Hernández's stark set carry the menace.
Tatiana Maslany and Alex Ross deepen the later scenes, even as the second half loses some momentum before Turturro's Berenger hardens into the play's weary final holdout.
The production runs through Sept. 27, with tickets starting at $43, underscoring how a 1959 play about fascism and mass accommodation still lands with unsettling force.