8/3/2019 Program Notes for Ionesco's Rhinoceros at New World
School of the Arts, Miami, FL. Director: Chaz Mena
1/2
It is ironic thatwithin onegenerationafterthe awfulstate systems
that quashedindividuals worldwide was defeated in joy and relegated
to the ash heap of
history,freethinkingisagainindanger.Post-modernismhascalleditirrelevantormisguided,athrowbacktotheEnlightenmentandnothingmore.Orthodoxiesof
anypersuasioncondemnittohellfire,globalismexploitsitforeconomicgain,and
consumerismhaspackageditandsentitdownconvenientlymonitoredchannelsonthe
web. Theocracies are in vogue; the idea of a national character is
again
popular,text-bookandarbitraryracescreatedbythemostreactionaryelementsworldwidearerobbingpeopleofthefactthattheonlyracewebelongto,theHuman
Race,(eveninthefaceofempiricalevidenceprovingthehumanfamilyisafact)is
nothingbutromanticallyinspired,liberalspin.
IonescogivesusanoasisinRhinoceros,amanifestofortheIndividual.Atthetimehe
wrotethispiecein1960,Marxismwasthedarlingofwesternprogressives,who
turnedablindeyetotheexcessesofasystemthatwoulddisallowthemthevery
discoursethattheyenjoyedintheirowncountries.Withintenyears,fromthetime
betweenwritingBaldSopranotoRhinoceros,Ionescohadturnedfromenfant
terribleoftheavant-gardetothehackneyedpurveyorofthestatusquoandenemy
totheworkingclass!
8/3/2019 Program Notes for Ionesco's Rhinoceros at New World
School of the Arts, Miami, FL. Director: Chaz Mena
2/2
ByIonescosownadmission,Rhinoceroscametohiminadream,whichhewrote
intoashortstoryandsoonafteraplay.ItisastudyinFascism,underwhich
IonescofirstencounteredinhisnativeRomaniaandthenlaterundertheVichy
governmentinFrance,whenin1942heimmigratedtoliveinMarseilles.HewaswitnesstothegreatfireintheoldcityperpetratedbytheGestapoandtheirFrench
lackeys,theMilicefranaise.Theplayisanextendedmetaphor,perhapsallegorical,thatshouldbereadasacautionarytale.
IonescosRhinocerosforcesustoconsiderthattherecanneverbeideological
systemsorpoliticalmovementsthatcanministertothepliabilityofhumankind,the
spuriousnessofourcharactersandgloriouslychaoticexistencethatmakesus
human.Theplayassertsthattherewereneveranymillenarianmovementsthatcan
rescueusfromhavingtodealwithlifeonamoment-to-momentbasis.Ionescois
tellingusthatallEthicsaresituationalbecausepeopledevelopininnumerableand
infiniteways,andforthatreasontheIndividualtrumpsallreligious,ethicalorideologicalsystems.Weareforcedtotakepeopleonaone-to-onebasis--wemust
acceptthatchallenge,lestweforfeitourhumanity.Enjoyourplay.
SpecialThanksto:
JeffQuin
DorsetNoble
EstelaVroncovich
