In the organizer's words:

His highly comical and profound play, which premiered in Düsseldorf almost 50 years ago, made the Schauspielhaus an important stage for Eugène Ionesco. In his play, the author, one of the main representatives of absurdist theater, sketches the metamorphosis of an entire society. Step by step, the citizens of a small town swap their inconspicuous human existence for a life as powerful pachyderms - they become rhinoceroses. What at first causes alienation or horror among the population soon becomes attractive and desirable.

Only the office worker Bérenger refuses to give in to the rampant rhinoceritis, while his entire environment - completely normal people - gradually gives in. Whether Bérenger remains steadfast out of strength of will or lack of courage to change is a question of perspective. In any case, Bérenger's best friend Jean discredits his adherence to humanism and the value system of human civilization as "silly sentimentalism from yesterday". His work colleagues deny the danger posed by the rhinos and welcome the transformation of the masses as a natural, necessary development. How should we interpret the signs of the times? Who defines what is right and what is wrong? And how does the majority in a society deal with minorities, with people like Bérenger who don't want to go with the flow, who don't want to turn into horned cattle?

As a student in the 1930s, Eugène Ionesco experienced how more and more people became enthusiastic about fascism. In "The Rhinoceroses", the author expresses his own horror and takes a stand against all forms of collectivism. At a time when more and more democracies around the world are turning into autocracies and fascism is not just a historical phenomenon, "The Rhinos" is the play of the hour. Director Selen Kara approaches the material with an interest in the absurdities and dangers that hypes and mass movements entail. She has worked at the D'haus, Theater Bremen, Nationaltheater Mannheim and Schauspielhaus Bochum, among others, and has been artistic director at Schauspiel Essen since 2023.