As part of Teatru Malta’s Proġett Klassiċi, a yearly initiative aimed at producing modern classics in Maltese, the National Theatre company will be presenting one of Ionesco’s masterpieces this September at the Esplora Planetarium hall in Kalkara.
Rinoċeronti, translated by Clare Azzopardi and Albert Gatt, will be directed by Michael Fenech and is a translation of one of Ionesco’s acclaimed plays and part of his Berenger cycle, Rhinocéros (Rhinoceros).
This wide-eyed absurdist piece of theatre deals with conformism, mass hysteria and alienation, among other motifs.
Rinoċeronti will form part of the second edition of the Proġett Klassiċi series entitled Tliet Xogħlijiet ta’ Eugene Ionesco, edited by Marco Galea in collaboration with the University of Malta, and will be published alongside Maltese translations of Ionesco’s La Cantatrice Chauve (The Bald Soprano) and La Leçon (The Lesson).
Throughout this dark comedy it is apparent that something very absurd is going on in a town where nothing absurd ever does. In this very normal town, full of people who lead very ordinary, cereal box family sort of lives, something is about to happen, something strange. But what happens when those people, those very same normal people you thought you knew so well, begin to change? Do you change too? Do you conform? Or do you dare to rebel?
Rinoċeronti stars Daniel Azzopardi as Berenger the hero who is alternately frightened, defiant, desperate, frustrated, impotent, self-loathing, envious and ultimately completely unhinged by the looming ‘epidemic’ in a way that is immediately relatable to audiences.
The production also stars local favourites Andre Mangion, Antonella Axisa, Kim Dalli, Naomi Said, Magda von Kuilenberg, Joe Depasquale, Anthony Ellul, Simon Curmi, Aaron Fenech and Daniela Carabott Pawley.
Rinoċeronti will run at Esplora from September 12 to 15. For tickets and more information visit kultura.mt or call 2122 0255.