Théâtre de la Ville-Paris “Rhinocéros”

Text: Eugène Ionesco     Direction: Emmanuel Demarcy-Mota
November 21st – November 23rd
Venue Saitama Arts Theater (Main Theater)
Dates 11/21 (Sat) 19:00
11/22 (Sun) 15:00
11/23 (Mon) 15:00
Box office opens 1 hour before.
Doors open 30 minutes before.
Duration 105 min. (no interval)
Language French (with Japanese surtitles)
Tickets S Seat
Advance: ¥6,000 / Day: ¥6,500
U-25 Advance: ¥4,000 / U-25 Day: ¥4,500
A Seat
Advance: ¥4,000 / Day: ¥4,500
U-25 Advance: ¥2,000 / U-25 Day: ¥2,500
Reserved seating
Regular Tickets (S) ¥6,000 / (A) ¥4,000
Pair Tickets (per ticket)(S) ¥5,400
5 Performance Set(S) ¥5,400
3 Performance Set(S) ¥5,400
U-25 Tickets(S) ¥4,000 / (A) ¥2,000
Tickets on general sale from August 29th
Available from Saitama Arts Theater
Available from F/T Ticket Center from September 27th
Rhinoceros
Rhinoceros
Rhinoceros

Rhinoceros

Rhinoceros

A radical new version of a Theatre of the Absurd classic

This highly acclaimed production of “Rhinocéros” by Théâtre de la Ville-Paris comes to Japan after triumphant tours around the world. Director Emmanuel Demarcy-Mota is renowned for his brilliant reinterpretations of the European theatre canon. His dynamic, technically impressive staging pays tribute to Eugène Ionesco’s timeless allegory of totalitarianism, while also making it fresh for audiences in today’s globalized world. Gradually the inhabitants of a small provincial town in France start transforming into the eponymous animals in this comic but terrifying political play. How long can the individual resist the growing might of the collective?

Plot Summary
One day, the kindly drunkard Bérenger and his friend Jean witness a rhinoceros suddenly rampage into their village. While the rest of the village is in uproar over the arrival of the rhinos, Bérenger is unconcerned. The next day, Bérenger goes to his office at the local newspaper to find everyone arguing about the rhinos. Mrs. Bœuf arrives, chased by a rhino, who promptly destroys the stairwell of the office. Her husband also works at the newspaper but has not come to work today. In fact, the rhino is her husband and she promptly jumps down the stairwell to join him. As the reports of rhinos in the village increase, Bérenger heads to Jean’s house to make up with him. But Jean too soon transforms into a rhino, as do Jean’s neighbors. The village is gradually taken over by the animals, leaving Bérenger and his colleague Daisy alone in the face of the peculiar mass plague.

Saitama Arts Theater website

Video

Artist Profile

Emmanuel Demarcy-Mota

Emmanuel Demarcy-Mota

Director of Théâtre de la Ville-Paris

Born in 1970. At the age of 17, Emmanuel Demarcy-Mota brought together several high-school friends to start a drama club at the Lycée Rodin in Paris. The enterprise was continued at the Sorbonne, where the group got larger. At the age of 22, he was invited to stage Ramuz’s “L’Histoire du soldat” (The Soldier’s Tale) at the Théâtre de la Commune-CDN d’Aubervilliers, which was selected for the Biennial Theatre Festival for Young Audiences in Lyon. He was artistic director of Comédie de Reims/CDN (National Drama Center) from 2002 to 2008. There he was the first director to stage the work of Fabrice Melquiot, with whom he set up an artist collective. He was appointed director of Théâtre de la Ville-Paris in 2008 and since 2011 has also served as director of Festival d’Automne.
Théâtre de la Ville-Paris website 

Cast & Creative Team

Text:Eugène Ionesco
Direction:Emmanuel Demarcy-Mota
Assistant Director:Christophe Lemaire
Artistic Collaborator:François Regnault
Set and Lighting Design:Yves Collet
Music:Jefferson Lembeye
Costumes:Corinne Baudelot
Make-up:Catherine Nicolas
Props:Clémentine Aguettant
Cast:Hugues Quester, Serge Maggiani, Céline Carrere, Philippe Demarle, Charles-Roger Bour, Jauris Casanova, Sandra Faure, Gaëlle Guillou, Sarah Karbasnikoff, Stéphane Krähenbühl, Gérald Maillet, Walter N’Guyen, Pascal Vuillemot
Valérie Dashwood, previously announced in the role of Daisy, is replaced by Céline Carrere.
Production:Théâtre de la Ville-Paris
Co-production:Les Théâtre de la Ville de Luxembourg
Le Grand T, scène conventionnée de Loire-Atlantique
Translation:Shoichiro Iwakiri
Production Co-ordination:Hajime Matsuno, Sawako Haraguchi, Tatsuya Takagi (Saitama Arts Theater), Akiko Juman (Festival/Tokyo)
Supported by Institut français, the Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan in the Fiscal 2015
Under the auspices ofAmbassade de France, Institut français du Japon
Presented bySaitama Arts Theater, Festival/Tokyo Executive Committee, Toshima City, Toshima Future Culture Foundation, NPO Arts Network Japan (NPO-ANJ)
In co-operation withArts Council Tokyo, Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre (Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture)
Premiere: October 2004, Théâtre de la Ville-Paris