RHINOCEROS

45DS James Cerché Cait Spiker and Jessica Stanley to star in Rhinoceros photo by Sarah ClarkeSpinning Plates Co. return to fortyfivedownstairs in 2024 with a contemporary translation of Rhinoceros by Eugene Ionesco, in a new version by Zinnie Harris, this November.

One sunny day in a quaint provincial square, Berenger and Jean have arranged to meet at a café before the town is thrown into chaos when one by one, its residents begin transforming into rhinoceroses. Who will hold on to their humanity and who will get horny?

Ionesco’s absurdist cult classic locks horns with political extremism, conformity and responsibility at the end of the world, brought stampeding into the twenty-first century by the acerbic pen of Zinnie Harris.

This marks the second instalment in the company’s Beast Trilogy – following 2023’s wildly successful presentation of The Crocodile – which had two sell-out seasons and won three Green Room Awards in 2024, including Best Direction for Fumi, Best Set & Costume Design for Barber, and Best Performer for Cait Spiker.

The dynamic director and designer duo of Cassandra Fumi (World Problems, MTC) and Dann Barber (Yentl, Malthouse) return alongside acclaimed lighting designer Rachel Burke (My Sister Jill, MTC) and talented sound artist Rachel Lewindon (Far Away, patalog theatre) with additional set design by Jacob Battista (A Very Jewish Christmas Carol, MTC).

Rhinoceros features returning cast James Cerché (The Crocodile, fortyfivedownstairs), Joey Lai (An Ideal Husband, MTC) Jessica Stanley (JSMR, Trades Hall), and Cait Spiker (Traps, La Mama) alongside new castmates John Marc Desengano (Looking for Alibrandi, Malthouse), Belinda Anderson-Hunt (The Sun & the Hermit, Motley Bauhaus), Zachary Pidd (My Sister Jill, MTC) and Annabelle Tudor (Much Ado About Nothing, MSC).

Rhinoceros presented itself very quickly to us as the perfect follow up piece to The Crocodile. The opportunity to take the aesthetic and thematic concerns of Basden’s monstrous hit even further using Harris’ take on Ionesco felt too good to pass up,” said Spinning Plates Co.

“It felt kismet when it was then announced that Zinnie’s plays Meet Me at Dawn and Macbeth: An Undoing were being done in the same year at MTC and Malthouse respectively – clearly, her writing speaks to something right now in the zeitgeist.”

“We are delighted to be continuing work with many of the hands responsible for The Crocodile’s success and look forward to pushing the madness into places that are wonderous, wicked and worryingly close to home.”


RHINOCEROS
fortyfivedownstairs theatre, 45 Flinders Lane, Melbourne
Season: 1 – 17 November 2024 (preview: 31 October)
Information and Bookings: www.fortyfivedownstairs.com

Image: James Cerché, Cait Spiker and Jessica Stanley to star in Rhinoceros – photo by Sarah Clarke