Brain Snacks: Tasty Tidbits of Knowledge
The first guy to direct a major production of this play in English was Orson Welles, and the production starred Laurence Olivier. That’s Citizen Kane directing Hamlet up there. Yes, it’s big time for the rhinoceros. (Source)
Sherlock and the Dowager Countess have also taken part in productions of Rhinoceros. Yep, Downton Abbey’s Dame Maggie Smith played Daisy in 1960, and Sherlock’s title sleuth Benedict Cumberbatch took on Berenger almost 50 years later in 2007. And if that’s not enough, there’s always this Tumblr mash-up of the two BBC hit shows.
In 1990, Rhinoceros got adapted into a musical called Born Again! Admit it, you want to hear those rhinos sing.
(Source)
Things get way weirder than Rhinoceros when it comes to Ionesco and the Theatre of the Absurd. If you feel like digging deeper into this theatrical form, check out Ionesco’s The Bald Soprano and The Chairs, and dive deep into Beckett’s Waiting for Godot and Endgame.