What would happen if, one by one, a town’s inhabitants began morphing into stomping, unruly, thick-skinned, horned beasts? Initially the transformation might seem strange until, well, it doesn’t. Gradually the change might become accepted as normal, with everyone finding their own reasons to embrace conformity.
At the American Repertory Theater’s production of Eugène Ionesco’s “Rhinoceros,” we hear the stampede of the herd, we watch neighbors turn their backs on trusted friends and, at the close of the second act, a man fully relinquish his grip on humanity, mutating into a creature before our eyes. His appearance may seem outwardly acceptable, and the moment makes no use of costuming to signal the shift — it is all in his behavior, his voice and his character that something has become unrecognizable.
The play is the last that artistic director Diane Paulus will helm at the A.R.T.’s Loeb Drama Center ahead of the theater company’s relocation to a new facility in Allston in the spring. It punctuates strongly her body of work at the location, with a finale that combines the star power of John Turturro, Paul Giamatti and Tatiana Maslany with a brilliantly conceived production.
The absurdist, dark comedy is a story of political significance that resonates with the heaviness of our own moment. Ionesco wrote the classic in 1959 from his experience with the rise of fascism in Romania and Stalin’s totalitarianism in the aftermath of World War II. It isn’t hard to see the parallels.
“To find a play that was written 60 years ago in another century, through poetic metaphor, felt like it was a portal for the audience to reflect on our times,” Paulus said. “To deliver a production that felt not like a museum piece, not overly stylized, but to make it feel authentically raw, in the moment, present and hilarious – because we’re recognizing behavior in human psychology – and terrifying in ways, but all through the world of this theatrical metaphor, felt so intoxicating.”
The new A.R.T facility, called the Goel Center, has two theaters: the West Stage, for large-scale performances, and a smaller, more adaptive East Stage. Paulus compared its function to a “teaching hospital” where students will be immersed in the experiential learning of a practicing theater. Harvard University students will intern at A.R.T., work directly on productions and take classes that participate in aspects of the theater’s production schedule. High school students will engage at the A.R.T.’s Lavine Learning Lab.
An additional purpose at the Goel is fostering community; it features an open-air lobby, a small café, free Wi-Fi and gathering spots to encourage the public to linger. Paulus also envisions the facility as “a town hall for the 21st century.”
The first work coming to the Goel Center’s West Stage, in May, is “Life on Mars,” an immersive show that brings to life the music of David Bowie. Paulus will direct the production, which makes use of the “flat floor” configuration that allows audience and actors to share a common and level ground, putting them into surprising relationships and partially breaking the fourth wall with a show happening live all around them.
The boundary-breaking approach could never have been executed within the Loeb space, Paulus said.
The director expressed “nothing but profound gratitude” for her time at the Loeb Drama Center, but she is ready to move with the A.R.T. into its next phase.
“We have been working so intensely for almost eight years on our new home,” Paulus said. “It feels very organic. It feels like it’s been baking in the oven for a very long time. It feels like a completely organic extension of our work. I’m so thrilled, and this building has been beautifully realized.”
She added, “We can’t wait to be there. And we can’t wait to invite audiences to experience everything that this new home is going to provide.”
“Rhinoceros,” through Sept. 27 at the Loeb Drama Center, 64 Brattle St., Harvard Square, Cambridge
