Rhinoceritis is a Real Threat

play program and knitting
November 2018

Last week, I attended a play at the University of Wyoming. Rhinoceros was first performed in 1959, yet its message is still as relevant today as it was 59 years ago. The actors did a wonderful job with the script and the staging, and the playwright's message was clearly presented.

It was not an entertaining play, and at times, it was very uncomfortable to watch; however, that was the playwright's intent. According to Wikipedia, The play is often read as a response and criticism to the sudden upsurge of Fascism and Nazism during the events preceding World War II, and explores the themes of conformity, culture, fascism, responsibility, logic, mass movements, mob mentality, philosophy and morality. 

The director's note in the program stated. ". . . it is not the unapologetically evil that must be feared, but rather the indifference that allows them to grow, the refusal of the average person to make a stand and say, 'this is not us.'"

The message of the play has lingered in my mind . . .

I refuse to become a Rhinoceros!