Rhinoceros / Rinoceronte
by Eugene Ionesco

If the thought of yet another hot, hazy, humid and inhuman summer night in the city has you on edge then may I offer relief? Get yourself over the Tobin Bridge to Chelsea to Mary O'Malley Park for a memorable, riotous, and thoroughly enjoyable performance of Eugene Ionesco's Rhinoceros by the TheatreZone.

Not only will you get to see a great version of this bonkers absurdist comedy, you'll get to see it all with a backdrop of the bridge and the harbor to dazzle your eyes. And, if your evening is like mine, you'll get to see 2-3 humongous ocean cargo ships and tugboats pass right by in back of the stages. Talk about a evening to remember! I can't remember having a more enchanting and lively summer eve in all the years I have lived in Boston. Oh yea, and it's about 20 degrees cooler in the park along the river with the harbor breezes blowing in.

I have seen Ionesco classic theatrical farce several times so I knew what to expect. What I did not expect was the ingenious and clever staging at three different locations in the waterfront park. Acts I & II take place on a ground level stage with the audience seated on the ground surrounding the action. Acts 3 & 4 take place under a pavilion and on the pier for which the entire audience has to relocate through the park while being chased and prodded by marauding rhinos. It's inspired and marvelous staging that takes full advantage of the parks breathtaking environments and the play's sillier moments. As the sun sets and park goes dark, the city lights across the river come on and add a magical twinkling sky backdrop that sets off the river, the bridge and the play. Somewhere in playwright heaven Ionesco is smiling.

If you've never seen this hilarious play then be assured by the fact that its more Monty Python-esque absurd moments have endeared the play to generation after generation. The audience I saw it with was full of young families with lots of kids who were laughing right along with the rest of us intellectual effete snobs who tend to go see this play. What was once a groundbreaking, barrier-shattering theatrical experience has aged into a very funny and very effective look at the nature of man, logic and illogic. A town full of illogical, flawed, crazy humans slowly turns into rhinos while one lone holdout believes that love can keep him from transforming into a mindless beast like the rest of his friends and colleges. In end he is the last one standing as he starts to question his own sanity while surrounded by grunting, stomping rhinos.

The TheatreZone has done a truly remarkable job of staging this play with a marvelous amateur cast with especially good performances by Stephen Libby in the lead role of Berenger and Peter Brown as the loony over-the-top Botard. Ionesco's often wacky dialog can very easily get mauled by actors not comfortable with the crazier side of life but this troupe handles the play like old pros. The actors work with the most minimal staging and props and no sound amplification and I have rarely seen or heard better production values all around.

There is only one remaining performance on Sat. July 29 at 7:30 so get out the hot city and enjoy the river breezes while you get chased by rhinos and get a few laughs in the process. For directions and more info visit the TheatreZone online at www.theatrezone.org. It's a 10-minute car ride from downtown or a 15-minute bus ride from Haymarket Square. And best of all - it's free.

7:30. FREE
Mary O'Malley Park, Chelsea
Spanish and English versions
For more info: www.theatrezone.org

Howie Green is an artist and painter who recently won an Absolut Vodak 25th Anniversary art competition and who painted 3 of the cows in the Jimmy Fund's Cows on Parade 2006. He is also a multi-media designer and author of several books including "Jazz Fish Zen: Adventures in Mamboland" - and he once sang back-up for the opening act at a Shaun Cassidy concert in Madison Square Garden. He loves Peggy Lee, Dusty Springfield, Star Wars, and any movie where a car flies through the air, something big explodes and pretty people do nasty things. A self-described media slut, he sees over 100 movies a year, hears over 100 music albums a year and reads 30-40 books a year, not to mention concerts, live shows, DVDs and TV.

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