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Enemy of Dogmatism. In The Shepherd's Chameleon he achieved many of his funniest lines by lifting them verbatim from reviews of his earlier plays, has one critic say of "Ionesco": "He hasn't been accepted by the commercial theater yet. That makes him dangerous." By that standard Ionesco himself is no longer dangerous. Although his off-Broadway appearance last week was at the American National Theater and Academy's one-shot matinee series ("designed to present productions which do not, cannot, or might not find ready acceptance by the existing commercial theater producers"), Ionesco's play The Rhinoceros will be produced next month on Broadway, starring Eli Wallach. Everyone in it turns into a rhinoceros, except the one character who remains an enemy of dogmatism, who refuses to permit any ideology to maderize in his mind until it becomes idolatry.
Perhaps Ionesco has caught up with his audience, or perhaps his audience has caught up with him. At any rate, since it is as clear and pointed as a rhino's horn, his new play may cause American theatergoers to agree with Eugene Ionesco's ready answer when he is asked to name his favorite contemporary playwright. He gently replies, "Moi."