Rhinoceros (Orson Welles production)

The 1955 television adaptation of Eugène Ionesco's absurdist play, ''Rhinoceros'', directed by Orson Welles, remains a largely undocumented and elusive entry in his filmography. While Welles's involvement with the play is confirmed through various archival records and anecdotal evidence, concrete details regarding the production's specifics are scarce. The production, likely a live television broadcast, appears to have not survived, meaning no known recordings exist.

This lack of surviving material hampers comprehensive analysis. Information on the cast, specific broadcast date, and even the network on which it aired is largely unknown to scholars and Welles enthusiasts. The production's existence is primarily supported by mentions in secondary sources which refer to Welles's involvement in adapting and staging the work for the small screen. These secondary sources often mention the ambitious nature of the project, given the play's surreal themes and the technical challenges of bringing Ionesco's vision to a live television audience of the era.

Further research is needed to clarify the details of this lost or unseen production. The limited information available suggests that it was a significant, yet ephemeral, moment in both Welles's career and the history of television adaptations of absurdist theatre. Its absence from the widely accessible record underscores the fragility of early television productions and the challenges involved in preserving such archival material.