Rhinoceros - absurdity!

[JoizeyActor]

Posted: 5/23/04 at 12:28pm

I went to see Rhinoceros by Eugene Ionesco at a local community theatre last night, and I was curious if anyone else has ever seen this 'absurdist' show.

I knew the basic plot that some guy was watching as those in his town and the world were randomly turning into Rhinoceros. The show was incredibly shocking for me, because I had never seen such a 'strange' show. There was a drum set that was set on a platform upstage that released this jungle-sounding drum solo and the lights would darken and the people who turned into Rhino's would begin to roar and grunt and run about. I was told not to 'read too much into' the show.

But what I'm getting at is to find out if anyone else had seen this show. I'm trying to figure out the point of the show. I know it's there but I can't put my finger on it!

[sabrelady]

Posted: 5/23/04 at 6:03pm

I have seen 2 performances of it ( its a staple of high school drama classes) It is usually read as a commentary on the absurdity of life.
Zero Mostel's performance was legendary in this.

[MusicMan]

Posted: 5/23/04 at 6:18pm

It's been a while since I saw the movie with Mostel ( who is genuinely terrifying) and Wilder (now available on DVD for the first time) but, if memory serves, it is intended as a comment on fascism and its consequences on society. The transformation of man to beast is representive of those who embraced Nazism, for example, and/or became informants.

[JoizeyActor]

Posted: 5/23/04 at 6:32pm

I knew it had something under there to do about society and such, but I couldn't put my finger on the right words.

And I was suprised to find it was written awhile ago. It was just strange with all the Rhinos who were upstage on this platform running around like animals while the scenes continued down in front of the platform. And then they would all get riled up when one of the character below would get angry. It was truly frightening, especially with the loud drums and screaming.

[WestEndBird]

Posted: 5/23/04 at 7:04pm

I have read the play but never actually seen anything but the Mostel video. It was quite odd but I got a kick out of it.

[brdwaybabe052]

Posted: 5/23/04 at 9:53pm

I'm involved in speech and debate at school, and at Nationals this past summer, I saw someone perform a cutting from 'Rhinocerous'. It was incredibly WEIRD, and difficult to understand, it also managed to break to octafinals, by some act of God. Needless, to say my friends and I are still making fun of it, but I ran into a copy of the play in Barnes & Noble once and it looked just as odd as I saw it performed.

[secret-soul]

Posted: 5/28/04 at 10:55am

Rhinocerous- like other absurdist (no need for quotes) plays needs to be watched without expecting to understand anything. if the plot of people turning into Rhinoceri is amusing or weird, that means there's something lying under the plot that you're meant to take away with you, like not giving in to the pressures of society.
Read Ionesco's The Lesson. That's a great one.