Rhinoceros is not a word that is often uttered in common conversation. Usually Rhinoceros would be used while sitting around with your friends to describe your hefty workload or even used as a term to describe someone you are not very fond of. The play Rhinoceros by Eugene Ionesco was performed the week before Thanksgiving break, November 19-22 in the studio theatre located at the Silver Center for the Arts.
However, a week before the opening of Rhinoceros, a play put on by the PSU theater department, Rhinoceros was not an unfamiliar word around campus. “Tickets are selling out,” “It is so weird,” “I did not stop laughing” are all phrases that would have accompanied the anxious conversations that buzzed in the air in the days approaching the show.
Written in 1959, Rhinoceros was a part of the Absurdist movement. The Absurdist movement came about after WWII when people saw the brutality that is capable within the human race. PSU’s reenactment of Rhinoceros integrated the subtle human desire to “connect” with the harsh reality that, no one might ever be listening. As always, the Plymouth State Theater Dept. offered an intimate viewing space that places the spectator above the action as if glimpsing at history through a peephole.
Some plays might leave the novice playgoers itching for intermission, but in fact it was quite easy to become lost in time with the punchy, quick moving and exaggerated conversations between the actors. Considering that being able to follow along was impossible by merely listening to the dialog, it was imperative to focus on character interaction and body language; this was done effectively by the PSU cast.
The cast really captured human desire to be “right.” The rhinoceros ordeal began when a few people were sitting around at a cafe discussing “Logic” and what it means to be a contributing member of society. With conversations such as, “Socrates was a cat” and “Logic entails mental arithmetic… Logic has no limits” the audience is placed in the ridiculous banter of the small French town. Upon the abrupt first rhino sighting near the café, the misunderstandings and objective opinions really began to surface. Was there one Rhino or two? Did it have a horn? Do you conform? An overwhelming sense of confusion filled the theater after the intermission as the once pessimistic casts of humans slowly start accepting the new rhino race, embracing it even. One character that passionately refuses to accept the new order is Berenger played by Paul Hartwell. Berenger’s role in the play slightly changes from being the tardy drunk disappointment to the non-conforming outcast, a menace to society from beginning to end. The play really makes one think about the power struggle between government and the people, man and women, sane and insane, right vs. wrong.
PSU’s theatre dept. gave a great performance yet again, effective and begot the harsh realities that our world faces today. With little to no lighting effects or flashy costumes a powerful performance was delivered. The actors conveyed yet another great performance. Keep an eye out for next semester’s performances in the Silver Center for the Arts.