Rhinoceros

This is an absurdist play from the 1950s by Eugène Ionesco in which all the people in a town gradually turn into rhinoceroses, so a slightly unusual premise to get our heads around.  This was a new production at the Almeida by Omar Elerian, which stripped a lot back.  At the opening of the play we are faced with a bare set, with just a curtain and the simplest of raised stage, and the cast, all except Berenger (Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù) dressed in clinical white outfits, meaning that there are few clues to what is going to happen. 

We open by meeting the Provocateur (Paul Hunter) , who acts as the host and master of ceremonies for the evening, getting everyone hyped up with some dance movements that he uses again and builds upon during the play.   Then we get into the play proper, with stage directions given out loud by the Provocateur, always reminding us that this is a play and that the cast (and the audience too) are following instructions.  I loved the way that the structure is laid out for everyone to see and the way it becomes clear that the audience really should be thinking for themselves despite the fun in getting involved in group activities, all particularly important if you see this as a play about avoiding conformism or standing up to fascism.  

There were lots of nods to modern conspiracy theories and resistance to facts and experts which underlines the timeliness of this,  and particularly in the first half we hear arguments to obfuscate, confuse and divert debates into circles or into nonsense which feel very familiar if you have ever tried to listen to Farage talk for more than a couple of minutes.  It was interesting (and entertaining) the way that the different townspeople tried to hold out against the epidemic before falling to it, some with outright opposition, some trying to understand, some trying to change from within, whilst others decided to try to ignore it, not watch the news and think about something else.  All tactics I have been deploying myself in recent years, with about as much success in turning the tide as the people in this play. 

The first half was loads and loads of fun, the second half had a lot less laughs and was a lot less pacy, ironic as in the first half there were jokes about scenes dragging on.  It could have been frustrating but I occupied myself in the slower bits with thinking about how cleverly it was all put together.  In the second half the pressure to conform becomes the main point, with the audience complicit and a key tool of oppression by the end,  taking an active part in shouting down the one man standing out against the rhinoceroses.  The false ending was particularly clever as the Provocateur brings the play to an early end to prevent Berenger continuing to fight 

I loved the performances of all the cast but the standouts were Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù as Berenger, the last man standing, Daisy (Anoushka Lucas) who seemed a bit light in the first half but came into her own in the second.  I also really enjoyed Joshua McGuire's performance as Jean, Berenger's friend and eventually one of the rhinoceroses, his transformation being particularly sharp and funny as well as a bit creepy.  And the ringmaster of all of this, Paul Hunter as the Provocateur got the audiences as well as the cast dancing to his tune, being charming, jovial and lightly amused as he got everyone doing exactly what he wanted every time.  So much for individuality.  

So, a play about lots of things, including taking apart the structure of what theatre really is, alongside lots of other ideas that could be given so many different meanings depending on your own viewpoints - who are the rhinoceroses/sheep here and who are the people with the truth?  We all want to be Berenger, but sadly, as the audience showed here, herd mentality wins out, so that even when we can see the machinations we all turn into rhinoceroses in the end.  

I really enjoyed the intellectual puzzle of it all, and bits of it have been coming to mind over the last few days, particularly watching the news.  A confusing, thought provoking and entertaining 2 hours and 40 minutes.