By Nico Patakidis
As you might’ve seen from the guerilla theatre advertising, there’s something stampeding across campus, and it isn’t gorillas. Rhinoceros by Eugène Ionesco is playing at the Van Duzer Theatre from Nov. 6 to Nov. 15 and just might be about as perplexing as seeing a rhinoceros while having your morning coffee.
The play is an impressive feat, as several dialogues and actions took place simultaneously on different parts of the stage. Multiple viewpoints bring new understandings to the story and ensure you’re never bored as it’s hard to find something on stage that’s not moving. The witty and sometimes nonsensically goofy dialogue especially in the first act guarantees an entertaining night at the theatre.
Visiting director and acting professor James Peck spoke to the difficulty of running such a complex play.
“The most challenging thing actually is how many bits there are in it,” Peck said. “There’s just so many moving parts.”
But the amount of actors talking, fighting and performing various actions on stage wasn’t the only thing impressive about this production. Projections, puppets and set pieces were all well utilized, pulling you into accepting the absurdist concept of rhinos taking over a small French town. Every actor clearly put a lot of effort into each character, especially the main character, Bérenger, who faced near constant slapstick action and emotional confusion.
The play was originally written in 1959 and is an absurdist piece about how individuals of any position, as well as society as a whole, can quickly shift in ideals and values.
“In particular, his [Ionesco’s] point of view came out of post-World War II,” Peck said. “So the play was a result of that, and there is something about authoritarianism and cult behaviors that are written into it that seem really relevant at the moment.”
Immediately after its debut on Nov. 6 at 7:30 p.m. in Van Duzer, there will be a panel by the crew to discuss themes of the play and its relevancy today.
Nico is a reporter with an interest in covering local government and political affairs. Reach him at np211@humboldt.edu.