‘Rhinoceros’ Charges into Absurdity

This month, Cal Poly Humboldt brings us Rhinoceros by Eugène Ionesco, one of the plays that launched the Theater of the Absurd movement from the 1950s, which remains culturally germane in any era and locale. It starts in an anonymous village in France, where our protagonist Bérenger (Joe Carter) meets his good friend Jean (Hudson Lauer), while a large cast of villagers fill the stage with their own goings on around them. As the friends visit, a rhinoceros runs through town. All the characters comment, debate, pontificate and otherwise have a lot to say about the incident, except for Bérenger, who doesn’t see why it’s a big deal and would much rather have his morning brandy. Before the villagers can make sense of the occurrence, it happens again, only this time with dire consequences for a beloved pet. The characters discover that the rhinoceroses are people they know from the village who have transformed.

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