Rhinoceros: A Play That Peels Back Layers of Absurdities to Expose What is Happening Around Us
- Directed by Dipankar Mukherjee, the winner of 2023 McKnight Distinguished Artist Award, Eugène Ionesco's play is as relevant today as it was when it first opened in 1959.
“The absurdities of the times require absurd theater,” Meena Natarajan, the Executive and Artistic Director of Pangea World Theater, a progressive, international ensemble space that creates at the intersection of art, equity and social justice — commented at the start of the opening night of “Rhinoceros” by Pangea on April 4. It will run through April 19 in the Southern Theater, Minneapolis. And I truly wish more folks would see this art, because while the absurd is funny and nonsensical on the surface, it does hold up the mirror to our times, as clearly as glass.
Eugène Ionesco’s play “Rhinoceros” is the cornerstone of the Theatre of the Absurd, a movement that emerged in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The play explores themes of conformity, culture, mass psychology, and the absurdity of human existence, encapsulated in the surreal transformation of ordinary citizens into rhinoceroses. It is absurd, and then it is not – when you peel back layers to expose what is happening around us, to us, in real time.
I remember as a young student of literature, trying to make sense of Samuel Beckett, Harold Pinter, Albert Albee, and Tom Stoppard, and thinking I do not get them. Because to “get them,” my young mind and life was not really equipped to understand the gravity of the absurdities in those lines. I do now, when the world around me, and in me, is churning at a pace not seen since World War II.
Directed by Dipankar Mukherjee, the co-founder and artistic director of Pangea and the winner of the 2023 McKnight Distinguished Artist Award, Rhinoceros is as relevant today as it was when it first opened in 1959, during the peak of Totalitarianism and oppression by states across the globe. Dipankar’s interpretation of the play emphasizes the relevance to our times, urging the audience to pause, analyze, embody, and act – beautiful resistance as Pangea’s 2025 season beacons. There is an urgency to not conform, to take a stance, to hold up the common denominators of democracy, decency, human rights, individualism of humanity, as well as challenge those that do not uphold these denominators. Do not succumb, call it out, do not accept without asking for reasons and logic, you owe it to you and to us all!
The phenomenal ensemble brought the audience to their feet with their brilliant enactment through measured movements, motion, and dialogue. The cast, including Ernest Briggs, Tyler Stamm, Bruce Abes, Nate Kay, Kirby Bennet, Sayli Khadilkar, Mallory K. Lewis, Julie Anne Nevill, Sudarsna Mukund, and Shruti Priti Ramesh, delivered powerful and nuanced performances. Tyler Stamm and the great Ernest Briggs in particular. The protagonist Bérenger, played by Briggs, struggles with existential questions and the absurdity of life. He is an everyman figure, representing individuality and resistance to conformity. His friend Jean, played by Stamm, on the other hand, undergoes a dramatic transformation, succumbing to the “mob mentality,” which symbolizes the dangers of blind conformity and the loss of individuality.
The production is visually and aurally captivating. The Southern Theater’s unique space has been utilized effectively to create an immersive atmosphere. The use of lighting, sound, and costumes contributes to the overall impact of the production, enhancing the themes of conformity, fascism, social responsibility, mob mentality, philosophy, and morality.
Adapt use of sound and light, as well as a few cheeky Instagram uploads, helps convey the urgency as well as the mood. Crafted by Brackley Frayer, the lighting played a crucial role in creating an immersive atmosphere and enhancing the themes of the play. It has been effectively used to highlight the transformation of the characters and the surreal nature of the story. The gradual transformation of the characters into rhinoceroses underscores the theme of losing one’s humanity in the face of societal pressure. The eerie sounds and lights help add to this aura of strangeness and fear.
Theater of the Absurd is no longer absurd in today’s world!
Kuhu Singh is a writer with interest in social justice, cultural and political matters, in the U.S., India, and beyond.