However, the play does suggest, even at this early point, that there’s something to be said for Berenger’s individualism, as he’s the only one who, until it becomes a battle of wills with Jean, doesn’t much care about the first rhinoceros’s appearance. This suggests that even for someone as individualistic as Berenger, there’s a lot of pressure to conform and fit in-and that it’s a natural inclination to want to fit in. Per Jean’s encouragement, he buys theater tickets and agrees to stop drinking (albeit only briefly he picks up again minutes later after he and Jean argue). Importantly, Berenger initially vows to follow through and put Jean’s suggestions into practice. Because of this, Jean takes much of the first act to berate Berenger for his failures, trying to clean him up and convince him to join the rest of the upper-class world that Jean inhabits. He’s unkempt, unshaven, and according to Jean, reeks of alcohol-whereas everyone around him is put-together and polite. With this, Rhinoceros suggests that while people’s distinguishing characteristics may at first look like major flaws, embracing one’s individuality-for better or worse-is often what allows people to hold onto their humanity and resist the draw of conforming to harmful ideologies.Īt first, Berenger’s individuality is presented as an undesirable quality. It’s telling, then, that Berenger is the only person in his small French town who is able to escape the rhinoceritis illness, especially when his well-connected and esteemed peers and colleagues ultimately succumb and turn into rhinoceroses. The corpulent bodies and expressive faces of wonderful Romanian actors draw on the rich tradition of European avant-garde theatre and silent movies extending from Gordon Craig and Max Reinhardt to Charlie Chaplin and Cabaret Voltaire.In Rhinoceros, Berenger is not particularly smart or ambitious, and he harbors obvious weaknesses such as alcoholism and chronic lateness. What Ionesco aimed to do with the language, Wilson does with images. People are slowly turning into rhinoceroses, reality gives way to irreality, and the theatre magic dispels all bleak visions of the world and affords views further beyond, across other dimensions. In company with a 30-member ensemble Wilson has created a theatrical madness, in which imagination runs wild, pushing the limits of logic and classical perception of the world. The enigmatic drama by the French author of Romanian descend hovers somewhere in-between surrealism, magic realism and the absurd and has been a perfect vehicle for Wilson’s imagination and creative drive. Direction, set design and lighting concept by Robert WilsonĪt the invitation of the National Theatre Marin Sorescu, whose artistic horizons have been broadened in the 1980s when it was run by theatre director Silviu Purcarete, American director Robert Wilson has staged Rhinoceros by Eugène Ionesco in Craiova.
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