eugene ionesco’s rhinoceros
After listening to the lead actor in this play talk about the lack of next-day reviews for local theatre productions, I decided to write something… anything despite my slightly swollen left eye and hopefully… just maybe get you to go watch it.
If it works, great. If it doesn’t, what’s new?
If you plan to go watch this play Rhinoceros, I would recommend skipping the middle part of this blog to the end for tickets and dates information.
Rhinoceros was written by Eugene Ionesco, born in Romania in 1912 to a Romanian father and a French mother. He spent this time between Paris and Romania, graduating from the University of Bucharest to write poetry, criticism and plays in both French and English. He published Rhinoceros in 1958 and to date this play has been performed in many countries in Europe, America and even the Middle East.
So when MasaKini Theatre Company decided to bring this play to Malaysia, they must surely know that they would have a difficult and trying time ahead.
‘Kenapa pula?’, you ask.
I’ll attempt to answer this on two levels. First, there’s the script. In this local adaption, the play begins in a neon-lit cafe/pub where Berenger and his best friend Jean discusses the former’s lack of enthusiasm for living life. There were also an old lady with her cat, a nearby grocer and his wife and an old man accompanied by his friend the logician. In the midst of individual discussions, a sudden interruption by the form of a gallivanting rhinoceros caused much indignation and shock. Minutes later another (or the same?) rhinoceros trampled by again and this time the logician earned much respect by deducting that the first rhinoceros and the second rhinoceros could well be the same rhinoceros, or different rhinoceroses. The same logician who deducted earlier that Socrates was in fact a cat.
Very soon every one in this nameless town starts turning into rhinoceroses. Berenger visited Jean in his house had the shock of his life when Jean his seemingly sensible friend turns into a rhinoceros before his own eyes! Later at Berenger’s home when the love of his life Daisy brought him lunch they realises that there were no humans left but them. Daisy soon left the loving arms of Berenger to join the herd. Berenger was devastated, tried to become a rhinoceros himself but realised that he was in fact different from the rest. He then vowed to carry on the fight of a lone human.
If you are thinking, what the fuck was that?, it’s ok, you are not alone. I had no prior idea of the story (except for a very short synopsis) and for the first 5 minutes I was like, what is he talking about, who is that guy in orange, why is there someone sweeping the floor, and so on. As the story unfolds I slowly realised that the script was meant to be crap for a reason.
After a bit of googling for background info, I think I can explain better than what I said yesterday to TV Smith who brought me to the play.
Most people believe that the lead role Berenger is a portrayal of Ionesco himself, a befuddled pea in a bucket of carrots. Basically it is about conforming to the pack mentality, the rhinoceroses. Throughout the play you would see that the most absurd things are being said yet accepted without a nary of doubt because they make ’sense’. Nobody really wants to be different, even the most different of them all becomes the same for a sense of belonging. Berenger was the last human standing because he was in fact a coward to change into something unfamiliar. His intolerance for the creatures was also noted, he just could not be a rhinoceros. This made him decide to stay a human and hold out for what he is worth.
Through the absurdity of this play Ionesco rails against conformism and at the end strengtens his resolve to fight for acceptance of individuality. It is not an unfamiliar notion today, you see people changing themselves to suit society, wanting to be seen, to be heard, to be known in a world where people buy Britney Spears’ records. I suppose it tells you to vote for Ralph Nader too but that’s another story.
The second level is the production and casting. This play asks a lot from its actors, not so much at first but the development of the characters; a vital follow up must be very impressionable, else it loses its point. More importantly Berenger’s character. I thought Lim Soon Heng did a fairly good job though I didn’t really like his hands in his pockets in the second act. Too selamba for a man who decided to do more with his life, I thought. Jean by Terence Swampillai on the other hand stood out really strong in his scenes. My friend agreed that he overshadowed Lim, though the two have a great on-stage chemistry. Another two notable actresses are Nicole Ann Thomas as the blonde bombshell Daisy and Nor Hazlin Nor Salam as the contradicting Botard. Jodie Mae Lariviere as Mrs. Beouf was quite convincing as well.
The rest of the cast were reasonably (no pun intended) ok, though I didn’t quite appreciate the usage of ‘lah’ as an attempt to bring out a Malaysian flavour. If something is too obviously forced it is not natural hence it brings the opposite effect. I thought Kay Chin, if I am not mistaken was a tad ahlian at times, even when she played a little old lady. Silvester Loo as Dudard could do more in the final act as someone who finally decided maybe being part of the herd wasn’t so bad after all.
But overall I really enjoyed the play. The acting was mostly enthusiastic and the script quite apt for our times, despite it being written half a century ago.
Which brings me to another point noted by Lim Soon Heng after the play. If there aren’t many glamorous names in a show there would be much less media publicity and public awareness. Initially the producers wanted to bring in someone from Singapore as the lead actor, perhaps the headlines could be ‘Singaporean actor in Malaysian play’? But I am glad they didn’t. Though some improvements could be made, there are 5 more shows before it wraps up. The cast spent 3 months rehearsing for this play, juggling their full-time jobs and family at the same time. Lim himself took a few days off from work to perform in his emotionally draining role, physically exhausting as well.
So Suanie recommends that you go watch Rhinoceros at the Panggung Bandaraya, Jalan Raja, Kuala Lumpur. It is actually opposite the Dataran Merdeka, very nice place, very nice seats, bring a sweater.
Remaining performances are on-going until this Sunday at 8.30 p.m. Matinee shows are on Saturday and Sunday at 3 p.m. Tickets are priced at RM52 and RM37, flash your student card and you get to watch it for RM11. You can get your tickets from Axcess Tickets at 03-7711 5000 or judging by the Malaysian lack of appreciation for non-famous names, do a last-minute walk in before showtime.
If you have seen the show, you could check out this article by David Dunson on The Meaning of Life in Ionesco’s Rhinoceros.
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