At the start of the American Repertory Theater’s superb production of “Rhinoceros,” it’s a quiet morning in a French village, and Bergeron is late for coffee with his only friend, Jean.
A.R.T.’s production of Rhinoceros. Credit: Hawver and Hall
But Jean (Paul Giamatti) knows Bergeron will be late and arrives late as well. The two could not be more different. Bergeron (a compelling John Turturro), drinks too much. He is slovenly and lacks ambition. Jean is neatly pressed and abstemious. He tells Bergeron that he considers himself better than his friend because he is a superior man who fulfills his duty. “What duty?” Bergeron asks, and Jean is taken aback. He does not question the meaning of duty, though he can’t really explain it.
Then a stampeding rhinoceros shatters the quiet Sunday morning, an effect created by a thundering sound and a cloud of billowing dust. Jean, along with a chorus of other villagers, cries, “Oh, a rhinoceros!” Bergeron, however, is unmoved. He offers possible explanations, all of which are impatiently dismissed by Jean.
When a second rhinoceros thunders past in the opposite direction, Jean, Bergeron, the grocer, the grocer’s wife, and the waiter begin arguing: Was it one rhinoceros or two? Did it — or they — have one horn or two? And did the number of horns determine whether the rhinoceros was Asiatic or African? The arguments become increasingly hilarious as the rhinoceroses continue to bombard the little town and the villagers face ever more bizarre situations.
A.R.T.’s production of Rhinoceros. Credit: Hawver and Hall
The dutiful Jean is among the first to yield to “rhinoceritis.” In one of the most astounding — and funny — scenes you are likely to see in contemporary theater, Giamatti slowly takes on the characteristics of a rhinoceros. His voice grows increasingly hoarse as his posture changes, his “horniness” borders on the obscene as a rhinoceros horn struggles to emerge from his aching forehead and he snorts and paws at the floor before charging Bergeron with lowered head. Bergeron’s desperate effort to be a loyal friend despite Jean’s outrageous behavior only adds to the comedy.
Written in 1959 and first staged in 1960, “Rhinoceros” is still relevant more than 65 years after its Paris premiere. Ionesco wrote the play, his most popular, both as a response to the French who collaborated with the Nazi regime and to French intellectuals who embraced Stalinism and failed to question Stalin’s crimes. Eventually, every character in the play except Bergeron succumbs to the herd mentality and becomes a rhinoceros. Stellar performances by Turturro and Giamatti are only part of this impressive production. Insightful direction from A.R.T.’s Diane Paulus brings out the humor as well as the deeper implications of one of the seminal plays from the era’s theater of the absurd. Sound design by Fitz Patton, scenic design by Riccardo Hernández, and lighting by Jen Schriever bring the growing threat of the expanding herd to visceral life.
Unasked questions are not the only thing that feels resonant now: in one scene, Bergeron’s office mates dismiss the veracity of newspaper reports of the rhinoceroses, even when their colleague Daisy (Tatiana Maslana) tells them she witnessed the rhinoceroses trample a pet cat. In another argument with Bergeron, Jean disparages laws and moral codes, claiming the law of the jungle “would suit me fine;” when he is ill, he questions the legitimacy of doctors.
A.R.T.’s production of Rhinoceros. Credit: Hawver and Hall
Bergeron alone, ever the outsider and misfit, resists the urge to conform and maintains his individuality. Turturro captures the desperation of this very ordinary man as everyone around him joins the unthinking and uncritical herd. He is not a hero. He does not lead a resistance movement and there is no suggestion that his principled refusal to join the herd will inspire any of the rhinoceroses to abandon their new identities.
The brazen, snorting rise of right-wing ideology and its efforts to undermine the institutions of civil society will look decidedly current. But Ionesco’s work also provides a commentary on the ease with which people will embrace authoritarianism, racism, xenophobia and other destructive forces, even if it means abandoning our humanity. We leave asking ourselves, “could that be me?”
“Rhinoceros” is at American Repertory Theater’s Loeb Drama Center through September 27.
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