In a few days our IB class hopes to decide on a play for next fall. One of the frontrunners is Rhinoceros, an absurdist play by Eugene Ionesco.
In a nutshell (creds to JP for finding this):
So yes, this play is intriguing ans has many interesting possibilities. There are however in my opinion too many flaws with this show for us to pursue this seriously.
1) Lack of people. Our class is currently nine, and as of next year will dwindle to eight. This cast has 16 separate roles (one of which is an offstage voice). This discord between the number we have and the number we need is far too great. In SGD this winter we discovered how tricky it was for even two people to change roles in the show. The costume changes in a black box setting as well as moving quickly and quietly to the next location proved difficult in many instances. Some may argue that to eliminate this one might not use mutliple costumes, and instead have a uniform for all the characters. I would discourage this, since the point of the IB play is to allow everyone a chance to work with a technical aspect, and this sort of plan would diminish the research and effort required of a typical costume designer, and if one were to choose this as their IB IPP, there wouldn't be much diversity or really any costumes other than the one. In a more academic sense, the IB play falls right as many student s involved would be under high stress levels for multiple school requirements as well as college applications. Having to memorize multiple roles for the show would be more intensive for all involved. It would also be less immersive, allowing few times for us as a cast to really explore each character as we are ricocheting back and forth between major and minor, friend and foe, and even boy and girl.
2) Gender inequality. This show is very male-centric. There is only one highly noted female character in the show itself, Daisy, who is the love interest of The male lead. There are very many male roles, but our class will contain only 3 boys next year, which means many girls will have to play men and women. This again touches on the idea of immersing yourself into character, and how stretching our limited cast too thin may detract from the character themselves and their development. In addition the audience may get confused seeing the same actors in 3 different roles each. This all detracts from the performance and the illusion we are trying to create.
3) Lack of Action. I believe firmly that theatre is and always should be about the audience. It isn't always about pleasing them, but it is always about their reaction. We face the audience because they are the ones absorbing the material being presented-- not the walls or the windows. Even though the IB play is a learning process and affects our academics in the class of Theatre Arts, the show is not for US. The show remains a presentation to the audience. In this spirit, I believe that we should cater to what can affect the audience we typically cater to-- students, teachers, and family members. This show asserts a lot of ideals in an almost lecture like format, setting up scenes where characters exchange witty repartee often, but lengthy philosophical diatribes ever more so. While for the contemporaries of Ionesco this format may have been intriguing, allowing for them to cut through the drama and inspect the ideals and philosophies on life he may be putting forth, this is not a highly entertaining form of theatre for the everyday man. While I am open to plays that have different layout and challenge the status quo in their themes, I think that a show with more action and plot development would agree with an audience better at our school.
I will concede to the fact that I have not read this play in full yet, but from my preliminary findings I would have to vote "no" when it comes to Rhinoceros. I would like to take a departure from what we accomplished in SGD, but at the same time, I don't think that this is heading in the right direction.
Hopefully I can post some other plays I find that might be for feasible and viable options :)
