Friday 10 August 2012

An Epiphany about Rhinoceros by Ionesco

I was thinking about my recent post on Ionesco's Rhinoceros. About that time when I played it too. And it struck me, I had an epiphany about it: it is a zombie story. It is Night of the Living Dead with more dialogues and an absurd setting. At its core it is the story of an epidemy, one that strikes the body as much as the mind. And the rhinos are just as malevolent as the zombies, maybe even more so. Like many of Ionesco's plays, there is a very sinister side to it, that can be missed sometimes. I watched this performance of Jean's transformation on YouTube. I played the same scene, and indeed the Jean character. I think I got it better, because I played it sinister, like a man turning into a monster. Which is I think the whole point. The play is scary as much as it is funny.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I haven't read the play, or seen it, but I imagine that transforming a person into a rhino on stage must prove quite a challenge!

Yves said...

Guillaume, je sais pas si c'est accessible chez toi, mais si oui jette un coup d'oeil sur ça.Surtout ce qui se passe derrière l'animatrice blonde...

Yves;-)

Guillaume said...

@Rhino-Ionesco was a sadistic playwriter, he had those strange ideas in his plays which made many of them very difficult to do technically. Still, it was great fun.
@Yves-Oui j'ai vu. Ca m'a fait penser à quand on a fait la publicité pour la pièce.