A Crash of Rhinos in Islington
“Instead of spending your surplus cash on alcohol, wouldn’t you do better buying tickets to see an interesting show? D’you know about this avant-garde stuff they’re all talking about? Seen any of these plays by Ionesco?”
Jean
The Theatre of the Absurd is not my favourite genre but this version of Eugène Ionesco’s Rhinoceros from adapter and director Omar Elerian is exceptional. The audience are drawn into the production by narrator Paul Hunter from the off. As I entered the auditorium and looked up from finding my seat number, the brilliantly lit white of the full width of the Almeida stage struck me. At the rear behind a huge net curtain could be seen shadowy figures wearing white lab coats with a white jacket trim making them distinctive. The narrator too is wearing one of these.
The narrator tells us that we are in for a four hour play, perhaps a hang over from April Fools Day? He then instructs the audience to follow him in various hand gestures, not quite the YMCA actions but close enough and the full width arms wide enough to whack your neighbours. The exercises change and we are told to copy each previous gesture and there will be inevitably a few who are still synchronising with him. Tougher still is the instruction to copy two behind him and many fall out at this stage.
We are introduced to the cast, all in white, except for Berenger (Solé Dirisu) who is explained to be dishevelled and dirty. Each cast member has wildly unusual and distinctive hair apart of course from Berenger. In Ionesco’s original, Berenger is the character who resists following the herd and clings on to his individuality. We meet the logician Dudard (John Biddle) and the flamboyant Jean (Joshua McGuire) with bright yellow shoes. The dialogue comes so fast and furious with physical acting to match that we are mesmerised.
We hear the sound of a stampede. The cast are in the café effectively staged by cast members supporting a table top with a green tablecloth and no legs as people sit round it. A lady (Sophie Steer) is said to have a cat played by a watermelon which is run over in the stampede. Of course this is the theatre of the Absurd and it isn’t meant to make sense as the woman cries over the crushed watermelon.
The logician leads a discussion of what it is that we all saw and we learn about a syllogism. The critic John Simon known for his vitriolic reviews strongly condemned Ionesco’s plays as being empty of meaning and is mentioned in the play. A member of the audience in the front row is instructed as to how to play the kazoo in imitation of the call of a rhinoceros and after the interval, multiple audience members have been issued with the plastic kazoos to imitate rhino trumpeting. It has to be hummed into rather than blown but I could feel my hair moving from the player behind.
At the interval I had found this production immense fun. I appreciated Joshua McGuire’s clowning, Paul Hunter’s brilliant narration and Solé Dirisu’s composure. This was simply the best interpretation I had seen of absurdism. After the interval, rhinoceritis has set in and people are turning into rhinoceroses. There was confused discussion on the number of horns of rhino from Africa or Asia.
Credit must go to Ana Inés Jabares-Pita for her striking design of both set and costumes making this production visually exciting. I know that actual rhino heads could be tacky but it is entirely up to your imaginative powers whether you can see and hear a crash of rhinos.
I don’t know whether Omar Elerian just ran out of steam or rhino dust but after the interval, it became the tragic love story of Daisy, the versatile Anoushka Lucas, and Berenger, and Jean put on his headless shiny grey rhino costume. A lot of the fun had disappeared and it felt more like melodrama. But I do want to see more work by Omar Elerian.
Production Notes
Rhinoceros
Written by Eugène Ionesco
Adapted and Directed by Omar Elerian
Cast
Starring:
Anoushka Lucas
Hayley Carmichael
John Biddle
Joshua McGuire
Sophie Steer
Paul Hunter
Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù
Alan Williams
Creatives
Director: Omar Elerian
Designer: Ana Inés Jabares-Pita
Lighting Designer: Jackie Shemesh
Sound Designer: Elena Peña
Information
Running Time: Two hours 40 minutes including an interval
Booking to 26th April 2024
Theatre:
Almeida Theatre
Almeida Street
London N1 1TA
Phone: 020 7359 4404
Website: almeida.co.uk
Tube: The Angel
Reviewed by Lizzie Loveridge
at the Almeida
at the performance
on 2nd April 2025