The Pachyderm

Just as my class began learning about theater of the absurd a few days or so ago, we have now begun to watch Eugen Ionesco's Rhinoceros. Quite an interesting title, wouldn't you think? Written in 1959, Rhinoceros tells the story of a small, provincial town as they evolve into rhinoceroses themselves. Today, we were probably only able to get through about 40 minutes of the movie version of this play, so we haven't exactly learnt about this aspect of the plot. At the moment we only are cognizant of the fact that rhinoceros have suddenly run amuck in the town. Stanley (Berenger), the main character, is played by Gene Wilder of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Initially, this everyman character intrigued me as he was continually criticized for his drunkenness and tardiness. He apparently is the only human who does not succumb to the mass metamorphosis taking place within society. This play is often read as a response to an upsurge of Communism, Fascism, and Nazism prior to World War II while exploring the themes of conformity within culture, philosophy, and morality. Essentially, the rhinoceroses are a symbol of extremism. Since their skin is often described as "olive green", these rhinoceroses are attributed to the Nazi SS uniforms. In 1973, Ionesco's play was adapted for the film in which Zero Mostel starred as John (Jean in the play) along side of Karen Black as Daisy.

The image preceding this entry depicts a design for a rhinoceros mask to be worn in the play. It was inspired to demonstrate the conformism in a way similar to that of Ionesco. As he parallels the rise of Fascism to a disease in which the town inhabitants are turn into rhinoceroses, the mask was distributed to the entire audience for the full effect. The object of the mask is to embody the de-humanizing effect as individuality and humanity are obscured.