Rhinoceros

Juicelog Thurs 181007: David Wantsome is the master of networking and managed to bag himself some tickets for Rhinoceros tonight. Before the start of the show we enjoyed some wine and canapés upstairs. During our brief moment of downloading updates and gossip with each other, we kept getting interrupted by the Royal Court theatre marketing ladies who were discreetly eyeing up potential sponsors. My pre-show was watching David very skillfully ingratiating and introducing himself to the movers and shakers. Now that’s what I call PR.

Rhinoceros has got some clever writing in it. It’s like a warped version of the Incredible Hulk thrown in with some philosophical and fundamentalist ideas written way back in 1959. Featuring Benedict Cumberbatch (whose popularity seems to be growing and growing) playing Monsieur Berenger, it starts off with a hilarious but surreal moment outside a Parisian café when a rhinoceros starts charging through the town square. From this, more characters are thrown in with an interesting technique of layering two conversations simultaneously. Several more glasses of wine and canapés later, the play went into a different direction with a move towards more traditional theatre. It moves from light hearted joviality into a seriously downbeat mood with lengthy monologues as it gears up for a powerful dramatic finale.