The Bite Magazine - Spring/Summer 2025 - Issue 37

bitetheatre Lisa Ogun’ attended Almeida Theatre in Islington, London, to witness absurdity dramatised in French-Romanian playwright Eugene Ionesco’s Rhinoceros play. play out, so why were we directed to use our imagi- nations? The reason was revealed when the rest of the ensemble narrated and mimed Act One’s stage setting, using their hands to draw out the doors, windows, and shopfronts. We engaged our imagination, but it didn’t distract from the enjoyment or engagement of the ac- tions and added humour. We were introduced to some of the cast, including the ‘dishevelled’ Berenger, played by Sọpẹ Dirisù; Jean with ‘bright yellow shoes’, played by Joshua McGuire; Lady, played by Sophie Steer, who has a pet cat, per- formed by a watermelon; Grocer played by Hayley Carmichael; Old Gent played by Alan Williams; and the Logician played by John Biddle. The cast’s kerfuffle as they interact with each other at such speed makes this fun and silly. I sat back to absorb where this would lead, almost finding it hard to keep up. In this first scene, Berenger is berated by his good friend Jean about his drunkenness and unkempt ap- pearance. While they are conversing, other characters talk over their heads, making this an exhaustive scene where the Grocer shouts at the Lady, the Old Gent flirts with the Lady, and then has a philosophical con- versation about cats and their number of paws with his friend, the Logician, all seemingly at once, having me feel almost flummoxed. Suddenly, an intense stampede sound is heard, with stage smoke engulfing the action. The characters who witness it react with a beautiful chorus of ‘Wows’ and then confusion. However, Jean and Berenger’s conver- sation leads to a rather offensive argument. There is another stampede, followed by some more ‘Wows’, but this time, it is accompanied by intense wailing as the Lady brings through her squashed melon (er, I mean cat). “My baby!” The intensity of the dripping red mel- on flesh gave it an oxymoron sentiment of funny gore. One couldn’t help but snigger, but our imaginations were what we had been directed to use here, so I di- rected my sentiment to ‘poor cat!’ The townspeople argue over whether they had seen ‘one rhinoceros or two’, whether the rhinoceros had ‘one horn or two’ and whether the ‘one-horned was from Africa and the two-horned ones from Asia’ and all the above as vice-versa. At one point, I was too lost to follow, yet quietly humoured. Most of the audience certainly were! They concluded that despite being one rhinoceros, or two, or one or two-horned, they couldn’t let their cats get run over. “We can’t allow it!” In the office scene, we are introduced to the pretty office junior Miss Daisy, played by Anoushka Lucas; Dudard, also played by John Biddle; the pompous- ly strict Mr Papillion, also played by Alan Williams; and Botard, also played by our narrator, Paul Hunter. The action commencing was primarily about whether what was seen was fundamental or tabloid miscon- Anoushka Lucas, Sophie Steer, Joshua McGuire, John Biddle and Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù