Eugene Ionesco’s Rhinoceros is an absurdist French play that delves further and further into chaos as the show progresses. Throughout, the scenic elements work to create an unrealistic, chaotic, but unified atmosphere that serves to contribute to the absurd nature of a show where humans are turning into rhinoceros.
The set itself is relatively minimalistic throughout- almost entirely rectilinear in form, while the only contrasting curved lines in set were various clothes lines featured in act 3. And while most of the structures in Rhinoceros feel minimalist, I found myself finding an increasing relation to the set and the post-impressionism art of the late 19th century. While the set, especially the walls of act 1 scene 1, resembles that of a painting-- throughout the play, …show more content…
Not only does the French movement of post-impressionism help convey location as mentioned previously, but many of post-impressionism’s focuses can also be tied into the play. Notably that post-impressionism works to convey the artificiality of pictures, something seen throughout a less realistic and more self-aware play. The artificiality reflects greatly in that of the storefronts, the painted woodgrain of the office scene, as well as the vaguely abstract and minimalist structures seen throughout the office. At the same time there is also relation with the impressionist and post-impressionist’s focus on the bourgeois lifestyle in late 19th century France and Ionesco’s depiction of characters in that middle class lifestyle, as well as his contempt for it. Going deeper, post-impressionism and Rhinoceros both have a focus on the individuality and emotional energy of a human being. Truly, Berenger’s struggle to resist a herd mentality fits perfectly with the various impressionist movements that had been born about sixty years
The set itself is relatively minimalistic throughout- almost entirely rectilinear in form, while the only contrasting curved lines in set were various clothes lines featured in act 3. And while most of the structures in Rhinoceros feel minimalist, I found myself finding an increasing relation to the set and the post-impressionism art of the late 19th century. While the set, especially the walls of act 1 scene 1, resembles that of a painting-- throughout the play, …show more content…
Not only does the French movement of post-impressionism help convey location as mentioned previously, but many of post-impressionism’s focuses can also be tied into the play. Notably that post-impressionism works to convey the artificiality of pictures, something seen throughout a less realistic and more self-aware play. The artificiality reflects greatly in that of the storefronts, the painted woodgrain of the office scene, as well as the vaguely abstract and minimalist structures seen throughout the office. At the same time there is also relation with the impressionist and post-impressionist’s focus on the bourgeois lifestyle in late 19th century France and Ionesco’s depiction of characters in that middle class lifestyle, as well as his contempt for it. Going deeper, post-impressionism and Rhinoceros both have a focus on the individuality and emotional energy of a human being. Truly, Berenger’s struggle to resist a herd mentality fits perfectly with the various impressionist movements that had been born about sixty years