Justification of Design for Ionesco’s

“Rhinoceros”
The Set For Rhinoceros Can Be Designed In Such A Surreal Fashion Due To The
Dream Driven Aspect Of Theatre Of The Absurd. When Looking At Design For The Set Of
Rhinoceros I’d Very Quickly Decided To Look At Devices Ionesco Uses In The Text As A Basis
For The Design, Ionesco Uses Strong Stereotypes For His Characters And Precise Dramatic
Language And I Wanted To Transfer This Into The Design. I Wanted To Follow On With the
Dreamlike Aspect of the Genre by Using Curves and Bold, Over Emphasised Signs In The Set
And Bright Colours In The Outside World Contrasted With The Gloom Of ‘Berenger’s’
Apartment. Colour Is An Important Quality Of Design For Rhinoceros Because The Bright
Colours Of The Opening Of The Play Both Contrasts And Compliments The Characters And
Events. Having Such A Bright Town At The Beginning Gives An Overall Pantomime Effect To
The Stage. Bearing In Mind That Not Only Is Rhinoceros Absurdist But Also A Comedy The
Use Of Strong Colour And Cartoonish Design Is Justified.

The Play Opens in “A Square in a Small Provincial Town.” With A Grocery, a Cafe and
a Bell Tower in the Distance. For This I Implemented Curves And Colour, I Wanted To Build
On The Idea Of Stereotypes So In Order To Portray An Over The Top Provincial French Town
I Employed Sloping Brick Arches And White Washed, Lime Plastered Buildings To The Design.
These Touches Are Perfectly Simple And Complimentary To Supporting The Action But Do
Not Draw Away From It. A Simple Design That Is Bright and Clear, Although Distorted In The
Dream Driven Fashion I Discussed Earlier, Sets The Scene Out Very Quickly For An Audience
And Is Easy To Change For Act 2 While At The Same Time Being Aesthetically Accurate For
Many Towns In Provincial France. It Would Be Very Easy To Get Carried Away With A
Complex Set With Such Great Scope Granted By the Play, But For the Genre And For
Practicality A Simple Set With 2 Or 3 Simple Folding Tables With Chairs And Several Boxes Of
Fruit And Vegetables Is Succinct Enough To Set The Scene And Compliment The
performance.

Because Of The Vast Difference In Setting Between Act One And Two I Feel It Is
Necessary To Use Two Different Set Flats. The Main Distinction Between Act One And Two Is
The Transition From Exterior To Interior, This Substantiates Why Two Separate Sets Of Flats
Would Be Required. For Practicality, A Hinged Set Opening Into The Interior Would Work
Amply For The Scene Change.

I Chose To Use Flats With Large Bookcases And A Door Upstage-Centre As It Would
Be Able To Be Used Universally In Act Two Showing A Different Setting In The Three Scenes
By Changing A Few Details Such As Furniture And Lighting. Act Two Scene One Takes Place In
The Office Where ‘Berenger’ Works So Along With The Bookcase Flats And A Number Of
Large Desks, A Typewriter And Attached Sign Saying “HEAD OF DEPARTMENT” The Set
Clearly Shows That It Is An Office. There Are Still Elements of Colour in This Scene with the
Books and the Costume of the Characters, It Is Also Well Lit But Distinctly Duller That Act
One Which Parodies The Story. For The Final Two Scene’s, In ‘Jean’ And ‘Berenger’s’
Respective Apartments, The Desks Are Replaced With A Bed, Table And Chair And A
Distinctly Darker Feel To The Apartments With Very Little Light At All In ‘Berenger’s’. The
Audience Will recognise A Difference Between The Two Apartments By The Disjointed
Positioning Of The Furniture, The Divan And Clutter In ‘Berenger’s’ Compared To The Almost
Clinical ‘Jean’.

This Relatively Simple Design Complies With the Absurdist Genre and Would Be an
Effective Enhancement and Foundation for the Play.