Line #1 Theatre/Rhinoceros


1	[[quoteright:310:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/71bsiqcgawl.jpg]]
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3	''Rhinoceros'' is a 1959 [[{{Absurdism}} absurdist]] play written by Creator/EugeneIonesco. It tells the story of one man, an [[TheAlcoholic alcoholic]] named M. Berenger, who watches in horror as his friends suddenly start to become rhinoceroses. The play is symbolic of the upsurge of Fascism and Nazism that preceded the events of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII.
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5	A production was put on in 1961, starring Creator/EliWallach as Berenger, Wallach's wife Anne Jackson as Daisy, and Creator/ZeroMostel as Berenger's friend Jean. A 1974 film was also released, with Creator/GeneWilder in the Berenger role as "Stanley", Mostel reprising the Jean role as "John", and Creator/KarenBlack as Daisy. A newer production in 2007 at the Royal Court Theatre starred Creator/BenedictCumberbatch as Berenger.
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8	!!This play provides examples of:
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10	* AdamAndEvePlot: Berenger proposes Daisy to rebuild the human race with their children as they are the only humans left. Daisy rejects the proposition and ends up joining the rhinoceroses.
11	* AerithAndBob: The 1961 production mixes normal names such as Berenger, John and Daisy with names like Mr. Nicklebush (originally Mr. Papillon), Mrs. Ochs (Mrs. Boeuf), Dribble (Dudard) and Shiftor (Botard).
12	* TheAlcoholic: Berenger. He doesn't even ''like'' the taste of alcohol, he just drinks so he doesn't become self-conscious.
13	* AndThenJohnWasAZombie: Daisy. Averted with Berenger.
14	* {{Animorphism}}: Everyone in the town is literally turning into rhinoceroses. Nobody knows if the changes are reversible or not.
15	* BettyAndVeronica: Berenger (Betty) and Dudard (Veronica) to Daisy (Archie).
16	* BittersweetEnding: Berenger is the last human in town by the end, but he resolves not to conform to this mass movement.
17	* BodyHorror: All the transformations into a rhinoceros are generally depicted as rather graphic, especially Jean, who is almost shown transforming into a rhinoceros in painstaking detail: each time he re-emerges from the bathroom his face and skin have morphed more and more. True to the conformists the play actually satirises, the people feel no actual pain, other than a hoarse voice they don't notice, when transforming.
18	* CatapultNightmare: Berenger violently wakes from a nightmare about rhinos in Act III.
19	* CassandraTruth: The people at Berenger's workplace don't believe in the rhinoceroses until they start becoming ones themselves, except for Daisy, who also had trouble getting people to believe her.
20	* CelebrityParadox: Apparently Ionesco exists in the world of the play, too.
21	* ClothingDamage: Jean damages Berenger's jacket when he starts turning into a rhino.
22	* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: The logician who makes all kinds of bizarre statements about cats.
23	-->'''Logician''': All cats die. Socrates is dead. [[InsaneTrollLogic Therefore, Socrates is a cat.]]
24	* ComicallyMissingThePoint: In Act I and some of Act II, all Berenger cares about is whether African rhinos have one or two horns (It's Indian rhinoceroses that have one horn). This is before he realises that the rhinos all used to be human beings.
25	* DidNotGetTheGirl: Daisy, the girl Berenger is in love with, decides to become a rhinoceros at the end.
26	* DrowningMySorrows: Bereneger at the beginning of the play.
27	* DwindlingParty: One by one, everyone starts turning into a rhinoceros, until only Berenger is left.
28	* TheEeyore: Lethargic, apathetic, impassive Berenger, at least in the first act.
29	* EverythingIsRacist: A discussion about rhinoceroses changes to a discussion about race after Jean calls Berenger an "Asiatic mongol" and declares them as "yellow" when Berenger tries to defend them as people like everybody else.
30	-->'''Berenger''': Whatever they are, you're bright red!
31	* HeroicBSOD: Berenger at the end, who decides he wants to start becoming a rhino but can't.
32	* HumansAreUgly: Berenger starts to think this at the end, but quickly snaps out of it and decides to stay himself no matter what.
33	-->"I'm the last man left and I'm staying that way until the end. I'm not capitulating!"
34	* HopeSpot: At first Daisy decides to stay with Berenger and help him fight this rhino craze. But then she changes her mind and leaves him to join them.
35	* HypocriticalHumor: In Act I, Jean tries to help Berenger to snap out of his alcoholic depression. His encouragements work... and then he announces that he's going out for a drink with friends.
36	* TheInsomniac: Berenger in Act III, who is so scared of turning into a rhinoceros that he can't sleep at night and has to take barbiturates to set himself straight.
37	* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: Jean recommends that Berenger go and see "one of those Ionesco plays".
38	* OnlySaneMan: Berenger, who everyone seems to think is mad for not conforming. He does go into SanitySlippage in the third act, but manages to reaffirm himself.
39	* RhinoRampage: And it only gets worse throughout.
40	* ScreamingWoman: A housewife with a cat, frequently.
41	* ThatPoorCat: A rhinoceros tramples a woman's cat.
42	* TranslationConvention: Productions of the show that are in any language but its native French will retain Berenger's line about how he's speaking French.
43	* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: The first rhinoceros, but ''only'' to [[TheEeyore Berenger]].
44	* WouldHitAGirl: Berenger slaps Daisy across the face after they have an arguement about the rhinos. Downplayed, since he later claims he didn't know what got into him, and that he would never do that again.

Context Theatre / Rhinoceros