Normally, Elizabethtown College’s campus is home to the Blue Jays. For two upcoming weekends, however, it’ll be home to rhinoceroses. Sock and Buskin, Etown’s theatre arts club, will proudly present “Rhinoceros,” a play that was written by Eugène Ionesco.
Played by sophomore Nicholas Wiley, the play focuses on Bérenger, the main character who is consistently criticized by his fellow townspeople for a variety of reasons. Originally, Ionesco wrote the play as a response to Fascism and Nazism, which saw a sudden spike as the world had gradually moved towards World War II. The show covers a variety of themes, such as conformity, responsibility and mob mentality. “It’s certainly been a challenging performance, because there’s a lot of emotional parts, there’s a lot of real-world topics that can be interpreted as allegories for what’s being said on stage,” Wiley said. “And with that, there comes a lot of responsibility to convey these themes in a meaningful and insightful way and while it’s been a challenge, it’s been a fun one.”
First-year Emily Clark plays the role of Botard, a character who often challenges others and their opinions, and has a unique perspective when it comes to being able to convey the serious themes throughout the show. “It’s easy to portray those themes through my acting because in regular life, on a day-to-day basis, I’m very active in minority spaces,” Clark said. “I like to speak out for them and I think fading that into my acting and blending those two aspects together is easier than I would’ve thought it was.”
While “Rhinoceros” first debuted over 60 years ago, both Wiley and Clark agreed that the themes portrayed then still have a relevant impact today. “Some of these things are simply universal to the human experience,” Wiley said. “Fear is a big part of this show and the audience may be uncomfortable at times, but it will challenge the audience to watch.”
To go along with the interesting themes of the production, the show also has an interesting set design. Throughout the show, members of the cast will run up and down through the seats, adding to the elements that the actors have to work with. “Our Director Griffin Yeyna has made audience interaction an integral part of the show to an extent,” Wiley mentioned. “The audience is addressed with eye contact and we go up to the audience and up into the risers, as some of our scenes take place in there. The whole idea is to bring them into our house, which has made it a really fun experience.”
While the cast has had their fair share of challenges adapting to the themes and interaction with the audience, the crew has had their own difficulties to handle. Sophomore Rocky Stewart, who is the production’s Sound Design Director had the task of creating all the rhinoceros sounds. “I’m in charge of creating and designing all of the sound effects,” Stewart said. “When the actual show comes to be, I’m in the booth running the sound effects, making sure everything is properly leveled.” To create the sounds of rhinos, Stewart went to her fellow castmates and recorded their voices. From there, she took the recordings into Audacity, a free recording program and distorted the audio to make the recordings sound incredibly different. The result? Numerous rhino sounds that help add a sense of uneasiness to the scenes in the show.
“Rhinoceros” deals with a variety of themes and topics, all of which can be emotionally draining. However, the cast and crew have been able to continue through those occasional struggles, and as Clark says, it’s because of the bond that the cast and crew have. “With a show that’s so emotionally heavy and so intense to run consistently, I think it was important for everyone in the cast to come together and support each other,” Clark said. “And that’s been a major theme of theatre in college: everyone supports each other.”
The cast and crew have put in many hours of hard work and dedication, which is one of the reasons that both Clark and Wiley are excited to finally perform. “I’m excited for people to see the show in general and I hope it has a lasting impact,” Clark said. Wiley echoed the sentiment: “I’m excited to enjoy the bonds I made with people in the cast going into the rest of my college career. That’s what theatre does, it brings people together.”
The production will be going on for two weekends only, which includes performances on March 23, 24, and the 26. For those that may have missed the first weekend of performances, there will be also be shows on March 30 and 31, as well as April 1.
For tickets and more information about the show, please visit https://www.showtix4u.com/event-details/70844.
