By Heather Bosted
Delightfully weird and then troubling real, Spinning Plates Co smash the theatre of the absurd out of the park in this timely resurrected and adapted classic.
Eugene Ionesco’s original play is about a small provincial French town overrun when ifs residents begin to turn into rhinoceroses Spinning Plates deliver us this new version by fames playwright Zinnie Harris fervour and precision.
If Ionesco was talking about his experiences witnesses the rise of fascism in Europe and the intellectual and moral weaknesses of those who could easily have their views and morals bent, this update feels all too accurate with the looming US election and ya know…THE WORLD.
Instead of reacting to the invading rhinos, the townspeople bicker about trivial things, like whether the rhinos have one or two horns and where they come from, arguing amongst themselves over non-issues when faced with a real threat. It starts out mildly before becoming dangerous and that’s reflected by the performers, married in harmony with the design and direction. At first, one rhino seems like a strange, harmless sight, and even a few running through the streets don’t seem too alarming. This slow build-up lulls everyone into thinking the rhinos will just go away, even as they multiply and start to overrun the town.
Directed by Cassandra Fumi the cast flourish. This delightful octet bounces off each other in a dynamic pacing that keeps the audiences on their toes. Each performance is unique and hilarious, starting big and getting smaller as we go on and the rhinos out number people and we are truly alone. We’re plopped straight into this deliriously over saturated world, where people enter from trap doors under stages, flit about their day in a chorus of absurdity.
Fumi’s direction plops us straight in and doesn’t idle or hold our hand, she trusts her audience to strap in for the ride and it serves the wild premise, text, and design superbly.
The cast clearly had fun with every aspect of the incredible design elements of this show. Each designer was firing on all cylinders. Rachel Lewindon’s foreboding sound scape, Dann Barber’s rich tapestry of wild outfits perfectly capturing the unique tone (special mention to the pinstripe blazers that would make even the Talking Heads say that’s too big). Rachel Burke’s design takes us on a beautiful emotional journey trapping us in dystopia before we even realise, and Jacob Battista and Dann Barber with ingenious set design that makes use of the basement space and that easily shifts from charmingly odd to concerning.
Cait Spiker plays our lead hero Bérenge superbly. Despite being established as the outsider and by the town of weirdos its clear to the audience he is the voice of reason, even when presented up against the logician (played with delicious snugness and a hilarious charm by John Marc Desengano) A run of the mill, slight nobody that is at times Charlie Chaplin-esque, becomes the lone survivors railing against the loss of humanity. But never does it flee unrealistic. For something so explicitly absurd, slapstick humour and winks to the audience Spiker delivers a portrait of someone finding themselves having to be exceptional and deciding to stand their ground on their own terms and does it beautifully.
Two of my personal highlights of the show is the actual transformation into a rhinoceros of Bérenger’s friend, Jean (James Cerché). Hats off to the team for being able to show it in real time on stage and making it both hilarious and then immediately feel unnerving and dangerous, showing the struggle of maintain your resistance even if you think you’re unable to be controlled.
The second highlight being the banal bizarreness of a bureaucratic office, perfectly taken down with each cast members subtle unique repetitive movements, it felt like an episode of Utopia mixed with 1984.
This show is genuine delight and kudos to Spinning Plates for pulling off this ambition to stage a new version of a deeply relevant classic, that maybe otherwise would not have been brought to Melbourne. This would perfect for those who either want to try something new for their theatre, love a long think and chat about a play after seeing it, or anyone who likes being challenge by a show and crave this brave and poignant programming by the mainstages when it comes to choosing which classics, or adaptations of, to resurrect.
Image: Darren Gill
