The Sunday Times Mirror - Face-to-face with a rhinoceros!

It’s a performance of absurdity that’s all set to go. Smriti Daniel chats to the rhinositis-struck lot, while Mettasena snapped up the action.

As this month wanes and the next dawns, the first rhinoceros will walk the boards; and be warned that he will not be the last. Behind him will come another and yet another. There will be nothing to save you; nothing to stand between you and the beast – because the beast could be your friend, your neighbour… yourself. Tremble mortal, in fear and amusement, as you prepare to explore the wonders and the nightmares that lurk in the darkness behind your eyes. Oh and yes, please be prepared to buy a ticket.

A classic of the Theatre of the Absurd, Rhinoceros is an unusual production, one that stands out in the rush of recent musicals and what– not. It's a calculated risk, but one that director Sashi Mendis DeCosta and her talented cast of students from Gateway are quite willing to take. Playing the role of Berenger is Prasanna Welangoda. “You walk into a café and see a rhinoceros – that’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing,” he says, talking about how the play just draws you in from the word go. Berenger, Prasanna reveals is the guy to watch out for – unconventional and stubborn, this protagonist might just be the last man standing.

On the other side of the coin is Jean, played by Benign Gerard. And though his character may be all stodgy and conventional, this actor is anything but. “It’s a very hard part to play,” he reveals. Talking about the run-up to the event, Benign explores how he stuffed his 17-year-old self into the skin of a 40-year-old man. “I analysed all the 40-year-olds I know,” he says grinning, adding that he learnt from their movements and reactions to various situations.

Afra Abdeen on the other hand, didn't have such a hard time slipping into her character – Daisy, who is not the dumb-blonde-secretary.

“Sure, Daisy is a bit girly,” says Afra, “but there’s a lot more to her.” Now this is something Christopher knows and likes about Daisy. Played by Kalpa Jayatilaka, Christopher leans towards being indifferent and aloof.

The actors in the play cover the spectrum from logician to secretary and everything in between. Representative of a small town, the temperaments and types vary widely, a trend that is reflected in the vibrant young cast, namely Dave Fernandez, Marliese Liyanage, Nipuni Fernando, Tharaka Hettiarachchi, Padeepa Perera, Naomi Perera, Minthaka Kumarasinghe, Serveen Careem, Shahezaad Zahirsha and Aqeel Jurangtathy.

All of whom seem to be really glad to be working with their director Sashi – and not least because she makes the best coffee in the world, says Prasanna. “She encourages us to go up there and not be afraid of making idiots of ourselves,” says Afra. When you're acting in a play where you might at any point be struck by ‘rhinositis,’ this is an invaluable attitude. Sashi reciprocates with complete faith in her cast and thinks them well up to meeting the standards such a production requires.

Sashi also explains that the play has been somewhat modified from the original script. Certain sections have been edited and some of those unpronounceable European names were changed. In addition, the production will feature dances choreographed by none other than Kapila Palihawadana. Using 12 dancers, masks and some unusual music, these pieces are meant to heighten the tension already present in the piece.

So not only does the play present a challenge to the actors and the dancers, it is also bound to be challenging for its audience as well. You see one will actually have to think a bit to get this play. For starters, you need a lot of humour and some amount of wit to really understand “all the ‘horny’ talk,” in the play (as Tharaka obligingly points out). After that (or before that or somewhere in the middle) you’ll also need to look beyond the superficially absurd into the reality that lurks just underneath.

In the end, like all absurdist theatre, Rhinoceros is provocative, funny, and downright demanding by turns. “It’s a play that challenges the audience to examine themselves,” says Benign. “We want the audience to walk out with their own impressions and interpretations instead of spoon feeding them with ‘this is what we want you to think’,” adds Afra. “Each of us saw a bit of ourselves in the characters we’re portraying,” she says, hoping that the audience too will discover how relevant this play is to their lives. Even as it blurs the boundaries between fantasy and reality, this play promises to bring us face-to-face with the harsh realities of the human condition. However, its ultimate message is not one of despair. Instead, as Martin Esslin says, “It is a challenge to accept the human condition as it is, in all its mystery and absurdity, and to bear it with dignity, nobly, responsibly; precisely because there are no easy solutions to the mysteries of existence, because ultimately man is alone in a meaningless world. The shedding of easy solutions, of comforting illusions, may be painful, but it leaves behind a sense of freedom and relief. And that is why, in the last resort, the Theatre of the Absurd does not provoke tears of despair but the laughter of liberation.”

Rhinoceros will be staged at the Lionel Wendt on September 31 and October 1. Tickets priced at 750/-, 500/-, 350/- and 250/- are available at the Lionel Wendt and Gateway College. Media Sponsors are The Sunday Times and Yes FM.