Take a story's temperature by studying its tone. Is it hopeful? Cynical? Snarky? Playful?
Comic
Who knew the inevitable march to death could be so funny? Rhinoceros, like other plays that often get the “Theatre of the Absurd” label, can prove difficult for actors and directors. Usually problems stem not just from the whole humans-not-looking-like-rhinoceroses thing, but from not striking the right tone.
To get a sense of what we’re talking about, take a look at this exchange towards the end of the play. Even though things are utterly falling apart, there is still humor to be found:
BERENGER: They haven’t got a language! Listen…do you call that a language?
DAISY: How do you know? You’re no polyglot! (3.1.1096-1098)
This might not be fall-on-the-floor funny, but Ionesco manages to pepper in little jokes even as the world crumbles around Berenger. He finds humor in language and arrogance and human nature throughout the play.
He’s not alone in this when it comes to the absurdists. Ionesco and Beckett and even writers that came along a little later, like Tom Stoppard of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead fame, can paint a pretty bleak picture of the world at times.
However, they can also be totally hilarious. Sadly, this gets missed in a lot of productions, and audiences are faced with nothing but the darkness.
And there’s more. Ionesco delves into all kinds of comedy. There is satire on the grandest scale. (Seriously, check out the scene in the office again. Ionesco was like 40 years ahead of his time when it came to office humor.) Plus there is physical comedy (spilling drinks on pants is comedy gold!), and there is just plain ridiculousness, like Berenger and Daisy running the course of an entire relationship in a manner of minutes.
Oh, and there are all those rhinoceroses running around. And a well-placed rhinoceros is pretty much bound to get a laugh.
In the end, though, this comedy does turn dark. It’s unavoidable. Even when a production strikes the right comic tone, the play is still talking about mass hysteria, capitulation, conformity, and cowardice. Hilarious, we know.