Edinburgh Festival, Rhinoceros, Royal Lyceum Theatre, review: 'Far smarter than a one-note topical satire'

This co-production between the Lyceum and DOT Theatre is hard to laugh along with

Ece Dizdar and Robert Jack in Rhinoceros at Edinburgh International Festival (Beth Chalmers)

In Eugene Ionesco’s 1959 absurdist play Rhinoceros, civilisation ends not with a bang but with a whinny; the low animal moan of a human being abandoning logic and reason, and succumbing to their basest rampaging instincts. One by one, the people in this small French town are mutating into rhinoceroses and congregating in herds in the street, smashing and destroying everything they find. Only Berenger, hapless lover of a drink who wanders town in a state of morning-after dishevelledness, appears immune to the disease overtaking everyone around him.

Most widely read as a comment on the rise of fascism in Europe between the wars, and the normalisation of behaviours which might previously have been unthinkable, adapting playwright Zinnie Harris draws the expected comparisons with current political discussions. If this had been happening in America, the characters speculate in regard to why there is no news of the transformations, surely everyone would have heard about it. Yet the original play, and Harris’s typically assured treatment of it in this co-production between the Lyceum and Istanbul’s DOT Theatre, are far smarter than a bit of one-note topical satire based on current talking points.

As the townspeople progress from relaxed liberalism to a questioning urge to act on their own worst instincts to destruction on the streets, the sense of unleashed chaos is chillingly transferable; this could be Cairo in 2011, Istanbul in 2016 or Venezuela right now. Yet the text walks a confidently fine line between a sense of the ridiculous, bleak amusement pervading all that’s occurring, and the sinister undertone of the situation. A recurring, matter of fact theme about the difference between a European and a Middle Eastern rhinoceros somehow being of importance is heavily weighted when we apply this distinction to humans.

As the piece progresses through Tom Piper’s shifting set of all-white platforms, director Murat Daltaban marshals a versatile cast through a script which demands energy and subtlety to make its point. Robert Jack is a winning buffeted lead as Beringer, buoyed through the piece by his simple, incredulous disbelief at what’s going on, while Steven McNicoll uses his physique to chilling effect during the transformation of Berenger’s friend Jean. Amid the ensemble cast of 10, Sally Reid’s ability as an edgy comedy actor also stands out, helping to define the spirit of a comedy work which is hard to laugh along with.

Until Saturday 12 August