Comparing student theatre to mainstream professional theatre may be like comparing concerts from early Guns n’ Roses to late U2.  Bono and the boys have been doing their thing for, what, 30 years?  They’re incredibly well-rehearsed, financially supported, and confidant in their ability to bring an audience with them along for a ride.  But there’s something, an I-don’t-know-what, that makes those early, youthful, and probably mostly-unrehearsed Axl and Slash shows at least partially superior.  Maybe it was because you didn’t know what you were going to get?  A youthful energy?  A real chance that it all might run off the rails?  And we know how Americans love our car crashes.

(I sometimes get distracted just looking for the links I add in…)

I keep the Theatre UAB folks in my bookmarks for that reason.  The acting can be hit-or-miss, but we all understand that there are some limitations of working with a campus theatre.  But they’re doing stuff you won’t see by professionals here.  The Rivals?  Scenes from an Execution?  Yeah, no one else in Birmingham is doing this stuff.  And there’s a certain magic in the performance that’s always worthwhile.

Which leads me to Rhinoceros, by Eugene Ionesco, which the UAB players performed this past weekend.  If you want a great little summary of the plot, I highly recommend clicking on this link.  Basically, this is a zombie movie on a stage.  There’s a rhinoceros sighting.  Then another.  Then we learn that people are turning into rhinos.  Then we see it happen.  Then we’re left alone with the last man and woman on the planet – before they get her, too.  Smashing.

The first thing I noticed about this play is that it was written in 1959 and contains multiple absurdly comic discussions about whether rhinoceroses spotted by the characters are “African or Asiatic”.  That is, whether they have one horn or two.  Sixteen years later – just enough time for a young comic genius to have watched the play and grown into someone capable of producing his own art – Monty Python produced its Holy Grail movie, which opens with its own memorable dialogue about african and european swallows.  (Perhaps now universally recognized as a preferred dork callsign…)  Coincidence?  I doubt it.  But it makes me like the Pythons even better.

Speaking of rhinoceroses, although the play was translated from french, I would swear that half the fun was the Ionesco making the actors say “rhinoceroses” over and over.  Try it – it’s almost a giggle in itself.  Plus, when you pepper the mix with two characters named “Dudard” and “Botard”, it can lead to a tongue-twisting jumble that’s fun to watch and hear.  I can only hope that the script’s language was tortured on purpose.

And speaking of Botard, I thought Daniel Norwood did an excellent job, along with Jon Prensner as the lead and Benoit Johnson as his friend and co-worker, Jean.  I don’t know how much stage direction is in the script, but there seems like it has a lot of room for improvisation and fleshing out of character.  The energy and pacing between the two friends was fun to watch – especially with Johnson turning into a rhinoceros onstage.  And Botard’s extra gestures, expressions, and assorted magix added a lot of laughs for me.

I highly recommend the annual Festival of Ten-Minute plays, coming in the fall.  Can I request that the theatre department film these and put ‘em up on YouTube or their website for more people to enjoy?  Or at least for BV to link to?

“People who try to hang on to their individuality always come to a bad end.”