As Berenger, Caitie Clancey<\/strong> at times made the audience hope that she would get her act together, but most of her scenes seemed rote rather than real.\u00a0 Her counterpart and boss, Liam Malla<\/b> as John, also has his moments, especially whenever he went into his bathroom and then came out with a larger horn on his forehead as he turned into a rhinoceros before the audience\u2019s eyes.<\/p>\n But even that gets old fast.<\/p>\n Tiffany Walters<\/strong> as Papillion also has a few good scenes, as does Daniel Spiteri Sr. <\/strong>as Corey, but the rest of the cast is easily forgettable.<\/p>\n Laura Merrill\u2019s<\/strong> scenic design consists of some photos that are enlarged across the sides and back of the stage and about 20 feet from the floor.\u00a0 There\u2019s also a slanted table with a tablecloth, some containers of fruit, a sign that says \u201cBoeuf\u2019s\u201d and another sign that says \u201cEggs $1.99.\u201d\u00a0 On the other side of the stage is a table and two chairs, and a high counter with a sign that says \u201cDoggies.\u201d<\/p>\n As far as costumes go, most of the actors look as if they are wearing their own clothes, although it\u2019s possible costume designer Julie Engelbrecht<\/strong> selected some of the actor\u2019s clothing. \u00a0She likely also created the rhino horns that appear on Hogsett\u2019s forehead.<\/p>\n One of the most authentic sounds in this show are the rhinoceros sounds emanating from offstage.\u00a0 At times it did, indeed, sound as if there were a herd of rhinos outside.<\/p>\n Edward Hunter\u2019s<\/strong> lighting filled the stage so that the audience could see all that was going on.<\/p>\n Another problem with this production is that some of the actors and what they were doing just weren\u2019t all that interesting.\u00a0 Do we care when an older woman comes in, sits down to have some coffee and carries her little dog in a basket?\u00a0 Do we care when a young man wearing a beige-and-black vest portends to be a \u201cknow-it-all\u201d and pontificates to the audience?<\/p>\n A resounding no.<\/p>\n When Eugene Ionesco wrote \u201cRhinoceros,\u201d his three-act play in 1959, it supposedly was considered a criticism of the sudden upsurge of Nazism prior to the beginning of World War II.\u00a0 It explored the themes of conformity, mob mentality, morality and logic.<\/p>\n So with all that is happening in the United States now, perhaps director McLeod felt it was a good time to offer up a condensed version of \u201cRhinoceros.\u201d\u00a0 If that was his intent, it was a good one.<\/p>\n But this production just seems too banal to be what he wanted it to be.<\/p>\n Foothill Theatre Arts, Lohman Theatre, 12345 El Monte Road, Los Altos Hills.\u00a0 Shows: Thursdays, May 29 and June 5 at 7:39 p.m.; Fridays, May 30 and June 6 at 8 p.m.; Saturdays, May 31 and June 7, at 8 p.m. and Sundays, June 1 and June 8 at 2 p.m.\u00a0 For tickets ($5 – $20), call (650) 949-7360 or visit www.foothill.edu\/theater<\/a><\/p>\n Joanne Engelhardt is a former San Jose Mercury and Santa Cruz Sentinel writer and theatre critic, and is a member of the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle. Contact:\u00a0joanneengelhardt@comcast.net.<\/em><\/p>\n \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" What happens when you take a play that was originally three acts, condense it into an 88-minute production with lackluster actors playing the roles? You get a lackluster production that…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":124,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"yasr_overall_rating":2.9,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[841],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-109393","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-joanne-engelhardt"},"yasr_visitor_votes":{"stars_attributes":{"read_only":true,"span_bottom":"![\"\"](\"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Rhino1.jpeg\")
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