The hilariously nonsensical play”Rhinoceros” by Eugène Ionesco is, literally, a mess. Actors fall and get tangled up in phone lines; chairs get turned over and thrown around; the flooring of the central stage is spilled on, written on, and sloppily wiped clean with rags and shirts. The bizarre props include a dead cat (fashioned out of a fur muff), a cheap chess set and a picnic basket filled with seashells; all of these are, at one point or another, spilled everywhere.

The Community Ensemble Theater troupe is clearly extremely dedicated to this debacle. They throw themselves around the stage, yelling absurd lines with real passion and manage to keep straight faces while the audience laughs loudly. Even the stage crew is part of the weirdness—their faces are painted like French mimes, and they interact silently with the audience during intermission.

In many ways, Rhinoceros is a play that mocks plays, a political statement piece that mocks political statements. It is a serious play that almost completely conceals itself in absurdity, but the stark stage in the center of the small audience can easily become a dramatic and lonely platform as the play nears its disturbing end. Rhinoceros, true to its name, includes the beasts, which become truly terrifying when shrouded in eerie red lighting and ominous noises made by cast members.

In the end, CET’s Rhinoceros leaves its audience leaving Craft Theater slightly breathless from all of the laughing, and slightly afraid to go out into the dark.