Berenger Timeline and Summary

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• As always, Berenger is late for whatever he’s supposed to be doing. In this case, he’s late to meet his friend Jean at a café. Which also makes him late for the beginning of the play.
• Once there, the hungover Berenger and Jean talk about a lot of things—mainly Jean tries to convince Berenger to clean up his act.
• Love comes walking in when Daisy crosses the stage. Berenger has a thing for her, but he doesn’t want her to see him in his hungover state, so he hides. Real classy.
• Berenger and Jean talk some more, but before things can get too existential, the first Rhinoceros storms onto the scene.
• You’d think this would be a big deal, but Berenger seems pretty over it right after it happens.
• Eventually the second rhino makes an appearance, but he’s still not all that concerned. Jean and Berenger argue over Berenger’s lack of interest or enthusiasm, and generally just keep arguing.
• With all the rhinoceros hype going on the next day, Berenger is able to sneak into work late. (Daisy hooks him up on the time card, so it will look like he showed up on time.)
• Berenger gets involved in the debate over whether the rhinoceroses are real and does a little work. This is probably the most surprising moment of the play.
• Once Rhino-Bouef, as we like to call him, shows up and the staircase crumbles, Berenger leaves through the window with the rest of his co-workers. Again, classy.
• Say what you will about Berenger, but he doesn’t like to upset his friends. He heads to Jean’s to try to clear the air from their Sunday squabble.
• Things do not go down the way Berenger had hoped. Instead of making up with his friend, he witnesses Jean transform into a rhinoceros. For Berenger, things just got real.
• As rhinos take over the city, Berenger lies in his bed fearing he too might be going the way of the rhino.
• Luckily, his coworker Dudard shows up to talk him down from the metaphorical ledge. Then Daisy shows, and it’s clear that these two crazy kids just might have a shot at love.
• Soon Dudard decides he’d rather be a rhino than a dude, so Berenger and Daisy are left by their lonesomes.
• Even when rhinoceroses are storming the building and threatening to tear apart the world as he knows it, Berenger manages to profess his love for Daisy. She’s clearly on board…for a whole five minutes.
• Love is fickle, people, especially when the world is crumbling around you. Daisy decides to join the rhinos, leaving Berenger as the only one in the play standing on two legs.
• For a minute, Berenger regrets his decision to stay human and laments that it’s too late for him to join the others. Then he snaps out of his daze and howls against the rhinos, claiming he will fight them all!