The setting for the intriguing narrative of Rhinoceros unfolds in a quaint French town, nestled perhaps near the bustling city of Paris. The play opens in the vibrant heart of this town—a bustling square alive with the routine rhythms of a sunny summer Sunday shortly before noon. Shops line the square, with a grocer's store inviting customers and a café-bar extending its welcome with chairs and tables set outside, basking in the warm embrace of the sun. The era remains vague, likely set a couple of decades prior to the play's creation, adding a touch of timelessness to the scene.

Transitioning from the town square, the second act introduces us to the office where Berenger, the protagonist, spends his working days. This office exudes a vintage charm with its old-fashioned setup. Pens and inkwells are prominently featured, alongside the more modern typewriters, evoking a sense of a workspace caught between eras. The office is accessed by a climb up a wooden staircase, a practical barrier rendering it safe from the chaos that a charging rhinoceros might bring. Whether a government establishment or not, the office serves as a stage for the unfolding drama.

In the subsequent scene, we are transported to Jean's home, a modest apartment comprising two rooms. Here, Berenger visits his friend Jean, who remains in bed within his bed-sitting room, while an offstage bathroom provides a secondary space. The apartment’s simplicity mirrors the unassuming nature of its resident, yet it becomes the backdrop for Jean’s dramatic transformation into a rhinoceros. This metamorphosis occurs on the same Monday that Berenger is driven from his office due to the rhinoceros' rampage.

Berenger’s own living quarters share the simplicity of Jean’s, featuring only a bed and a chair, with the additions of a telephone and a radio. Set against an unspecified day, likely a Tuesday, the atmosphere outside his room has shifted drastically. The streets have become the domain of rhinoceroses, their herds swelling as they thunder past. Within this chaos, Berenger receives visits from his colleagues—first Dudard, then Daisy, the typist, to whom he reveals his desperate affection. An eerie isolation pervades as the telephone connects only to rhinoceroses, and the radio echoes with their musical trumpeting, underscoring a growing sense of despair. This setting paints a vivid picture of a world in transition, straddling the familiar and the fantastical, as humanity grapples with its own metamorphosis.