Post by Steve on Apr 28, 2016 0:05:42 GMT
So the Gate theatre have got four different playwrights to retell the story of the Orestia, at least the bits that focus on Agamemnon, the daughter he convinces to sacrifice herself, Iphigenia, and the wife who takes revenge on him, Clytemnestra.
Each of these 3 characters get a playlet (approximately 40 minutes) and the Chorus get the fourth.
The writers, who got to approach their characters any which way they wanted, are:
Caroline Bird - Agamemnon
Lulu Raczka - Clytemnestra
(staged together, without an interval, running time 80 minutes)
Suhayla El-Bushra - Iphigenia
Chris Thorpe - Chorus
(staged together, without an interval, running time 80 minutes)
The lucky press get to see all four plays at once, but everybody else can only book the above-mentioned pairs.
I got to see Agamemnon and Clytemnestra last night, and will see the other two later. "Agememnon" was a distinctly average experience for me, "Clytemnestra" was masterful and exceptional.
Some spoilers follow. . .
Agamemnon:-
Caroline Bird was tasked to write a play about Agememnon. Following Euripides, her take is that he was stitched up by his brother Menelaus, who got him to consult an Oracle. Once the Oracle deemed that Iphigenia must die, Bird suggests Agamemnon is in a Catch 22, either kill her, or his soldiers will kill her anyway, and probably kill him and Clytemnestra too. Why Clytemnestra might vent her fury on the klutz Agamemnon, rather than the schemer Menelaus, is the subject of Bird's play.
The problem with this play is that it is intrinsically straightforward and declamatory, and it is played that way, as if it were being staged in the Olivier Theatre, by Andrew French, who projects a deafening volume as Agamemnon, with little nuance of feeling. Sharon Duncan-Brewster's Clytemnestra takes her cue from French, and engages him in what looks like a cagefight. It is left to Nigel Barrett, as Menelaus, in what could be a deft audition for the role of Iago, in Othello, to bring some iron willed wry manipulation and humour to a play that otherwise is bang on the nose.
2 and a half stars
Clytemnestra:-
Lulu Raczka was tasked to write a play about Clytemnestra. She decides not to feature Clytemnestra at all, but rather stages a Rashomon style choir of voices who tell us everything they think they know about her. We begin with a modern day Director (Anthony Barclay) talking about how important Clytemnestra's story is. He raves that men's stories have had their day, and it's time for women's stories. He talks about fiery actresses like Charlize Theron in the recent Mad Max, and tells us that Clytemnestra would have been far more fiery than that. His excitement is wildly infectious, in the way all enthusiastic people are, as well as funny, because of the irony of a male character in a play raving about the importance of female characters. After all, he, a male, is there before us in lieu of Clytemnestra, a female, who is not there, but he doesn't know that. He is the creation of a female mind, but he doesn't know that either. Layers of irony pile upon each other.
Then a second character, a female Professor (Susie Trayling), talks about Clytemnestra. She is more sober, less engaging than the Director, but maybe she has more gravitas.
Suddenly, we are back in time, and a Soldier (Dwane Walcott) offers us a contemporaneous account of his sightings of Clytemnestra. Then a Maid (Shannon Tarbet), perhaps the closest to the "real" Clytemnestra, tells us what she saw, Clytemnestra waiting outside the door where Iphigenia was about to sacrifice herself.
The voices flash, one to the other, back and back again, and the brilliance of Raczka's structure reveals itself. In a project where 4 playwrights come together to tell one story, she has created 4 characters to come together to tell one story. She opens mirrors that reflect each other, and in the audience, we must play Rashomon's game, listen to them all and find Clytemnestra for ourselves.
Raczka casts a Spielbergian enchantment over her audience, as we hear the footsteps of a dinosaur in the voice of Barclay's ebullient Director, we hear John William's theme from Jaws in the Professor's erudite speculations, we see the dinosaur's eye in the Soldier's account and we see the Shark's fin in the Maid's witnessing. . . the feel that Clytemnestra will reveal herself imminently builds and builds. . . until. . .
the conclusion is masterful!
Raczka is a great writer, and using a company of four marvellous actors, as well as a chiaroscuro lighting design and a thrilling sound design, director Jennifer Tang milks her play for every wonderful moment of suspense.
5 stars
PS: Can't wait to see the other two playlets, but I absolutely don't expect the other two plays to match Raczka's play. She's a rare talent!
Each of these 3 characters get a playlet (approximately 40 minutes) and the Chorus get the fourth.
The writers, who got to approach their characters any which way they wanted, are:
Caroline Bird - Agamemnon
Lulu Raczka - Clytemnestra
(staged together, without an interval, running time 80 minutes)
Suhayla El-Bushra - Iphigenia
Chris Thorpe - Chorus
(staged together, without an interval, running time 80 minutes)
The lucky press get to see all four plays at once, but everybody else can only book the above-mentioned pairs.
I got to see Agamemnon and Clytemnestra last night, and will see the other two later. "Agememnon" was a distinctly average experience for me, "Clytemnestra" was masterful and exceptional.
Some spoilers follow. . .
Agamemnon:-
Caroline Bird was tasked to write a play about Agememnon. Following Euripides, her take is that he was stitched up by his brother Menelaus, who got him to consult an Oracle. Once the Oracle deemed that Iphigenia must die, Bird suggests Agamemnon is in a Catch 22, either kill her, or his soldiers will kill her anyway, and probably kill him and Clytemnestra too. Why Clytemnestra might vent her fury on the klutz Agamemnon, rather than the schemer Menelaus, is the subject of Bird's play.
The problem with this play is that it is intrinsically straightforward and declamatory, and it is played that way, as if it were being staged in the Olivier Theatre, by Andrew French, who projects a deafening volume as Agamemnon, with little nuance of feeling. Sharon Duncan-Brewster's Clytemnestra takes her cue from French, and engages him in what looks like a cagefight. It is left to Nigel Barrett, as Menelaus, in what could be a deft audition for the role of Iago, in Othello, to bring some iron willed wry manipulation and humour to a play that otherwise is bang on the nose.
2 and a half stars
Clytemnestra:-
Lulu Raczka was tasked to write a play about Clytemnestra. She decides not to feature Clytemnestra at all, but rather stages a Rashomon style choir of voices who tell us everything they think they know about her. We begin with a modern day Director (Anthony Barclay) talking about how important Clytemnestra's story is. He raves that men's stories have had their day, and it's time for women's stories. He talks about fiery actresses like Charlize Theron in the recent Mad Max, and tells us that Clytemnestra would have been far more fiery than that. His excitement is wildly infectious, in the way all enthusiastic people are, as well as funny, because of the irony of a male character in a play raving about the importance of female characters. After all, he, a male, is there before us in lieu of Clytemnestra, a female, who is not there, but he doesn't know that. He is the creation of a female mind, but he doesn't know that either. Layers of irony pile upon each other.
Then a second character, a female Professor (Susie Trayling), talks about Clytemnestra. She is more sober, less engaging than the Director, but maybe she has more gravitas.
Suddenly, we are back in time, and a Soldier (Dwane Walcott) offers us a contemporaneous account of his sightings of Clytemnestra. Then a Maid (Shannon Tarbet), perhaps the closest to the "real" Clytemnestra, tells us what she saw, Clytemnestra waiting outside the door where Iphigenia was about to sacrifice herself.
The voices flash, one to the other, back and back again, and the brilliance of Raczka's structure reveals itself. In a project where 4 playwrights come together to tell one story, she has created 4 characters to come together to tell one story. She opens mirrors that reflect each other, and in the audience, we must play Rashomon's game, listen to them all and find Clytemnestra for ourselves.
Raczka casts a Spielbergian enchantment over her audience, as we hear the footsteps of a dinosaur in the voice of Barclay's ebullient Director, we hear John William's theme from Jaws in the Professor's erudite speculations, we see the dinosaur's eye in the Soldier's account and we see the Shark's fin in the Maid's witnessing. . . the feel that Clytemnestra will reveal herself imminently builds and builds. . . until. . .
the conclusion is masterful!
Raczka is a great writer, and using a company of four marvellous actors, as well as a chiaroscuro lighting design and a thrilling sound design, director Jennifer Tang milks her play for every wonderful moment of suspense.
5 stars
PS: Can't wait to see the other two playlets, but I absolutely don't expect the other two plays to match Raczka's play. She's a rare talent!
