Classic Greek Tragedy?
Orestes
The Oxford Playhouse, 12-15 October
Plot: 4/5
Cast: 4/5
Direction: 4/5
The production of Orestes at the Playhouse is a very special occurrence in the Oxford dramatic calendar. It marks the 125th anniversary of the first play to be performed in Ancient Greek in Oxford, which has now become a triennial tradition. It is a phenomenal undertaking, with a cast of twenty and a crew several times larger. Self-evidently, the issue of language poses a great challenge and the cast, (which comprises several non-classicists) have conquered the Greek admirably.
The question remains, however, whether the audience will be able to appreciate the intricacies of the plot and nuance of the meaning, especially given the long narrative monologues that feature heavily in Greek tragedy. If the dialogue is not understood, the story remains a mystery. To this end, electronic screens will provide abridged subtitles, explaining the action, such as that provided in a foreign language opera.
This in turn presents the difficulty that the audience cannot focus simultaneously on the action and the translation. Euripides’s Orestes is concerned with a family in the grip of a cycle of murder and recrimination. In the wake of the Trojan War, the king Agamemnon was murdered by his wife Clytemnestra and her lover, allegedly seeking revenge for the king’s sacrificial murder of their daughter Iphigenia.
Orestes in turn killed his mother, with the help of his sister Electra and their friend Pylades. What ensues is a psychological study of a man being driven mad by guilt and self-reproach. Euripides wrote Orestes only a few years before the collapse of the great Athenian Empire and its democratic idea. The story of humanity destroying itself is perhaps a suggestion that even at the supposed zenith of civilisation, men are cruel, violent and even barbaric.
Crucially, this is not a traditional tragedy, and no-one actually dies. This makes the fear of man’s potential for violence all the more poignant. The set is intended to evoke the ancient world as it appears today, and not as it was when the play was written. The broken down ruin of a palace provides the backdrop to the excavated grave circle in which the action takes place.
Though suggestive of the Mycenae one could visit today, this is also symbolic of the death and destruction that have wreaked havoc on both the family and the familial home. The play opens with the appearance of Orestes and Electra, lying on the ground and covered in mud, having slept rough for several days. Rose Heiney is graceful in her anguish, suffering and bitterness evident in her face.
Clothed in regal red and purple cloths, she is sorrowful yet fiercely dignified as she tells the woeful tale of her familial dead. Electra is portrayed as a passionately protective mother figure, nursing her sleeping brother and promising solemnly to look after him. Orestes (Matthew Trueman) brilliantly conveys his internal torment and ensuing madness in his frantic movements and desperate tone.
Pathos is created as he rushes frantically about the stage, frightening the spirits and drawing the audience into the panic of his confused desperation. He portrays Orestes as a tempestuous and hysterical young man, especially when juxtaposed with a more mature Electra. Orestes’ torment is multi-layered, since alongside his personal guilt, he fears the punitive hand of the state. The notion of being stoned to death by the citizens of Argos reminds the audience of the violence of this society.
The communal purging would seem barbaric and foreign to an audience of ‘civilised’ democratic Athens as well as to a contemporary audience. The cast have achieved no mean feat in simultaneously conquering the language and managing to convey as much of the meaning as is possible with their movements. Tyndareus (Guy Westwood), Orestes’ grandfather, is especially impressive, with his rolling ‘r’s and flawless diction, conveying his patriarchal status in a regal grey robe.
The Phrygian slave (Sheridan Edwards), dressed in yellow and green provides one of the highlights of the performance, beautifully singing a highly dramatic aria. The chorus girls are dressed in elegant black and the choreography is stylish as well as innovative, at least in conception, although it could at times be better executed. The unity of their actions, singing, speaking and chanting beautifully compliments the central action.
The action of the play reaches an exciting climax, with a traditional hostage scene in which Orestes is holding a sword to Hermione’s throat. The play is a fantastic visual spectacle, the multi-coloured costumes depicting the diversity of the Greek world. The beautiful Helen of Troy (Kannayo Okolie) is blue and turquoise, her daughter Hermione (Emma Stephany) in contrasting greens. The musical element is perhaps even more enjoyable.
Hugh Brent’s beautiful compositions create a mystical ambience and Electra (Rose Heiney) has an especially enchanting voice. What is perhaps most fascinating about Orestes is the development that takes place within the hero’s mind. At first, consumed with guilt, he talks of self-sacrifice, but eventually he justifies to himself his fateful decision to commit patricide and becomes determined to preserve his own life, even at the cost of greatly escalated violence.
5th Oct 2005