The Women of Troy at the Blue Elephant Theatre
By Carolin Kopplin
Journey on, head held high
Fresh from winning the Best Artistic Director Award 2012 from Fringe Report, Ricky Dukes and his Lazarus Theatre Company present this passionate and emotive play about human survival through means of a dramatic fusion of text, movement and music. Written by Euripides, the most modern of the Greek tragedians, the play was first performed in 415 BC. Its message is as relevant today as it was to the Athenians – sadly, the terrors of war have not changed in 3,000 years. Although there is only one situation, with little movement, the desperate strength of the women despite their suffering makes for an intense and intriguing play.
After the Greek victory, with all the men savagely murdered, Hecuba, Queen of Troy, is forced to cope with a world where women are the spoils of war and will be enslaved and abducted by their victors. Hecuba is expected to give security and encouragement to the other women who look to her for support and guidance.
Mocking women who cannot deal with their fate: “Oh, world, pity me! I’m just a feeble woman!” she makes the other women laugh and gives them hope. They are also united in their hate for Helen, who they consider the cause of war, destruction and death. Strengthened by their unity the women seem to be prepared to face whatever fate waits for them: “Together we stand, together we shall fall.”
The fusion of text, dance and music evokes the original spirit of the play, which was meant to be performed with all those elements, and, at the same time, makes it accessible to modern audiences. The chorus is put to excellent use and is the greatest strength of this production. One of the weaker points is the confrontation of Hecuba and Helen. Helen was constantly blocked by the other actors. This might make her appear more mysterious but is also somewhat disappointing as Helen vanishes in yellow smoke in what should be one climax of the play. Yet, this is a minor point. Alice Brown, who was already impressive in Don Carlos, is outstanding as Hecuba, she has the true bearing of a queen. Kerrian Burton impresses in her professional debut as the manic Cassandra.By Carolin Kopplin
Dates
Tuesday 20 March - Saturday 14 April
Time
8:00 pm
Days of the week
Tuesday - Saturday
Ticket price
£12.50
£10.00 (concessions)
£9.50 (Southwark residents)
£10 (Previews Tuesday 20 and Wednesday 21 March)
Post-show discussions:
Tuesdays 27 March, 3 & 10 April
Wednesday matinees
4pm on the 4th & 11th of April
Blue Elephant Theatre
59a Bethwin Rd(entrance in Thompson's Ave)
Camberwell
London
SE5 0XT
A View from the Bridge at Manchester Royal Exchange
By Caroline May
Arthur Miller’s 1955 play A View from the Bridge, set in the impoverished world of New York dockers and longshoremen, has the same sense of timelessness as the Greek tragedies it references. Yet the subplot about desperate illegal immigrants and their precarious twilight existence strikes an urgent contemporary note today.
Eddie Carbone is a simple and good-hearted manual labourer. Thanks to his generosity and sense of responsibility his wife Beatrice has never had to work and together they have raised Beatrice’s orphaned niece Catherine as their own. But as Catherine has grown up Eddie has become more over-protective and possessive of her, and Beatrice’s eagerness for Catherine to fly the nest is as much for her own sake as her niece’s.
Miller’s narrator is the neighbourhood lawyer Alfieri, a not-so-cool and dispassionate observer of the unfolding drama. For him, legal practice walks hand in hand with the laws of nature: “The law is only a word for what has a right to happen”. As Eddie’s natural affection for Catherine becomes something more sinister, the catalyst for his inevitable punishment arrives in the guise of Beatrice’s illegal immigrant cousins, Marco and Rodolpho.
Olivier award-winner Con O’Neill plays Eddie with a surprising amount of tolerance and humour – in fact humour is the overwhelming note of Sarah Frankcom’s production – but the moment in Act Two when Eddie crosses the line with his niece draws an audible gasp of horror from the audience.
Anna Francolini’s jealous Beatrice, who seems rather too smart and middle-class to be married to a docker, revels in the shrewish aspects of the role, while Leila Mimmack’s feisty Catherine seems to grow up in front of our eyes. Ronan Raferty’s sparkling and mercurial Rodolpho has exactly the quality the playwright describes of being able to make people laugh just from his manner of speaking.
Ian Redford was in the Exchange’s production of Antigone a couple of seasons ago, and his Alfieri seems steeped in classical Greek tragedy from the outset, while some lively cameos (assorted neighbours, longshoremen and immigration officers) remind us of the 1950s Brooklyn setting.
James Cotterill’s simple and uncluttered design lets the action move swiftly and clearly, and Peter Rice’s sound design is particularly interesting when Eddie makes his fatal phone call.
The tumultuous applause at the end of the show clearly indicates that the Royal Exchange has another hit on its hands.
A View From The Bridge is on until Saturday 25 June 2011
Prices £9-£32
Evenings: Mon-Fri @ 7.30, Sat @ 8pm
Matinees: Wed @ 2.30, Sat @ 4pm
Box Office: 0161 833 9833
www.royalexchange.co.uk
The Bacchae at Manchester Royal Exchange Theatre
By Caroline MayIn ancient Greece everybody would have been familiar with the story of Dionysus (also known as Bacchus). Son of the king of Thebes’ daughter by the god Zeus, when Dionysus’ divinity was denied by the Thebans he visited a terrible revenge on their city.
Euripides’ tragedy is rife with dramatic irony as the god’s royal aunt, cousin and grandfather face choices, make the wrong decisions, and hurtle unaware towards their inevitable doom.
Braham Murray’s Royal Exchange production is excellent on so many levels, but let’s start with with Mike Poulton’s new translation, which rhymes flexibly and unobtrusively and is happy to use contemporary English alongside marvellous poetical coinages (such as the contemptuous dismissal of Dionysus as a “wonder monger” or a “godling”).
The acting is hugely enjoyable too, with powerful performances from the central characters. Jotham Annan lends Dionysus great stage presence and is smooth, charming and self-possessed. Sam Alexander as a very personable Pentheus makes such a compelling case for the king that you forget he’s a heretical tyrant. They both deliver their long plot-heavy speeches with consummate ease and use the in-the-round space effortlessly.
A lighter note is injected by Wyllie Longmore’s pragmatic King Cadmus and Colin Prockter as his sidekick Tiresias, the blind prophet. Their ridiculous bacchanalian rig-out of dried leaves and baubles belies their age and status, and their old-men-behaving-badly schtick provides a lovely comic interlude before the Eumenides come home to roost.
Throughout the play we cannot escape the brooding presence of the chorus, a group of Bacchants whose debauched frenzies have left them wild-haired, stripped to their underwear and covered in muddy handprints. The eight talented dancers and singers revel in Mark Bruce’s vivid choreography and Akintayo Akinbode’s atmospheric live score.
Louise Ann Wilson’s design clears the stage of any of the predicable clutter of shrines, tombs and architectural features, and Chris Davey’s thrilling other-worldly lighting would strike fear into any mortal.
Director Braham Murray has created a production that feels utterly modern and fresh and is a genuinely great all-round achievement.
The Bacchae is on until Saturday 4 December 2010
Prices: £9-£30
Evenings: Mon-Fri @ 7.30, Sat @ 8pm [no performance Tues 23 Nov]
Matinees: Weds @ 2.30pm, Sats @ 4pm and Tues 23 Nov @ 2.30pm
Box Office: 0161 833 9833
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