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Written by
Johann Wolfgang
von Goethe
Directed by
Joe Hill-Gibbins
Designed by
Simon Daw and
Angela Simpson
Translated by
Dan Farrelly
after Euripides' Iphigenia in Tauris
Cast:
Thoas
Peter Guinness
Orestes
Aidan Mcardle
Iphigenia
Catherine
Mccormack
Pylades
Tom Smith
Arkas
Michael Thomas
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The Gate
Theatre
24
November - 14 December 2003 |
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Poor Iphigenia
has had more than her fair share of
misfortune. First she is sacrificed
by her father, then she is subjected
to declarations of love from her 'second
father', old King Thoas who, no matter
how many times she denies him keeps
trying to convince her to accept his
love. Then comes a young man with a
wild look in his eyes who turns out
to be her brother, bearing news that
not only has their mother killed their
father, but also that he has killed
their mother in revenge. If that were
not enough for Iphigenia, her brother
Orestes and friend are captured by Thoas
who requests Iphigenia to sacrifice
them to the goddess Diana. What should
she do? Kill brother and friend, or
run away? If the latter, she would seem
ungrateful to Thoas for saving her.
Either way she would appear at least
to be upholding those family values
that are - given the family tradition
of murdering each other - admirably
important to Iphigenia.
Her decision
is for you to find out. The more pressing
issue is whether you should bother to.
The problem with Dan Farrelly's translation
of Goethe's Under
the Curse
lies in the quandary of taking part
of a story but making a complete piece
in itself. What seems to have the potential
of an epic is somehow trivialised in
this short piece, and it's a tricky
task pinpointing why.
Performances
all-round are generally good. Peter
Guinness's Thoas is an appropriate balance
of noble and haggard, as any self-respecting
king of barbarians should be. Catherine
McCormack's Iphigenia is sympathetic
if slightly in narrow in emotional repertoire.
But particularly noteworthy is Aiden
Mcardle as troubled brother Orestes
who had me convinced he had just committed
an unthinkable act.
Perhaps
the problem lies in director Joe Hill-Gibbins's
decision to make this piece as stark
as possible, a minimalist set (designed
by Simon Daw and Angela Simpson) and
occasional quiet sound effects (Gary
Yershon) lay all the pressure on the
performance, and it would be nice to
have seen more imagination in bringing
the sometimes very vivid dialogue to
life with more movement, more variety
in pace, more spark in the various relationships.
It seems that in this case the attempt
to unveil the piece's universality through
simplicity only serves to dampen its
energy.
Peggy
Nuttall |
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