THE CHILDREN OF HERCULES. To 14 August.
London
THE CHILDREN OF HERCULES
by Euripides translated by Kenneth McLeish
The Scoop To 14 August 2005
Thu-Sun 9pm
Runs 50 min No interval
TICKETS: None Free performances
Review: Timothy Ramsden 31 July
Vital, theatrical and dramatic version of a very modern ancient Greek Tragedy.When a strong leader dies, those he has protected become vulnerable. It's like that with the family Hercules leaves behind, a tribe in all but name. Pursued by Hercules' old bete noire Eurystheus they eventually seek protection from Demophon, King of Marathon.
But, as becomes clear when he flinches at the invitation to single-combat from Stewart Alexander's Eurystheus, with his black-painted face markings and tall, fearsome presence, Phil Wilmott's democrat is at a disadvantage in a world of force. The logic is wipe-out at Marathon, and things start going that way, Hercules' aged fighting-chum Iolaos soon dispatched when he creaks off to battle with the others. The situation's saved by one of Euripides' deus ex machine, managed in this production by a simple, fine coup de theatre involving this same Iolaos.
Euripides' deus ex devices might once have seemed ironic and bitter. But with world events throwing several of his plays about dispossession and forced emigration into a new light, they can be seen as part of a fundamental conflict. It's much the same struggle presented more formally by Aeschylus (whose Suppliants, seen at Battersea, covers remarkably similar territory as this play) in his Oresteia, where blind revenge is finally replaced by law.
So here, the gods' intervention, costly though it is, becomes less a miraculous, or capricious heavenly, act than part of a struggle for order in the world; the ageless combat between force and justice.
But the composed, dignified and ultimately gravely joyous of the sacrificial Makaria, given a controlled dignity by Kerry Skinner both on her way to death and in a visitation back from the dead, is not the final image. That's the victims turned predators; when Eurystheus is beaten the suppliant children of Hercules turn on him viciously.
As the modern world struggles to understand what has been revealed (or re-revealed) about human nature and society, this rare revival, performed with energy and clarity, is a valuable contribution. It goes far beyond political rhetoric and in Euripides' mother Alkmene (a vivid Ursula Mohan), Robert Donald's loyal Iolaos and Skinner's Makaria it sets moral positives above the waves of violence and revenge around.
Alkmene: Ursula Mohan
Iolaos: Robert Donald
Makaria: Kerry Skinner
Demophon: Phil Wilmott/Joe Fredericks
Akamas: Jonathan Lisle
Kopreus: Nick Smithers
Eurystheus: Stewart Alexander
Hercules' Children: Edward Jaspers, Matthew Hodson, Tom Hambleton, Nick Smithers, Andrew Venning, Christopher Chamberlain, Lara-Michelle Goodfellow
The Temple: Phil Sealey, Bea Holland, Ally Holmes, Nicola Delaney, Olivia Macdonald, Amy Ip, Julius Barnett
Directors: Phil Wilmott, Joe Fredericks
Designer/Lighting: Hansjorg Schmidt
Sound: Steve Rafter
Music: Joe Fredericks
Choreographer: Darren Royston
Costume: Miranda King
Fight director: Marcello Marascalchi
2005-08-10 01:05:38