Catherine Bennett resumes the weekly look at the performing arts world, with the sad end of Jerusalem, the luck of a cabbie, and French revolt. Do you hear the people sing?
Adam Alcock reviews Nigel Kennedy playing Vivaldi's Four Seasons and his own Four Elements at York Opera House.
Catherine Bennett highlights the trends in the performing arts world today.
Jonathan Cridford reviews 'Ghosts', one of the Freshers' plays for this year.
Week Eight saw the Drama Barn take a huge theatrical leap back in time.
This term has generally been a very modern affair, with plays such as Morbid Curiosity and The American Pilot utilising very twenty-first century themes and interests. Not so this week, with an Ancient Greek tragedy providing the somewhat unfamiliar setting for another installment of student drama, Phaedra.
This adaption of the classic story of Hippolytus, sees Phaedra, wife of a king she believes to be dead (Theseus) confess her forbidden love for her stepson Hippolytus.
The love is naturally unrequited as Hippolytus’ love for Aricia provides another love plot running through the play. Hippolytus' plans to marry Aricia are thrown into chaos however when it emerges that the Gods have spared Theseus, and, in order to save her mistress, Phaedra’s maid Oenone intimates to Theseus that it was Hippolytus and not Phaedra who tried to start the relationship.
The first half of the play was slow in places. Some of the characters and their relationships felt slightly unbelievable, as a weak script seemed to slightly let down some strong performances. The second half however was far from slow. As the story developed towards an inevitable tragic ending, the cast seemed to pick up and deliver more impressive performances.
Rob Donnell’s portrayal of Theseus was packed with wonderful raw anger with a fury so wonderfully expressed it made me think I was watching a man born to play Lear. Laura Henderson performed well in her role as the title character with the difficult task of delivering the almost insane Phaedra done with aplomb.
The vast majority of the roles were well covered. The character of Theramenes gave Tom Ellis little to work with for much of the play, but his delivery of the speech announcing Hippolytus death by the Gods was astounding, aided as it was by brilliant lighting and well-timed music.
Other performances were also generally good; there was a reasonable chemistry between Leo Ameil’s ‘Hippoloytus’ and Vicky Lloyd’s ‘Aricia’. Pippa Caddick as Panope and Becca Adams as ‘Isemene’ both displayed genuine emotion and quality.
The use of veils around the stage proved inspired, creating a detachment between the world inhibited by the characters and the audience. This meant the Barn lacked its usual intimacy of performance, but in the context of this play it was no bad thing. One criticism would be the difficulty some would have of seeing the whole performance as some had obstructed views. For those in good positions it worked a treat.
All in all this was a well executed play and a welcome change to see a performance of a good old fashioned tragedy.
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