ANDROMACHE. To 19 August.
Edinburgh International Festival
ANDROMACHE
by Luk and Peter Perceval after Racine
Schaubuhne am Lehniner Platz, Berlin at Royal Lyceum Theatre To 19 August 2004-08-29 Runs 1hr No interval
Review: Timothy Ramsden 18 August
Precise and complex according to taste, either crystalline theatrical purity or lacking the rough edges of life.The section of the Trojan War story this play is based upon is horrifying and tragically pertinent as ever. It was first told in Euripides' Trojan Women; how after the Greeks defeated the Trojans, the widow of Troy's hero Hector is forced into sexual slavery in the household of her husband's killer, while her son is murdered to prevent him growing up and taking revenge.
The Percevals' new version is a new play, distilling the issues to an hour's playing-time. This is, according to taste, either a valuable way of concentrating the issues or of avoiding such playwrighting responsibilities as character development, story and the sheer randomness of events which dramatic action can encompass.
Following the German from supertitles at the sides of the Lyceum's stage makes full appreciation hard, especially in such a concentrated piece. Timings (of reading if not projection) can't keep in exact line with speech, while the projected translation sometimes comes closer to highlights than complete text at times.
Undoubtedly, staging and acting are impressive. Denied the realism that story and action might give, the play becomes a debate between set minds, the men predominating. Pyrrhus, Hector's killer, is determined to take Andromache in place of his previous love Hermione. Orestes loves Hermione but has come, with his friend Pylades (here allowed some contribution unlike the Greek dramas where he is near silent) to kill the Trojan offspring Astyanax, son of Andromache.
All this is staged with minimal movement, voices closely amplified, as if the characters are frozen in their missions, emotions or predicaments. They are doubly marooned in these. All stand, or in the victim Andromache's case sit, atop an island structure, like a pile of planks or a vaulting-horse (actually an altar of love). They're surrounded by bottles. Many of these are smashed as the piece starts; more by its end, creating a sense of danger and destruction.
Theatrically intricate, intimate and precise with five immaculate performances, the performing conditions give the impact of a rare-species hothouse plant.
Andromache: Jutta Lampe
Hermione: Yvon Jansen
Pyrrhus: Mark Waschke
Orestes: Ronald Kukulies
Pylades: Andre Szymanski
Director: Luk Perceval
Designer: Annette Kurz
Lighting: Mark Van Denese
Costume: Ilse Vandenbussche
Dramaturg: Maja Zade
2004-09-06 04:09:45