PERFORMANCE & COMEDY

The Ustinov, Bath (21 Sept-20 Dec)

THEATRE Staging Goethe’s ‘Iphigenia’ is an adventurous undertaking, considering the cultural significance of Euripides’ original, and the relative unfamiliarity of the German playwright’s 18th-century re-working.

The play tells how Iphigenia, daughter of Agamemnon, sister to Orestes, and now a priestess at the temple of Diana in Tauris, is reunited with her brother: persecuted by the Furies for the murder of their mother, Orestes lands with his bosom friend, Pylades, on the shores of Tauris, unaware of his sister’s presence there (or even that she is still alive).

Not surprisingly, the play involves several ostensibly interminable exposition scenes, during which the actors recount to each other what has passed before the start of dramatic time, and explain their motives. Unfortunately for the production, there is too much weight placed on narrative and not enough on acting, as though the actors are content to make do with describing and do not feel the need to convince the audience that yes, they were there when these things did happen, and yes, they do feel the weight of the past and do struggle with the inner tumult they purport to be struggling with.

These scenes alternate with frantic, high-pitched emotional outbursts, resulting in an altogether odd pacing to the action: the play moves forward in fits and starts, long stretches of inaction followed by equally long stretches of uncontrolled agitation exploding onto the stage. The narrative scenes see the audience’s attention wander, while the more emotive scenes are so prolonged they end up leaving the audience cold (there is only so long you can sustain the level of sympathy demanded by the overwrought characters).

Still, Tom Mothersdale is exquisite as Orestes, his rants and ravings cutting a truly pitiable figure of a man wracked by the agony of iniquity; and Adam Jackson-Smith shines as Pylades, seemingly the only rational individual among people pulled in all directions by conflicting inner feelings. Laura Rees, however, gives a stunted performance as Iphigenia: her obvious preoccupation with imbuing her character with dignity and melancholy perseverance results in a lofty, hard-to-relate-to heroine. Indeed, the production is at its best when the actors conquer their fear of their characters and perform them as human beings: when Iphigenia first encounters Pylades for example, and instantly recognises a fellow Greek; or when Orestes gets overwhelmed by awkwardness when faced with his newfound sister’s affection.

It is difficult not to judge the play under the heavy shadow cast by Euripides’s original, and the inevitable sentimentality of Goethe’s reworking makes his ‘Iphigenia’ feel like an altogether weaker play. Goethe’s work is partly concerned with aligning the character of Iphigenia with the playwright’s contemporary ideals of Christian goodness, which begs the question of just how relevant it remains to modern sensibilities – and why, at the end of the day, it is preferable (or at least equally interesting) to the original. Although it made a bold choice for a play, that question was not answered by this production. (Regina Papachlimitzou)

Copyright Regina Papachlimitzou 2011