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Latest items? Unedited? Fringe Report Uncut
Children of Hercules
Verdict: Kinship and honour
London - The Scoop, City Hall - July 05
Children of Hercules is a free performance by Free Theatre Season at The Scoop, the riverside open-air amphitheatre next to London’s City Hall.
Hercules is dead. His children are being pursued across Greece by the King of Argos. They seek refuge in Marathon, whose king offers them sanctuary despite the threat of war from Argos. The play’s themes are kinship, honour, duty v convenience, the rule of law.
It’s not clear why Euripides wrote Children of Hercules – the ideas in it lack the cynicism of most of his work. It also doesn’t have the crispness and dramatic intensity of his other plays - or possibly it is this particular production. But many of the creative choices of this staging work well - such as giving musical instruments to the Chorus, to add musical accompaniment.
In the original performances, the Chorus would provide dialogue, commentary, and exposition - by chanting in unison while dancing. The original choreography and accompanying music has been lost, so most modern productions interpret the chorus freely. Perhaps the main creative decision a director must make with a classical Greek tragedy is what to do with the Chorus.
Here they are more or less submerged with the rest of the cast. Actors take turns speaking the lines of the Chorus, rather than together. It works well for a modern staging, making the structure of the play seem more familiar. But some of the original clarity of the drama is lost. Tragedies could be performed by 3 actors playing all the roles apart from the Chorus. In Children of Hercules, the stage seems always to be filled with a crowd, which subtracts from the focus.
Cast Credits:
The Enemy King Eurystheus of Argos - Stewart Alexander. Iolaos, Hercules’ old friend - Robert Donald. Akamas, his brother - Jonathan Lisle. Alkmene, Hercules’ mother - Ursula Mohan. Makaria:, Hercules’ daughter - Kerry Skinner. The Enemy Ambassador Kopreus of Argos - Nick Smithers. King Demophon of Marathon - Phil Willmott. Chorus: Hercules’s Children: (alpha order): Christopher Chamberlain, Lara-Michelle Goodfellow, Tom Hambleton, Matthew Hodson, Edward Jaspers, Nick Smithers, Andrew Venning. The Temple: Julius Barnett, Nicola Delaney, Bea Holland, Ally Holmes, Amy Ip, Olivia Macdonald, Phil Sealey.
Company Credits: Writer – Euripides. Translator - Kenneth McLeish. Director - Phil Willmott. Producers - Suzanna Rosenthal and The Steam Industry.
END
(c) Brad Hall 2005
reviewed 17 July 05 / The Scoop
Fringe Report (c) Fringe Report 2002-2012
www.fringereport.com
