Marin Magazine Blog

Phèdre through Feb. 7th at A.C.T.

January 31st, 2010 at 11:29am Mimi

Rarely have I looked back with gratitude to a college professor for “unlocking the passion to learn.”  Mostly because, I was already interested in the topic. However, when it came to taking a required Shakespeare class to complete my English degree, I do tip my hat  to Dr. Stephan Greenblatt’s Shakespeare 101.

Greenblatt breathed life into what I had considered a dusty topic. Besides his passionate diatribes on the genius of the dialogue, and timelessness of every story. Greenblatt hired actors to come into his classroom. Perhaps the other students had heard of his unusual techniques and expected it–I was captivated. At the end of a performance–which looked more like an outburst from a disruptive student–Greenblatt would connect the dots to whatever play we were studying. Sort of like adding rock music and Leonardo Dicaprio to Romeo and Juliet. I was hooked.

Fast forward a couple decades to A.C.T.’s announcement of Phèdre coming to town. Phèdre is a tragic love triangle in the traditional Greek tragedy featuring Seana McKenna as Phèdre, a woman caught in an agonizing love triangle with her husband, King Theseus of Athens, and his son by a former lover. Sure this story has been done by Hollywood hundreds of times, but the Bard of Avon did if first.

Thanks to A.C.T.’s website, theater-goers can get prepared for the experience with a bit of background and insider’s scoop on the play.

For instance here is an excerpt from the theater’s artistic director, Cary Perloff:

It seems only fitting that the first production of the decade is Phèdre, the greatest of French tragedies, performed over the centuries by such luminaries as Sarah Bernhardt, whose ghost still haunts this theater. I had the great fortune to direct a version of this production last summer at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Canada. But I had no idea what a pleasure and revelation it would be to get to explore this complex play a second time. At Stratford, the production was performed on an extreme thrust stage with almost no scenery; therefore we had the opportunity, here in our beautiful proscenium, to completely re-imagine the physical production. Designer Christina Poddubiuk took her cue from David Lang’s haunting and visceral music, creating a design that is fertile and suggestive without being literal. Because Phèdre is a French classical play that makes reference to ancient Greek characters and gods, it lives in a kind of timeless erotic zone that fuses many worlds; the most important thing is that the playing space is a dangerous crossroads, a magnet where violently opposed characters collide and erupt.

Or blogs by Christina Poddubiuk, Phèdre s scenic designer and actresses, Seana McKenna, (Phèdre) and Claire Lautier (Aricie) can connect you to the making of the production.

As I sat in my seat and looked around, I wondered how many other Greenblatt converts were sitting in the audience.

Entry Filed under: Events, Theater