October 23-26 — Sarah Kane’s “Phaedre’s Love,” the second part of the original PhaedrePlays
Mudslinging, false accusations, the cult of personality. No, it’s not the 2008 elections. It’s “Phaedre’s Love,” the contemporary response by Sarah Kane to “Phedre,” the 1677 play by Jean Racine … both of which are being presented by Butler Theatre.
When: October 23-25 at 8:00 PM; October 26 at 2:00 PM
Where: Butler University, Lilly Hall Studio Theatre
From the blurb:
Directed by John Green. The myth of Phaedra is one of the most powerful in all classical mythology. A dying queen’s obsessive love for her stepson, Hippolytus, has come to be known as one of the great dramas of tragic infactuation, a tale of love strong enough to bring down a kingdom.
The exciting thing about this play is that throughout its various manifestations, the same human beings are experiencing the same things: love, jealousy, friendship, and loyalty. The relevance and pertinence of the issues can still astound us; there are lines about the difficulties of a second marriage and step-mothers, divorce and second families, and these are all things that we consider to be contemporary issues!
Using the same cast of actors and one set, PHAEDRAPLAYS presents a unique opportunity to experience two contrasting versions of the Phaedra myth: a dramatic ‘dialogue’ between one of the most famous and the most recent tellings of this particular tale. Racine, writing in 1677 for the court of Louis XIV, used seventeenth century notions of honor to create a theatrical petri-dish of betrayal. Phedre wrestles with her passion, and betrays herself when she betrays her love. Writing in 1996, Sarah Kane responds to Racine with a withering howl from the contemporary urban jungle.
From the press release:
Butler Theatre Department Chair John Green, who’s directing both shows, said he wanted to present the plays consecutively to allow his students “to look at both plays and see what influences move from one play to another. What can an actor playing Phedre in Racine’s play, for example, bring to the Sarah Kane play, and what would reflect back?”
Racine’s Phedre, based on the ancient Greek play by Euripides, tells the story of the queen who falls in love with her stepson, Hippolytus, and acknowledges her feelings when she wrongly assumes that her husband, the king, has died. At the same time, there’s a naked grab for power and a rape accusation against an innocent man.
Green said Racine’s play provides extraordinary psychological insight into how people deal with guilt, allow their passions to overwhelm logic and completely give in to temptation. “It’s this wonderful toxic combination of raw political power and sexual passion crashing into each other.”
The Sarah Kane piece shifts the focus from Phedre to Hippolytus, who in the original play is the innocent accused of rape. In this play, written in 1996, Prince Hippolytus leads a decadent life. “What Kane was doing,” Green said, “was examining the destructive side of the cult of celebrity. She was 10 years ahead of Britney and Paris. She was looking in at what’s going on in society.”
Actors play the same roles in both productions but these are two very different plays.
“I thought it would be interesting,” Green said, “and maybe the university is the only place to do this – to present two versions of the same play and have the audience return to see what’s new and different.”
And for your listening pleasure …
Phedre … the ultimate story of a grapevine gone bad!
