Men will be next."

I absolutely love Greek Tragedy. Drama based on human suffering often provides fantastic opportunities for powerful, compelling staging, and being promiseddramatic story-telling from the former National Poet of Wales, Gwyneth Lewisand bold direction from Amy Hodge, I was understandably excited. On seeing the set I was even more convinced that what I was about to see would not only be powerful, but gripping and bloody. The set, a dystopian abattoir with blood splattered up the white tiles, was intense and macabre; the production had amazing potential. Enter writhing, heavy breathing actors: evil spirits utilised to urge characters to perform heinous deeds whilst simultaneously meant to represent the traditional Greek Chorus. It’s frustrating when a production refuses to let the audience witness the inner mental turmoil of condemned characters without insisting on external devices. Not only is it slightly patronizing to an audience, but it’s extremely distracting; at one point I was so close to a contorted spirit, I had to tuck my legs in from the stage. These creatures were inexplicably physical, rolling about the stage and talking in shrill whispers. It left me incredibly unconvinced of Clytemnestra’s mental instability, and made me question her motives, when ordinarily said motives should have been obvious. Having said that, an image which was extremely powerful and ensured a feeling of warped sympathy was the image of Clytemnestra, knelt down in a dreamy bewilderment, rapidly scooping the ashes of her daughter into her open mouth in order to re-consume her child.

Gwyneth Lewis manages to include a clear narrative, but I couldn’t help but feel that this was done in an untactful way. At one point, an abattoir worker stands looking offstage filling the audience in, but doing so in such a way, it sounded as if he was reading from an internet information page. I must observe however, that the scenes at the abattoir with the three workers, although slightly jarring with the scenes of Clytemnestra’s descent into madness, were a highlight. The dialogue was fast-paced and amusing and provided a small amount of light into an otherwise dense production. 

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