Why?
What have the Greeks ever done for us? Well, apart from democracy, they built the foundations of theatre. Literally — many modern theatres are built on the Greek model of rising stalls, “orchestra” for the chorus and a flat playing space. But they also gave us the dramatic principles on which plays are still constructed — due in no small part to the astonishing survival of so many of the texts: some 30 Greek tragedies still exist and about 12 comedies.
The Almeida theatre in north London is celebrating this with a new season, reworking three of the classic tragedies — the Oresteia by Aeschylus is adapted by the theatre’s associate director Robert Icke; Euripides’ Bakkhai — more usually The Bacchae — is reworked by Anne Carson (whose version of Sophocles’ Antigone is currently at the Barbican). It will star Ben Whishaw and Bertie Carvel. A new version of Medea, also by Euripides, comes from the author Rachel Cusk. As the writer of Aftermath: On Marriage and Separation, she is no stranger to the subject of marriage breakdown, though her two daughters, I hasten to add, remain in good health.
Rupert Goold, the Almeida’s director, says his season is “inspired in form and spirit by the Greek Dionysia”, a spring festival that included music, dancing, drinking and a theatre competition. Three writers of tragedies would compete and a jury voted for the best play. The winner’s name (and that of the rich citizen who paid for the production) would be inscribed on the walls of the theatre. This probably won’t happen at the Almeida but, says Goold, there are further projects to be announced, both in the theatre and off-site. Fingers crossed those will include that other stalwart of the Dionysia, the satyr play — a comedy that ran alongside the tragedy and was very, very rude indeed.
The Almeida’s season of Greek plays begins with Oresteia on May 29. Box office: 020 7359 4404
They say:
“These writers took society’s old myths and made them new: changed them, exploded them, set them loose as contemporary stories that spoke to their city. At the same time they posed big, provocative, uncomfortable questions; ones which 2,000 years later, we still struggle to answer. We want to follow their example. We are taking the Greeks out of the attic.” Rupert Goold