Iphigenia at Aulis

Synopsis

Iphigenia, daughter of Agamemnon, is sacrificed to the goddess Artemis, to persuade her to grant the Greek ships a favouring wind on their way to conquer Troy. Agamemnon has become an ambitious politician, wavering in his motives, and a moral, if not a physical coward. Menelaus is also doubtful character. Achilles, to be sure, has something of a hero about him, but it is heroism of a very human youth, not of an adult Homeric warrior. As to Iphigenia, her character has been transformed from an unwilling victim into a true saint. She does not appear in Homer but tradition depict Iphigenia as a gagged, unwilling victim, appealing with her eyes, even at the moment of her death, for pity. In this play, she gives her life (much as Joan of Arc did) in accordance with what she regards as the 'divine will' and the needs of her country.

Our Review:

23 June 2004

If you believe some of the papers, the world has gone Greek drama mad. That's surely overstating the case, given that in the current climate, most people would think that Euripides is a Greek midfielder.

But with versions of Antigone and Ion already being performed, and now this, Don Taylor's translation of Euripides' last masterpiece, there is a sense that there is a hunger for these works.

Of course, when you take a play whose entire plot revolves around a war against a middle-eastern country, waged (for spurious reasons) by a western power, one would have to be blind not to see the contemporary parallels.

But Taylor's version overstates the case. He takes every opportunity to drop in a Gulf War reference; it's a bit like being beaten over the head with the complete works of Michael Moore. Surely the audience could have been credited with a little more intelligence? The play was originally written to draw Athenians' attention to the state of the...

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Latest User Review

USER: Whatsonstage.com (81.154.221.230) - 8 August 2004:

Powerful, intense, and haunting. A must-see....

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