CLYTEMNESTRA

Last night we saw a new adaptation of the Greek classic, 'Clytemnestra' at the Sherman Theatre. The adaptation is by Gwyneth Lewis, who was the National Poet of Wales 2005-06. Her words are in English and Welsh on the front of the Wales Millenium Centre in six-foot-high letters,'In these stones horizons sing'. It is rumoured to be the largest poem in the world.
      Gwyneth's poetry sings through the play set in the near future in a world where oil has run out and the world fights for food. Agamemnon sacrifices his daughter, Iphigenia to his barbaric new allies. With the anger and grief of a mother betrayed, Clytemnestra seeks revenge.  She is plagued by the 'Furies'-described in the programme as,
       ' the ancient psychic force that demands avenging family murder. These figures have a primitive relationship with language, respond to impulse' ... 'the beat before rational thought'. . . 'but gain embodiment and change the more they are listened to. They start as pre-linguistic and prefigurative and as the revenge idea develops, they come to resemble fully formed characters. When a character assents to them, they give that character a superhuman drive.  They're the precursors and sponsors of poetic language.'
      Unfortunately, these moaning, crawling, rolling, licking creatures, for me, became a distraction and irritation from the central characters, whose actors displayed their angst, doubts and impulses brilliantly without the need for the 'Furies' vampire-like excesses. I wonder if this was an interpretation in the direction of Amy Hodge rather than Gwyneth Lewis's writing.
       Jaye Griffiths is absolutely compelling as Clytemnestra. I couldn't take my eyes of her on stage. There are great performances by the whole ensemble.  The futuristic multi-levelled set by designer, Takis, is superb- located in an abattoir with props that double for the family home, and lit dramatically by lighting designer, Lee Curran.
      But it is the ending of the play that really takes your breadth away.   Agamemnon, played by Nick Ross, is murdered in a revenge attack by Clytemnestra, who is clearly turned on and become insane by the blood letting. In the light we see Agamemnon hanging from the ceiling on a chain, bound and suspended by his feet like a slaughtered animal. As the rest of the action played out and minutes past, I began to worry about all that blood rushing to his head. At the curtain call he didn't appear straight away. The other actors kept looking over their shoulders for him. I don't know if it was done deliberately, but it worked. The whole audience giggled nervously and sighed with relief when he eventually appeared to take his place and great applause.