The Theater Inc. is not content with bringing their audiences usual contemporary fare. Currently they are performing Euripides' The Phoenician Women. The translation is by Marianne McDonald PhD, one the foremost Greek scholars a and translator of many Greek plays. In the fall, they will be premiering her original work, Fires in Heaven. Late summer they will be producing Lillian Hellman's The Children's Hour. Quite a season!
The Phoenician Women, though nearly 2,500 years old, is extremely timely. It is the story of two brothers marshalling armies against each other, while the blind father seems unable to do anything to bring the boys together. The mother and the boys' sisters are equally helpless. Violence between the brothers is the same violence and/or threat of violence we see today between countries in the Middle East. Little seems to change.
The Theater Inc. is housed in very nice space with high ceilings, tiered seating providing good sight lines. This is a new space for them. It seems to be just right for the company.
Director Douglas Lay demands the very best from his performers. He starts by casting some of the best talent in San Diego. His cast for Phoenician Women, includes Bonnie J. Stone, Madeleine Barker, Fred Harlow, Melissa Hamilton, DeNae Steele, Bianca Chapman, Wendy Savage, Dagney Hollmann, Todd Dunlavey, Javier Guerrero, Brian Abraham, and Benjamin Shaffer. Their roles include familiar names such as Antigone, Oedipus, and Polynices as well as the less familiar Jocasta, Eteocles, Creon, Tiresias and Meneoceus.
While we have an opportunity to meet all the players, we see the women of Phoenicia most.. It is their plight, as it is with all the wives of men sent off to war. In their case, though, they're sometimes on the front lines. Their environment behind the castle-like walls and the iron gates is before us. Vince Sneddon's design has an authentic feel to it. The battlement is rough-hewn and gives the feel that it has seen many attacks in the past.
Mitchell Simkovsky's subdued lighting creates an eerie feel. The sound design by Eusevio Cordova complements the play. Costume designer Lawrence Taryn's contemporary garb works for this production, which is set in contemporary times.
This production of The Phoenician Women is extremely dynamic with smoke, strobe effects, explosions and very, very intense dialogue. Throughout, director Lay makes clear the truth that the savagery of homo sapiens has not changed in 2,500 years.
