Tantalus - 10 New Plays on Greek Myths

Who is to Blame?

What is the Truth?

Could it be Otherwise?

When theatre began, two and a half millennia ago in ancient Greece, it drew from a well of even older myths - the Great Epic Cycle

These myths were Europe's first image of the tragedy and comedy of the human enterprise

Stories and characters from the beginning of our imagination inspired John Barton to write the great cycle of human life Tantalus, an epic theatre myth for the new millennium

Its subject is the Trojan War - a crusade which becomes a catastrophe

When theatre began, two and a half millennia ago in ancient Greece, it drew from a well of even older myths - the Great Epic Cycle

These myths inspired John Barton to write the great cycle of human life that is Tantalus, an epic theatre myth for the new millennium

Its subject is the Trojan War, a crusade which becomes a catastrophe

The Prologue

The Prologue to the play is a real surprise ...

Curtain rises on nine female American students on a sandy beach, lazing around in bikinis and sarongs relaxing and having a good time

It turns out that these Americans are all students who have had an excellent classical education!

They are to be our Chorus and their job is to keep the play moving at a good pace

This Prologue ends with a weird scene where Achilles and his warriors start a strange dance

And the first play of the 10 plays in the Collection begins ...

Telephus

This is set just before the Trojan Wars and takes place in the home of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra where Tragedy comes in the form of Telephus

It transpires that King Telephus has been wounded by Achilles with a poisoned spear which carried a highly contagious disease

And now Telephus spreads this to everybody who touches him whether to help or to hurt

But there is also some high comedy, as when we hear of the first attempt of the fleet to attack Troy

As a result of Achilles' complete inability to read a map or navigate, they don't get within a few hundred miles of their target!

We are also introduced to the children of this house of Tantalus

These include wonderfully sulky, spoilt teenage brats Electra and Iphigenia

Iphigenia

Our American students demand to know the truth about Helen and Paris and this is the start of the story of the attack on Troy

The Gods have foretold that it will be necessary to sacrifice Iphigenia in order for the fleet to be successful

Agamemnon has been told by the Goddess Artemis that he must carry out this sacrifice of his daughter

Like Abraham, Agamemnon must decide whether to give up his beloved child or his nation's conquest

Agamemnon and Clytemnestra work around the moral and politic philosophy very movingly but ultimately, the decision is taken out of their hands by the heroine herself

Now the Trojan Wars are unavoidable

Part 2: Neoptolemus

The eponymous figure in this part of the play but by no means the hero is Neoptolemus or, as he is also known, Pyrrhus

This is very much a consolidating play as we pick up on the news of the 10-year period that has passed since the end of the last play

Neoptolemus is the young son of Achilles and he is desperate to go to war on Troy

But the story is really the battle for power between the warlike Odysseus played Alan Dobey and the much weaker pacifist, Agamemnon

Odysseus would like to use a horse made of wood to infiltrate Troy

And Agamemnon wishes to use diplomatic means to rescue Helen

We see the verbal fight raging backwards and forwards but ultimately, Odysseus is only too happy to use underhand tricks to ensure that he gets his own way

He is a supreme verbal manipulator and manages to persuade the teenage Pyrrhus that the best way that he can assist in the battle is by dressing as a woman and fooling the Trojans

A particular problem for Odysseus is that Pyrrhus is unable to tell a lie

He therefore has to be carefully trained to lie truthfully by his mentor and his grandfather Peleus so that he will be able to do what is required of him by his country

This play ends with our American Student Chorus deciding to don masks and enter the story themselves

This is the equivalent to going to a Trojan War theme park and allowing yourself to become a victim of war

They will soon pay very dearly for this

Priam

As this play starts, we have entered the walls of Troy

Cassandra is always doomed to be frustrated as she has the gift of prophecy from Apollo - it was given to her with the condition that no one would ever believe what she foretold

King Priam has to protect his daughter Cassandra from the Trojan women who do not believe her or appreciate the predictions that she makes

Into the seized city comes Pyrrhus in women's garb pretending to be his own non-existent sister. He is interrogated and as with some children's games is compelled to tell the truth. While this completely fools Priam and his countrymen, Cassandra sees through it

But no one believes her

As part of the process, we hear the story of Polixena who had led Pyrrhus' father Achilles to his doom by informing Paris of Achilles' heel

Priam now has to decide whether the Trojan horse is a gift horse or a stalking horse

Odysseus

This last play of the second half is perhaps the most dramatic and shocking so far

Skeletons and armour appear in a smoky, misty atmosphere

The former Chorus - now the women of Troy - come onto stage in red wedding dresses as a way of trying to protect themselves from attack by the warriors of the West

The city has been razed to the ground and the stage is littered with burnt remnants

This is a play of sacrifice

The women of Troy are given to the warriors and in scenes of terrifying carnage are branded and enslaved

For his bravery the youthful Pyrrhus is allowed two women - one for himself and one for his dead father

For his father, he chooses Achilles' would-be wife Polixena and decides that she must be sacrificed

She bravely agrees that this is right and is led off to her apparent doom

Two women dominate this play ...

Queen Hecuba wants to save Troy and resurrect it to its former glory

And Andromache, her daughter

Both show great mental strength as they verbally battle with Odysseus

There is also a debate on the nature of war and pacifism

Was Agamemnon's attempt to avoid war actually the cause of far more carnage than would have been the case if a swifter apparently more brutal decision had been taken?

This play ends with the appearance of a much-changed Helen who is hardly recognisable to her husband Menelaus

The fact that our friendly college girl Chorus are playing these Trojan women really brings home the brutality of the attack on them

These are not simply anonymous masked creatures - they are our friends from the beach

Part 3: Cassandra

The play now moves moves to Thrace where Hecuba has led Odysseus

Odysseus believes that the Trojan gold is hidden there while Hecuba has travelled there to be reunited with her son, Polydorus

Howwever, little Polydorus has been murdered by his brother-in-law Polymestor with no hindrance from his wife Ilione

Hecuba literally goes mad with grief and desires revenge

After murdering Polymestor's child, she cuts out her own tongue and is transformed into a dog

Cassandra predicts that she must bear Agamemnon's child and that - as a result - Agamemnon will be killed by his wife, Clytemnestra

Agamemnon is seduced by Cassandra and - in a stunningly sensual moment - removes Cassandra's mask

And by doing so, frees her from her curse

She in turn removes Agamemnon's mask - and with it his protection from the outside world and death

They finally fall into an erotic embrace

Hermione

The Chorus are humorously dressed as charladies and in no time at all update us on the action of the last seven years ...

They are in the home of Neoptolemus, who is now King of Phthia

He effectively has two different wives - Hermione and Andromache, the Trojan princess, who is now a slave

Neurotic Hermione accuses Andromache of seducing her husband

It transpires that Andromache's timid blinking child that Neoptolemus believes is his own is in fact the son of Hector

However, if Neoptolemus learns this then he will realise that it is he that is barren

Thus Neoptolemus is doomed to die and and Hermione must then marry the mad Orestes.

This play finishes as Peleus who has outlived his whole generation, is reunited with his sea-nymph wife, Thetis

Helen/Epilogue

The sequence of ten plays finishes with the trial of Helen before the prophet Calchas and a jury of ancient woman

Calchas must judge whether Helen has wickedly led thousands to their deaths or whether she innocent

The Gods accept Helen's sad tale but the people are not as sympathetic

Finally - in a dramatic coup de theatre - the world seems to explode and we are returned to the beach where the cycle began