The second season of the Alexandria-based Natural Theatricals company was well launched on Saturday night when its first show of a three-show summer season opened at the George Washington Masonic National Memorial where it has become the professional theater company in residence.
The company, which was founded by Paula and Brian Alprin, opened a four-week run of a rarely produced play by Euripides, "Ion."
Euripides' "Ion" is sometimes referred to as one of his "tragicomedies," not because it is filled with laughter, but because its ending is positive and its calamities are all near misses, unlike so many well known Greek tragedies in which parents kill their own children, children plot against their parents and gross repercussions include the gouging out of eyes.
"Ion" still has elements of tragedy, however. Its plot revolves around a rape and its consequences and there are attempts by both a parent to kill her child and a child to kill his mother. Hardly a comedy by any means.
The rape has already taken place before the play begins and the child born of that event has already grown to become a young man. This is, of course, a classic in the mold of Greek theater of 2,500 years ago, so it should come as no surprise that the rape was committed by a god — in this case Apollo.
Apollo never actually appears in the play. Portraying the son born of that event, a young man raised in the temple at Delphi, is Michael McDonnell, a local actor who pursued formal training in London. He is particularly effective as he discovers the truth of his parentage.
Appearing opposite him as his mother is Paula Alprin, who starred last season in Sophocles' "The Women of Trachis" which required her to deliver a number of lengthy monologues without much opportunity to interact with others in the cast. Here she has a role that does have a good deal of dialogue and her ability to join with colleagues in creating effective scenes gets a good work out.
THE ACTRESS WITH MOST of the monologues in this production is Tiffany Givens who starts the play with its introduction as the god Hermes, has a major speech in the second half as the attendant, and ends the piece with an appearance as the god Athena. In all three she manages to impart both a sense of the poetry of the script and a great deal of important information.
The function of the Greek chorus without which no Greek play of the fifth century BC would be complete, is fulfilled here by four actresses who each develop a bit of personality of their own, providing a richer texture than might have been had if they simply delivered their lines in unison.
Less satisfying is the work of two actors who play "Delphian Men" as well as individual roles such as Xouthos, the man who married Alprin's character long after the rape and pregnancy, and the old tutor who educated the boy. Tom Neubauer is a fairly wooden as the tutor and Manolo Santalla gives a strangely light interpretation to Xouthos.
Unlike many other Greek tragedies, this one is only loosely based on myths which would have been well known to its audiences when first performed 2500 years ago. As a result, Euripides had to provide a clear explanation of everything that transpires and couldn't simply rely on his audience already knowing the story. That clarity is retained in this new
translation by Deborah H. Roberts so modern audiences need not research Greek mythology before attending.
THE AMPHITHEATER of the George Washington Masonic National Memorial on the hill overlooking Alexandria from above the King Street Metro Station is a near-perfect spot for staging classic Greek drama. The steeply raked audience defines a semi-circular floor reminiscent of the playing space in the theaters where drama had its birth. Simple set pieces by Michael Null — an altar, a statue, a few trees — establish location as well as time. Rip Claassen's costumes help provide the feeling of ancient Greece as well.
For the climax of the piece, Euripides used the technique known as the "deus ex machina" (the machine of the gods) which would have had Athena flown into the playing space on a primitive crane. Director Alprin wisely chose to stage this in a far simpler and effective manner, bringing the play to a satisfying conclusion without the distraction such mechanics might have introduced.
Brad Hathaway has covered theater in Virginia, Washington and Maryland as well as Broadway, and edits Potomac Stages, a Web site covering theater in the region (www.PotomacStages.com). He can be reached at Brad@PotomacStages.com.