An Ancient Tragedy in Neon Pink
How can today’s youth and students stage ancient drama?The students from Hannover approached this in their own way: their production Dionysus City demonstrates that ancient myths strongly resemble TV soap operas. Passion, revenge, lovers, prophets, family intrigues, and yes, even incest (though that’s not something we typically see in classic soap operas) are all present.
The play opens with a symbolic scene: women cleaning up the ruins of Troy, the city destroyed by war. Hecuba, traditionally known as a mother who gradually loses all her children, is presented here primarily as a woman who has lost her home. Men wage wars, but their consequences fall on the shoulders of women – loneliness, broken families, debris that must be cleaned up. Initially, Hecuba is portrayed by three actresses and one actor, but gradually, her character merges into one, defined by a gaze that is both suffering and angry. Around her moves her daughter Cassandra, a prophetess who not only sees the future but also announces it with her appearance: purple hair. While Hecuba gazes into the distance, tormented by the present, Cassandra already sees how, one day, someone will dig up Troy again. It is Cassandra, who in myths becomes the war prize of Agamemnon, that links the production to Oresteia. But in a different way.
The fate of the House of Atreus unfolds in two wild episodes that, in their style and irony, resemble a television soap opera. The set design is simpler than the explicit stage action – a metal structure, two adjustable green armchairs, and curtains that can be fastened into place. As in any proper ancient drama, murders (and in this case, erotic scenes) take place offstage, specifically behind a screen where a bathtub symbolizes the spa in which Agamemnon is murdered. However, thanks to the clever use of live camera projection, the audience can still witness these moments, giving the production a television-like feel.
The acting is, at times, deliberately exaggerated, which aligns it more with the soap opera aesthetic. Colorful hair, extravagant outfits, self-aware theatricality (such as reciting another character’s lines or searching for a microphone) all push the performance into the realm of ironic play with the audience. Green-haired Clytemnestra is not just a vengeful woman, but a literal predator who revels in her newfound power. Her new king, on the other hand, appears as a man merely pretending to be a man, and his Superman-branded underwear does nothing for his dignity, nor his chanting as he tries to assert his authority.
In this production, ancient heroes are distorted human characters who would fit perfectly into today’s world - a world of black-and-white moments accompanied by piano music, and yes, a world where they would also watch porn. Their own.
The question is - why? Dionysus City does not offer any deep philosophical reflection on our present, which raises the question: is classical drama exhausted? Does it have nothing more to say to us? Or do its endless reinterpretations fall into cliche, repeatedly using Hecuba’s character to point out the devastating consequences of war?
What is certain is that the actors from Hannover can perform naturally even in something as stylized as an ancient soap opera. And they can make an entire audience laugh, even if, at times, the humor is perhaps a bit excessive. We may ask “why?”, but we cannot fault the students for anything.
