Rose theatre, Kingston upon Thames Overly stylised theatrics mar this revival of Colin Teevan’s monologues featuring Medea, Phaedra and others from ancient tragedies A fringed curtain of string hangs from ceiling to floor and stretches across the auditorium, winding around the seats and, at times, around the actors too. This all-encompassing set looks like the industrious spinning of one of Louise Bourgeois’s giant spiders. But its sense of spectacle does not pay off in a production whose theatricality overwhelms its stories. Directed and designed by Melly Still, Colin Teevan’s play, first performed as a staged reading in 2006, is “the result of a long conversation between Euripides and me” in which he resuscitates the unhappy mothers and lost children of ancient Greek tragedy. A seven-part monologue cycle set in the modern day, it features the notorious – and notoriously wronged – women of Euripidean tragedy: Medea, Phaedra, Hypsipyle, Persephone, Demeter, Alcestis and Creusa. Their stories include rape, kidnap and murder, and centre on maternal pain and loss. But the pathos and intensity in Teevan’s script is lost on the stage, rendered overly stylised and emotionally absent. The Seven Pomegranate Seeds is at the Rose theatre, Kingston upon Thames, until 20 November. Continue reading...
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