Published in the Weekly Volcano, June 4, 2015
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| Samantha A. Camp and Brian Wayne Jansen, J. Carrie Ivory in background. Photo by Bruce Story-Camp. |
Watching Agamemnon at Dukesbay Theater opening
night was a totally immersive theatrical experience. This is the way theater
was in the beginning when many theatrical traditions still in common use were
first invented, and it plays as well in 21st century Tacoma as it must
have in Greece 2,400 years ago.
The set by
Matthew Philbrook and Brittany Porter is thoroughly modern and gorgeous; the
movement of the actors — most notably the chorus — is highly stylized like a
ballet set to words, and those words are plain spoken and easily understood. The
drama is so intense it’s a wonder audience members did not flee screaming,
especially taking into account the intimate seating where actors practically
touch some of the audience.
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| Photos by Bruce Story-Camp |
The story is set
at the end of the Trojan wars. Greek King Agamemnon (played with gravitas by Brian
Wayne Jansen) has triumphed in war and is on his way home. He has sacrificed
his daughter, Iphigenia (J. Carrie Ivory) to the gods, an atrocity which his
wife, Clytemnestra (Samantha A. Camp) can never forgive, and he is bringing
home with him a slave concubine, Cassandra (also played by Ivory), who was
captured in Troy. She is also a prophetess who can see the future.
In a Greek
tradition that has endured up until modern times, much of the story is told by
the chorus. Every cast member is in the chorus at some point and each steps out
of the chorus to play various characters. Even the lead characters, Agamemnon
and Clytemnestra, take their turns in the chorus, and Jansen even takes a turn
as an unnamed guard.
The abstract
patterns of movement by all of the actors in and around the equally abstract
set is choreographed by Katie Lappier and creates an otherworldly mood suitable
to a time in which gods interacted in the lives of men and women. There is
chanting and poetry from the chorus and both Ivory and Glenn Guhr, who plays
Menelaus and Aegisthus, sing separate funeral laments. Ghur’s voice is deep and
beautifully controlled while Ivory’s is hauntingly sad and lovely.
Jansen’s and
Camp’s performances are almost indescribably intense. Jansen, a large man who
somehow looks even bigger than he is in this performance, is magisterial and
commanding. It is believable that his subjects would look to him as to a god. His
expressions of grief and pain are overwhelming. I first saw Jansen in a couple
of comedies, Picasso at the Lapin Agile
and Take Me Out, and thought he was a
natural comedian. And then I discovered upon seeing him in Titus Andronicus (in which he was also paired with Camp) that he
can be equally adept at high drama. Camp is also amazing. She begins as
likeable and charming but devolves into a hideous person in an acting stint
that is spectacular.
No makeup artist
is listed in the program. I suspect the actors did their own. Clytemnestra’s blood smeared face and the
black makeup around Agamemnon’s eyes are simple and highly effective.
The costumes are
clearly put together with little or no budget and almost succeed in making
contemporary clothing look like clothes worn in ancient Greece. The light gray
hoodies worn by the chorus and the women’s gray skirts create an overall ashen
look of mystery.
The set is a
modern art installation of brightly colored twine in cones of light that flow
from platforms on the floor to high on the wall. They are strikingly minimalist
and highly appropriate to the stylized manner of presentation.
Agamemnon is not an easy play to watch.
It looks into betrayal and murder and deals unflinchingly with difficult
questions or loyalty and justice without providing easy answers. The drama is
heavy and unrelenting. But anyone who appreciates fine art should find it
fascinating.
Congratulations
to the cast and crew and especially director Kathryn Philbrook for a job well
done.
Agamemnon, Friday.-Saturday, 7:30 p.m., Sunday, 2 p.m.
through June 14, Dukesbay Theater in the Merlino Arts Center, 508 South 6th
Ave., Tacoma, $15, $10 students/seniors, http://agamemnon.brownpapertickets.com/
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