Greek tragedy wrapped in a contemporary story? That sounds familiar. In fact, what the Polish theater director Ewelina Marciniak made of the Iphigenia material at the Salzburg Festival is strongly reminiscent of the Australo-Swiss Simon Stone’s appropriations. It’s Stone with dancing though. Because the most exciting moments of the two and a half hour “Iphigenia” premiere on Perner Island were due to the dance performances on Thursday.
“Freely based on Euripides/Goethe by Joanna Bednarczyk” says the program booklet, but the basic story devised by the Polish dramatist proves strong independence and leads into the household of an only seemingly happy family. The philosophy professor Agamemnon (Sebastian Zimmler) is about to publish his opus magnum, an analysis of the complex perpetrator-victim relationship with reference to current discourses. “The publisher thinks this will be a bestseller,” boasts the proud wife Klytaimnestra (Christiane von Poelnitz). The father is particularly proud of his daughter Iphigenia (Rosa Thormeyer). The 20-year-old seems certain of a career as a piano virtuoso. Her friend Achilles (Jirka Zett), a soccer player, is also welcomed into the family circle.
- The director Ewelina Martschiniak staged a drama tragedy loosely based on Euripides and Johann Wolfgang von Goehte:
So everything could be pure bliss. But everything changes in the course of a few hours. Because there are still the beautiful, slutty Helena (Lisa-Maria Sommerfeld) and her husband, Uncle Menelaus (Stefan Stern). Helena knows the dark secret between Iphigenia and Menelaus, and when the well-behaved daughter no longer wants to remain silent and talks about years of abuse by her uncle, she hears from her mother: “Why did you do that?” Even the father, who is (too) deeply attached to his daughter, is shocked: it will be a scandal, his career is ruined. Unless Iphigenia makes a sacrifice – and shuts up.
The powder shot
From this starting point, a real thriller could develop, a contemporary mix of family tragedy and soap. None of that – Bednarczyk has shot her powder with the development of the basic constellation. Instead of entanglements and entanglements, accusations, blackmail and liberation, there are staid recourses to the models from the Old Testament to the ancient Greeks – and even more unspectacular illustrations, with the exception of the dance scenes mentioned, “Body Expressions”, with which the emotions, according to the director ” more intensively and authentically”. The doubling of the Iphigenia character (with Oda Thormeyer, the mother of the leading actress, ideally cast) does not seem conclusive from a dramaturgical point of view, but it is an enrichment.
- The critic Heinz Sichrovsky was present at the drama tragedy “Iphigenia” and tells how he liked it.
It is doubtful whether this co-production with the Thalia Theater Hamburg will actually succeed in questioning the sacrifice of women in Greek mythology. In terms of scenery, the long evening is a letdown. The second part delivers the “Iphigenie auf Tauris” part, so to speak the sequel, decades later. The sweet boy Orestes has become the matricide (played by the actor who plays Achilles), Helena has held up well despite her 60 years, and Iphigenia runs an island hotel. So far, so unnecessary. At the end the piano burns and Handel sounds: “Lascia la spina”. Leave the thorn and pick the rose! That’s what the audience at the premiere thought, too, and applauded extensively.
Source: Nachrichten
