‘Song’ echoes truths from ancient times

The title of the Getty Center exhibition, “Coming of Age in Ancient Greece: Images of Childhood From the Classical Past,” sounds benign. But some Greek children never came of age. Fragments of pottery in the exhibition’s first gallery depict some of the unhappy fates of young people in Greek mythology.

Remember the defeated Trojans’ young prince who was flung to his death? Don’t forget Iphigenia, sacrificed by her father so the Greek forces could get to Troy faster.

Greek actress Lydia Koniordou remembers these stories. And her new theatrical production, “The Swallow Song,” which premieres next Thursday and plays through Oct. 24 at the Getty’s Harold M. Williams Auditorium in conjunction with “Coming of Age,” will focus on these and other myths about young people with unhappy fates in ancient Greece.

Koniordou believes these tales resonate in 2004.

“Today our civilization is haunted by innocent children killed in wars,” she says. She isn’t talking only about the recent chamber of horrors in Beslan, Russia, where terrorists targeted children. “It happens in Iraq, [Palestinian territories], Israel, Africa,” she notes. And the phrase “collateral damage,” the term the U.S. military uses to describe injuries or deaths among noncombatants, she says, is “a neutral way to describe the slaughter of children.”

The costumes in “The Swallow Song” span a wide range of historical time, to avoid compartmentalizing the stories as relevant only to ancient Greece. But the text is almost entirely from ancient Greece, primarily from the works of Homer, Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides.

Koniordou is accustomed to making contemporary political statements through ancient Greek drama. She recently appeared in Oakland in a National Theatre of Greece production of “Lysistrata,” the ancient comedy about women who protest a war by refusing to have sex with their warrior mates. Aristophanes’ play was widely produced as an antiwar gesture just before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq last year.

“The Swallow Song,” like the exhibition it accompanies, consists of many fragments -- this time, from ancient texts instead of ancient artifacts. “My idea was to create a mosaic,” Koniordou says, “where you approach the theme from different fragments of epic, lyric and tragic poetry.

“I live in a country where we literally stumble on fragments of pottery and sculpture. For me, it’s a moving procedure to imagine the whole from a fragment.”

All but one of the fragments have been translated into English. One lament for a lost child is in Greek. Koniordou and Theophanis Kakridis adapted Oliver Taplin’s translations.

The title “The Swallow Song” describes a children’s song from the island of Rhodes. It heralds the coming of spring on March 1 and is sometimes sung door-to-door, almost like Christmas or Halloween rituals.

Performed at the top of the show, it’s one of the sunniest moments in the text. However, like the implied threat of tricks by Halloween celebrants if they don’t get their treats, this song warns that the singer might “break your doorframe or your door, and steal your wife” if treats aren’t forthcoming.

Later, a seemingly placid lullaby is, in fact, sung by the legendary Danae to her baby Perseus after they have been cast adrift in a boat on the open sea.

Koniordou stretches the definition of childhood to include characters who are young adults -- Oedipus, for example. However, she notes Oedipus was asking himself questions in his role as a child -- about the true identities of his parents and “how can he control his life, always a big question as we grow up.”

There are no children in the cast. “Children are used in the wrong way in show business and commercials, to create profit,” Koniordou says. “We try to avoid this.”

When asked about her age, Koniordou -- who is the production’s director as well as adapter and one of the actors -- replies that she is “entering my 50s.” However, the other Greek actors in the cast and a group of UCLA students who will make up the chorus are much younger, she adds. They will be accompanied by three musicians, including composer Takis Farazis.

The production’s budget of about $160,000 is funded by the Getty’s Villa Council, a group that raises money for the programs that will eventually occupy the former Getty Museum in Pacific Palisades. A 450-seat outdoor theater is scheduled to open there in fall 2006.

“The Swallow Song” is “a foretaste of what we hope will be an annual experience at the villa,” says Marion True, the Getty’s curator of antiquities and trust coordinator of villa programs.

Eventually, the Getty plans to stage full productions of Greek classics at the villa theater. The stage at the Williams isn’t deep enough for a fully produced Greek play, True says, but it will provide the right fit for “The Swallow Song.”

“We hope this will intrigue the audience to come to the new theater,” Koniordou says. “But for this fragmentary performance, the auditorium works beautifully. We’ll be closer to the audience.”

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‘The Swallow Song’

Where: Getty Center, Harold M. Williams Auditorium, 1200 Getty Center Drive, Brentwood

When: 8 p.m. Oct. 21-23; 3 p.m. Oct. 24

Ends: Oct. 24

Price: $28

Contact: (310) 440-7300