A Noise Within’s Phaedra, Intimate and Powerful

From the coast to the city, the ancient Greek myth of Phaedra has been playing theatrically around town — first at the The Getty Villa in Malibu with their September production of Euripides’ Hippolytos (428 B.C.) and at Glendale’s own A Noise Within which is currently running Phaedra by Racine, the Seventeenth Century French playwright’s version of Euripides’ tragedy of forbidden love, false accusations, revenge and remorse.

This myth of Phaedra, who was married to Athens’s King Theseus, and her ill-fated love for her stepson, Hippolytus, was ancient even in Euripides’ time over 2,000 years ago.

The Getty Villa’s version was spectacular with elaborate entrances and stunning visuals. The live production was set directly across from the main house museum and included projected ocean images onto the house itself.

A Noise Within, the award winning classical theater company in Glendale, uses its actors’ talents and intimate setting to great effect, creating an up-close and personal experience of the story’s impact on these characters.

Although Phaedra’s lovesick agony is central, I found especially moving the unfortunate misunderstanding that occurs between father and son and the dire consequences that follow. These are the kind of tragic misunderstandings that human kind has been susceptible to through the ages and which makes the ancient dramatists so insightful and enduring. In Euripides’ time the pantheon of gods and goddesses were revered and his play begins and ends with the goddesses — first to speak is Aphrodite (Goddess of Love) and the last to comment is Artemis (Goddess of the Hunt). Racine has his characters refer to these deities but the gods themselves don’t appear as characters.

Other differences in Racine’s version were the addition of two more characters, which added more complexity and interaction. Also Phaedra and Hippolytus get to relate to each other, which didn’t happen in Euripides’ play. And as one audience member pointed out during the discussion period that followed, the character of Euripides’ Phaedra has more inner struggle against her god-driven love for Hippolytus.

The night I attended A Noise’s Within’s production the audience was invited back at the end of the play for a question and answer period with the cast members.

As it turns out this was for the benefit of the large number of students in attendance that evening. These after-performance student events are what the theater group refers to as their “Classics Live” feature — a 20 to 25 minute session as an arts education tool, which winds up being a benefit for the general audience as well.

A Noise Within has special reduced rates for students — groups of 10 or more can attend a matinee or evening performances for just $14. This allows for a theatrical experience in a professional setting instead of the troupe going to the school to perform. It also mixes adults and students and both that night were highly enthused, asking the cast questions ranging from, “How can one get into doing something like this?” to more sophisticated queries about the English translation.

Celebrating their 15th Anniversary, Phaedra is part of A Noise Within’s three-production Fall ’06 Season, rotating in repertory with Eugene O’Neill’s “A Touch of The Poet” and Shakespeare’s “As You Like It.”

For me, the high quality of the acting made the evening truly divine — with special kudos to Jenna Cole for sustaining a self-described “Pressure-Cooker Phaedra,” J Todd Adams for a riveting Hippolytus, and June Claman for a touching Oenone (Phaedra’s nurse).

On the production side, especially noteworthy were the unique costumes by Jennifer Brawn Gittings, evocative original music by Laura Karpman, the Spartan but imaginative set design by Michael Smith, and of course the direction by Sabin Epstein for making it all work so well.

If you missed the Getty’s Villa’s version take heart, a contemporary stage production (for free) is upcoming at the Getty Villa’s Theater Lab with a dramatized version of Seneca’s Phaedra, performed by the Antaeus Company, an award winning classical theater ensemble. Reserved seats are required.

If you are able to go, be sure to catch the accompanying exhibition, “Enduring Myth: The Tragedy of Hippolotus and Phaidra” which continues through Dec. 4.

A Noise Within’s Phaedra runs through Nov. 19. Tickets are $34 to $38 General Admission. To learn more, call 240-0910, Ext. 1.