by Jean Racine translated by Edward Kemp
seen at RADA (GBS theatre) on 5 June 2015
This production, directed by Edward Kemp and designed by Lucy Alexander, features students in their third (final) year of RADA's degree in acting. The cast:
Orestes - Freddie Meredith
Pylades - Will Apicella
Pyrrhus - Joe Idris-Roberts
Phoenix - Peter Mulligan
Andromache - Rosie Sheehy
Hermione - Stefanie Martini
Cleone - Kathryn Wilder
Cephisa - Taha Haq
The GBS theatre is in the basement of RADA's main building, a space which an be configured in many ways. For this production, the audience were seated in long rows on either side of a narrow raked 'marble' passageway emerging from a sandy floor at one end and leading to a throne at the other raised end. (The throne was later removed; steps down from this end led to a sanctuary.) Beyond the raised end, the exposed brickk wall had reliefs of two ancient warriors, presumably of Achilles (the father of Pyrrhus) killing Hector (the husband of Andromache). High above, amidst the lighting battens, a similar strip of 'marble' was suspended as like a ceiling, or even a reflection of the floor.
