The Persians

‘Persians’ was written by Aeschylus in 472 BC and is the oldest surviving play in the history of theatre.

Aaron Poochigian has developed it in this 2011 translation. This play returned to prominence after the American invasion of Iraq. This version, a world premiere, is in the Summer Nights season, it is a PICA production in association with Little Daggers Initiative - collaboration between the Happy Dagger Theatre and Little y Theatre Co. Presented in the PICA Performance Space, James Street Precinct, Northbridge. The play is 70 minutes long and is performed nightly at 6.30, with shows until Sunday 19^th February (No show Friday 17^th February).

Book through The Blue Room Theatre or PICA to get your tickets $5 off the Fringe World prices. 

 

‘The Persians’ was the second part of a trilogy on the theme of divine retribution. It won the first prize at the drama competition in the Athens’ festival. The first play in the trilogy was called ‘Phineus’ and told the story of Jason and the Argonauts. The third play, ‘Glaucus’, relates the tale of a Corinthian king who, when he angered the Goddess Aphrodite, was eaten by his horses.

 

 

     It is 480BC in Susa, Iran during the height of the Persian Empire. King Xerxes (Leon Osborn) has sent every man in his empire to conquer the ‘simple spear throwing Greeks’. As the Queen of Persia (Christie Sistrunk) explains, this is to be a simple battle; with such a massive army the Greeks will have no chance. The county’s women and children are fearfully awaiting news of their men-folk on the largest mission ever launched. Their quick return seemed to be taking much longer than expected. A broken-hearted spokesperson for the wives (Helen Angell) explains their desperate situation.

      A ragged messenger (Austin Castiglione) arrives on the shore with a tragic tale. The Persian’s first fleet of generals (yes, an attack led by the leaders!), had to be followed by the regular navy and army, and when it soon became obvious that the original force alone still wasn’t sufficient, every man in the country was then enlisted.

      King Dareius (Maitland Schnaars) arrives home to a distraught population, and informs them that despite the Persians having three times the number of boats to that of the Greeks, and a massive army, they were beaten by starvation in that cruel land. He then tells of how King Xerxes abandoned his troupes and fled. The women (Laura Hopwood, Lynsey Trench, Megan Moir, Ellen O'Connor) are disgusted and horrified. The Queen of Persia is destroyed by such news. The women go through a cleansing process, washing and washing again, trying to clear themselves of the cowardly connection.

       Eventually Xerxes arrives back expecting sympathy and love for his bravery, not knowing that the truth has beaten him home. The women heap the souls of their dead onto Xerxes.

 

 

At first this looked like it would be another ‘Lysistrata’, but this is a much darker and sadder story.

The stage was covered with 7,000 toy plastic soldiers standing to attention. They represented a portion of the armed forces sent overseas. I understand that the whole cast, led by stage manager Violette Ayad, took a very long time to set them up - a clever design from Sarah Affleck. The hard work was worth it, as these symbols were used throughout, to explain the horror of the killing and the revenge of the women on Xerxes.

The script is extremely rich and detailed, with numerous names of people and places. Many congratulations to the cast who were word perfect, with such a horrendous challenge mentally and verbally. At times the women of the troupes had to chant and wail in accord, this was difficult to carry out and some of the words were lost as a result. The actors were concentrating so hard on chanting in unison that the emotion tended to get lost. These women of Persia were in a terrible position (a similar event happened in Paraguay about 100 years ago) but the utter distress wasn’t very well conveyed, as they didn’t really throw themselves into the part. Stumble on a few words, but get the depth of the emotion correct.

The direction by Andrew Hale was inventive and considering the immense challenge, came through very well.

Lighting design by Joe Lui was excellent, but it was Adam Burgess’ musical composition that really set the mood. The low rumble, resembling the distant noise of war and the tintinnabulation of the sword clashing was brought to life by the sound design of The Men from Another Place. The soft beating of drums, the bowing of a bass guitar, with a violin bow, all added to the feeling of threatening war.

A complex story made accessible for the audience. Congratulations on tackling such a demanding play and giving it life.