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Iphigenia Must Die

What:

Dell’Arte’s second year Masters of Fine Arts students present “IPHIGENIA MUST DIE,” based on Euripides tragedy, “Iphigenia in Aulis.”  Under the direction of Joan Schirle, the students have spent the last seven weeks on a journey into the realm of tragedy, a theatrical form familiar to us in a classical context but difficult to bring to the contemporary stage.

“Tragedy was born in a time when the gods were believed to have some control over our destinies,” said Schirle. “What the students are hoping to do is create a tragic vision that works for today— that admits a inextricable link between free will, Fate, and human choice. They are doing this by showing that once certain choices are made, the outcome is irreversible.”

For this project, the chorus is a group of six actors who enter to share with the audience the irreversible series of choices that lead to the murder of the oldest daughter of Agamemnon, leader of the Greek fleet to Troy. Sacrificed by her own father, Iphigenia becomes a victim to the priests, the military, and the needs of the state.

Historically everything starts when Helen (Menelaus’s wife) was taken by Paris to Troy. The Greeks offended by it, and also interested in the Trojan gold, decide to go war against Troy. In the plot that forms the tragedy “Iphigenia Must Die”, the Greek troops are stuck for months on the beach waiting for the wind to blow in order to sail to Troy. While waiting, Agamemnon, the general responsible for all the troops, kills the goddess Artemis’ sacred deer.

The goddess, offended, prophesizes the oracle saying that “the winds will blow and Greece will triumph” only if Agamemnon sacrifices his own daughter, Iphigenia. The general, under the pressure of a whole army, writes a letter telling his daughter to come to the army camp for her wedding. She does so, accompanied by her mother Clytemnestra. Under the forces of the circumstances, decisions keep being made leading to the inevitable end. This tragedy sets in motion the 10 years of the Trojan War.

The dynamic structure of this play is composed by the study of text and voice, time and space, body movement and dance, live music. The audience goes through a theatrical experience that involves a multicultural exploration and a plurality of languages. It goes from the poetry of the spoken text, the raw language of the everyday speaking, the dynamic language of gestures on space, the abstract language of music, the research on elements from very diverse cultures around the world. The set is a metaphor for the whole play itself. It consists of a machine that, due to its natural laws, once is put into motion cannot be stopped. All that works to serve and tell the story mentioned above. “Iphigenia Must Die” is a play full of different elements that converge in a unified theatrical experience.

Applying the tragic theatrical vision—with chorus, a hero, a horrid reversal of fortune —is an essential part of this exploration. Only two people in this play step out to defend the life of this young girl. The play asks the audience to wrestle with the questions of free will versus destiny and the awful question: what would cause a man to sacrifice his own daughter?

Iphigenia Must Die plays at 8pm Thursday April 15 through Sunday April 18 in the Carlo Theatre in Blue Lake. All seats are pay what you can. Directed by Joan Schirle. Created by the 2nd year MFA students of the Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theatre. Adaptation by Alice Nelson and Claire Mannle. Original Music by William Neimar, Joan Schirle and Kathryn Tabone. Original Movement by Kathryn Tabone, William Neimar, Joan Schirle and Laura Muñoz. Set by Jai Lavette and Jaewook Shim

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