Doctor Faustus

I enjoyed going to the theatre last week to see Faustus. The production was (as far as I could work out) a bit of blend of Goethe's version (which I studied at uni) with Marlowe's version (with which I was completely unfamiliar), and a few other things thrown in for good measure.

Anyway, not knowing the Marlowe version I was pleasantly surprised when it started thusly:

Not marching in the fields of Thrasymene,
Where Mars did mate the warlike Carthagens;
Nor sporting in the dalliance of love,
In courts of kings where state is overturn'd;
Nor in the pomp of proud audacious deeds,
Intends our Muse to vaunt her heavenly verse:
Only this, gentles,--we must now perform
The form of Faustus' fortunes, good or bad:

Thrasymene refers to the Battle of Trasimene where Hannibal and the Carthaginians (Carthagens) destroyed the Roman army in one of the opening encounters of the Second Punic War.

Epic

There's a lot of epic going round at the moment. A new Beowulf film opens at the end of this month, and there's also a theatre version of Gilgamesh on in Sydney at the moment. In the last few years there's also been the movie Troy, and the Lord of the Rings trilogy, which was at least epic in scope, if not form.

There's an interesting article in the paper today about myths (Beowulf in particular) and why our culture remains fascinated by them, even after so long. Here are a few excerpts:

Scholars, authors and fans say the poem endures because it is a timeless yarn about brave souls purging peaceful societies of agents of evil...

It seems we just can't let go of Beowulf or it won't let go of us," says Robert Ellwood, professor emeritus of religion at the University of Southern California. "Every time a classic is adapted, some scholars claim it's their providence and others shouldn't mess with it. Some others, however, argue that the more up-to-date a myth is the better."

Ellwood adds: "I tend to agree with [Claude] Levi-Strauss, who said, 'A myth is all of its variants across time and space.' In other words, a myth is for right now; it's a living thing that adapts to different social situations."

I would add another observation, that most epics tend to be about action rather than character, and (generally speaking) action-driven movies are much more appealing to a broad audience than character-driven ones.

I wonder if that's why there hasn't been an English-speaking movie of the Aeneid ever made (as far as I'm aware).

Firstly the Aeneid is largely about the character of Aeneas. Sure, it's full of battles, and there's a bit of a love story thrown in, but what concerns Virgil most is the character of Aeneas, and his transformation.

Secondly, the Aeneid is not a timeless story about good and evil. It's firmly rooted in the history of the first century B.C., and celebrates (in an allegorical manner) the defeat of Antony by Augustus, and his establishment of 'peace'. Civil wars are especially messy, and there's a measure of ambiguity in the Aeneid that reflects this. It's by no means a black and white tale about good and evil.

A new poll

My new poll is inspired by my visit to the theatre last week. The selection is fairly arbitrary, based upon my short-list of favourites from Ovid's Metamorphoses, and what I've read with my classes over the past year and a half. If I've left your favourite out write me a comment.

You can also watch some short cartoons based on some of these myths (and others) at this site.

I will be in New Zealand for the next week and a bit, and so won't have any new posts for a while.

The Lost Echo

Last night I went to see part one of The Lost Echo, Barry Kosky’s eight-hour stage adaptation of Ovid’s Metamorphoses. It’s an amazing production- ranging from the simplicity of a lone actor sitting on stage, telling the story of Phaethon, to a Scottish performance poet telling the story of the transformation of Teiresias in a crowded pub, to an all singing, all dancing Las Vegas-style chorus line lamenting the rape of Philomela, with a giant penguin thrown in along the way for good measure. The first Act was a collection of myths based around Diana (Callisto, Endymion, Actaeon), with Diana and her virgin followers portrayed as giggly private school girls and Pan and his followers as loutish college boys. The second was a much darker collection, dealing with greed, lust and violence (Erysichthon, Hermaphroditus, Arachne, Myrrha) culminating in the incredibly powerful story of the rape of Philomela, told in sign language, as her tongue had been torn out to preventing her revealing the crime committed against her.

It’s quite a confronting play, but also surprisingly funny. At times it’s pretty sexually graphic, and the violence and lust of the second half is quite disturbing, but I think it captures a lot of Ovid’s original. Ovid wrote his collection of myths in highly irreverent, sexually charged and exaggeratedly violent poetry, as an exercise in extravagant story-telling, and The Lost Echo reflects that really well.

You can read more here, here and here.