As a Yelp Elite member, I was invited to attend a headline performance of MythFest 2014, "The…read moreSorrows."
As I walked through the main gates of Trinity College, I was reminded of the last time I attended a theatrical performance there. It was 25 years ago when I enjoyed a summer program at Trinity. One afternoon, I noticed that a student production that was just about to start. When I entered the small theater's foyer, there were slabs of rustic bread slathered with butter and sprinkled with grated cheese served with, of course, mugs of steaming tea. As I settled into the intimate seating area, I thought how very inviting it was to have a treat allowed in the theater.
The plot was based on an Irish tale about Dierdre and Naoise, with just two cast members who wore historic-looking dress and acted out a plot that called to mind Romeo and Juliette. I never forgot those names: Dierdre and Naoise, and I never forgot that experience, either.
Therefore, I was happy to return to Trinity to see what was on the theatrical menu for this evening. As the cast came out and spoke to the audience about the play, the name "Dierdre" was mentioned. It gave me a bit of a start, but it took a few minutes before I understood that the subject of "The Sorrows" was, in fact, a contemporary adaptation of Dierdre's story with Naoise. What a strange coincidence.
For me, the play emphasized those 25 years that have passed, but certainly not in a negative way. After this lengthy background/context to my review, I begin properly with this evening's production:
I firmly believe that much of one's experience of a cultural event is based on the total experience - the setting, interactions with staff, the seating, refreshments, and yes, even the bathrooms. There is something very special about walking through the gates of Trinity College, like walking down an ancient Babylonian Processional Way. If you allow it, it shifts your mindset away from the bustle of the city streets beyond. As another counterpoint, the outdoor Rose Garden theater setting itself felt drenched in nature, with leafy trees and rich green grass composing the "set." Props were actually hung in trees. It felt like the right setting for a mythological exploration.
The script and production, however, questioned and re-contextualized myth today. The Deirdre myth(s) took on a hip, fun, and iterative quality as the notion of "myth" breathed fresh air through imagining it as set at a Trinity Ball in 2014. One of the qualities of myths is that they do not have a single meaning nor interpretation, and so the dialog offered multiple perspectives, interpretations, and beliefs about exactly what happened, with the seven cast members acting almost like seven witnesses to a crime, where each one saw or thought something completely different.
It came across as a post modern or deconstructavist take on an ancient myth that can be seen as an experience today. Playfully, the three men and four women each were Deirdre and each were Naoise, and all played witnesses to the events that took place between those two protagonists and also with Connor, who in this context was a Trinity Lecturer and romantic interest for Deirdre.
Does it sound a bit confusing? During the 45-minute performance, it was actually quite easy to follow the story (kudos to the writers, Shaun Dunne and Claire O'Reilly, and the Director, Patrick Culhane), but at the beginning, this multiple-storytelling did take a little while to get through the introduction of the characters and initial plot.
Also, it came across as a little too self-referential to set the story at Trinity, feature student-aged characters who plot-wise attended the Trinity Ball, and to also stage the play at Trinity. This may have an exclusionary affect (though I'm sure this is not the desire) upon the intended audience outside of Trinity College students or parents of Trinity College students.
Still, this production sparkled with liveliness, which seems to be one of the goals: to feel the breathing relevance of mythology today. The cast glowed with youth and vigor as they sang (not too much, but yes, sang), chorused, dashed about, and otherwise delivered performances with an ease and precision that reflected the intentional stylization of the play.
In the end, "The Sorrows" was serious in its purpose to revisit mythology and to ask the audience to recognize myth's relevance today, it was lighthearted and contemporary in some of its dialog and musical choices, and it was quite satisfying, actually. Even in my own, very personal experience, thinking about my first introduction to Deirdre and Naoise at Trinity 25 years ago to my re-introduction in a very different way tonight, I feel privileged to have been given the opportunity to think about this particular myth as it has been part of my memory and my experience of Ireland over time.
