Iphigenia: Crash Land Falls on the Neon Shell that was once her Heart (A Rave Fable)

A challenging multi-media and a multi-layered play by Caridad Svich, an Argentine- American playwright, with a richness of references that are not entirely lost even to those who never read the Greek Myth. It debued at The Clumsy Bodies Theatre - a brand new theatre company based in Battersea, run by two artists who describe themselves as “queer, and non-conforming” and appears at the Edinburgh Festival this week.
by Corina J Poore
Image

Svich’s work is multi- faceted and multi- media as she explores difficult themes, crossing boundaries and invoking references, be they mythical, social or political. She has rightly received many awards, including the OBIE for a Lifetime Achievement.

‘Iphigenia’ is a character from Greek mythology.  Originally a secondary character, Svich brings her to the fore and gives her a voice. This element alone is a strong factor in much of Svich’s work.  Giving a voice to the unheard.

In this play, Svich interweaves the horror of the murdered girls from Ciudad Juárez, casting their ghosts as a chorus in a Greek tragedy, representing her desires, fears and conscience. Taken in part from the story as in ‘Euripides in Aulis’, the youthful and innocent Iphigenia is thrust into the story, being asked to give her life to save others. In the original myth her father Agamemnon, kills his own daughter to appease the Goddess Artemis whom he has aggrieved.  He is under pressure from his followers and army, as it is believed Iphigenia’s death will calm the revengeful Artemis and allow the winds to rise and carry the ships to Troy to rescue Helen.

Here her father is cast as the General Adolfo, the ambitious dictator of an un-named Latin American country. Iphigenia is his pampered and ’beloved’ child.  Desperate to avoid her fate, she seeks refuge taking a wild journey into the belly of the darker side of society, ending up at a rave held in an aircraft- hangar, where the ‘chorus’ of the dead play out their desires and horrors, seeking pleasure, and where she meets the legendary androgynous Achilles.      

But as they say, ‘your destiny is found on the road you took to avoid it’, as so Iphigenia is sought out by the father, who despite professing love, wants her dead.  Will his daughter’s death elicit the sympathy he needs to be re-elected? Surely people will vote for a leader who has just lost his daughter?

With original poetry and song, Iphigenia is given a voice at last, in this Brechtian rave set against a brutal backdrop of Ciudad Juarez.   The text and lyrics are written by Svich but the music is more flexible and each production produces its own, as its multi- media projections which are an integral part of the story. There are parts where the poetry and text becomes overpowering, but the overall effect emphasises the feeling that Iphigenia is trapped by the ‘weight ‘of her pre-ordained destiny, should she therefore give in on her own terms, and keep control of her own fate?

Jess Rahman-Gonzalez and Sam Kindon worked  particularly well together, she has a very strong presence on stage, and the erotic buzz around her, created  by the chorus of garrotted  Suarez girls, fuelled by drugs and the dead, added phantoms and dystopia  into the mix.

                  “Erase me” say the girl

                  “Erase every part of m so I can make myself into something new.”

On August 12th 2017, it will be performed at THE SPACE on Niddry Steet, (V9) Edinburgh EH1 1TH

 

 

Clumsy Bodies Theatre

clumsybodies@gmail.com

 

Artistic Director/Producer                             Oli Smith

Assistant Director / Producer                      Jess Rahman-Gonzalez

Movement Director                                            Marcus Bell

Composer                                                                  Jennifer Walton

Technical Director - Caitlyn Ivory) Stage Management - Jess Rahman-González)  CAST Iphigenia -                                                                  Jess Rahman-González) Achilles -                                                                     Sam Kindon) Violeta Imperial / Camila -                             Emily-Kate Stuart

General Adolfo / Yvonne /General’s Ass                 Micky Shaw

News Anchor (  on video)                                  Peter Swallow

Orestes/Glass-eyed man                                Sean Tan

Luz/Virgin Puta/ Violet understudy          Sara jewell Yoli/ Hermaphrodite Prince                          Rebecca Rahman-Gonzalez

 

 

 

 

                 

Related Articles

Image
Judith, Violeta and Frida in Mad Women
Mad Women - Unapologetic and Bold

Mad Women tells the stories of three Latin American women artists who lived with Bipolar disorder. Developed out of a desire to…

Image
Giullianna Martinez in rehearsals, image credit Manuel Harlan
Giullianna Martinez - A New Face for Tituba

Ahead of her performance as Tituba in Anthony Lau’s upcoming production of The Crucible, American-Colombian actress Giullianna…

Image
Allel Nedjari, image credit Alex Brenner
When You Pass Over My Tomb: a groundbreaking story of love after death

Style and substance come together in Daniel Goldman’s production of Sergio Blanco’s When You Pass Over My Tomb, a deeply thought-…

Latest Content

Image
Plate of food at Barrafina - Image Credit John Carey
Food
Barrafina

Barrafina offers a delicious dining experience in locations dotted across London, with a variety of…

Image
Music
Reggaeton Revolution: 20 years of UK Urban Latin Culture 

Back in 2004, when the UK music industry was ignoring reggaetón and Maluma was in nappies,…

Image
Our Mothers  1
Film & Theatre
OUR MOTHERS (Nuestras Madres) - A Debut feature by César Díaz

Winner of the Camera D’Or in Cannes, Guatemalan filmmaker César Díaz’s multi award-winning film,…

Most Viewed

Image
Top 10 Argentine Footballers

As one of the biggest football teams in South America and the world, the Argentine Football…

Image
Ballads and Boleros
Top Ten Mexican Male Singers of all Time

Since the days when Mexico was a serious rival to Hollywood in terms of film production and quality…

Image
Top 10 Mexican Boxers

Globally, Mexico is known as a boxing powerhouse, boasting some of the greatest champions in the…