(photo by Cylla von Tiedemann)
(Re)writing our stories.
Greek myth meets time travel.
by Lisa McKeown
@lisammckeown
What do you want your story to be?
This is the question (among others) asked in Kevin Dwyer's retelling of the ancient Greek myth of Theseus and the Minotaur. Directed by Alan Dilworth, the show depicts a story about stories: it shows us the dangers of letting someone else write your story for you, and what it takes to push back against that. Freddie wakes up on his 13th birthday to a text from his father - off in battle - asking for help. Freddie then embarks on a journey to save his father, and in so doing shapes his own story.
The acting was as I remembered from when I visited Young People's Theatre as a child: intense, and slightly larger-than-life: Karen Robinson is a terrifying Persiphae, with commanding vocal intonation that resonates through the theatre. Jakob Ehman is mesmerizing as young Freddie/Theseus. But my favourite was Bahareh Yaraghi as Ariadne and the Gipsy Queen. When she was on stage I was totally captivated by the action. There is just something different about live theatre; it's powerful in a way that film simply cannot be. It's got a kind of magic to it, one that came out watching a hero's journey in an audience of children. There are a couple of elaborate fight scenes, and I found myself remembering what it was like to see theatre as a child. The actors always seemed imposing, and the action so real. I wondered (and hoped) if theatrical fighting carries the same magic for this audience of children as it did for me, given the updates in special effects.
