On Saturday, Mike and I went to see a play called Agamemnon, along with most of the other students in our Stagecoach class. This was the first play that I have ever seen advertised with a promo video that was shown at the cinema!
Agamemnon was staged by Theatre Anon, and our drama teacher, Toni Attard, was in it, and so was Edward Mercieca, the senior principal of Stagecoach. It is always amazing to me when I see people I know perform, because it's like seeing a completely different person inhabit the same body.
The story was based on Greek mythology, and I followed Reesa's advice and read the programme carefully before the play started. In one paragraph, I came across such names as Atreus, Aerope, Agamemnon, Menelaus, Thystes, all related to each other, and I thought to myself, I really need a family tree to help me figure this out. After spending five minutes working out the geneaology, I turned the page to find... a handy dandy family tree! Heh.
As regards the play, the actual content wasn't really my cup of tea, I'm more of a comedy/musicals girl myself, but I was completely blown away by HOW the play was staged.
It was like a masterclass demonstration of everything that Toni has been teaching us about over the last couple of months... lots of 'contact theatre' with lifts and balances, interacting with and depicting imaginary objects - human flesh and vomit, in this case - using different walks, postures and voices for different characters, the energy never stopped.
The most visually impressive feature was the cloth hanging from the ceiling. Some of the aerial tissu acrobatics that the actors performed on it was aesthetically pleasing, and some was just downright heartstopping! A couple of times I was sure that Paul Portelli, who also directed the play, was going to break his neck.
Now I understand better why Toni is always telling us to explore, to explore the reaches of our voices and our bodies (like how to lift and carry each other), because clearly that was the source of many of the visually dramatic moments in the play.
Toni was spectacular as he played his various parts - that was probably the most effective lesson that he will have given us this semester. Watching Edward was also an experience - I don't know how to explain it, but he just fitted into his character so well that it was easy to forget that it was him.
Overall, an impressive performance where each person gave a significant contribution, and it was a great mix of dialogue, physical movement, and original music written for the show and played live.
The last two performances of Agamemnon are tonight and tomorrow night, tickets from St. James Cavalier.
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