In the sixth week of school the Fine Arts Department is already prepared to open its first theatrical production.
“The largest challenge with this play has definitely been the compressed rehearsal time. It took us 16 rehearsals to get to tech which is where we are now said Director Bradley Griffin on Tuesday of the efforts. Only eight days away from the first show, Pepperdine Fine Arts Department’s production of The Persians” was nearing completion.
Written by Aeschylus and first exhibited in 472 BC “The Persians” is one of the oldest extant Greek tragedies and is notable for being the only surviving Greek secular tragedy. The play retells the tragedy of an ancient Persian royal family whose army was defeated shortly before the play began. The play begins with the news of the defeat arriving at Xerxes’s palace.
“I was really drawn in by Ellen McLaughlin’s [the author of this modern interpretation of the play] poetry. It makes ‘The Persians’ far more relevant to audiences today Griffin said.
When asked about the difficulties presented by political historical works, he replied that the cast has to talk to each other not the audience.” The smaller venue didn’t seem to bother him at all.
The stage work in Lindhurst Theatre is outstanding; the pillars and honeycombed walls make the normally tight space of the black box style theatre appear warmly intimate. It also created several areas of focus of which Lighting Director Steven Wright took full advantage. “[It’s good] to be able to bring out emotions and the feel of the play he said. It allows me to really change the mood. The audience is so close to the stage here.”
The first performance of this play was roughly seven years after the historical defeat of the Persian army by the Greeks. “The Persians” depicts the titular society in two major ways it can be interpreted either as sympathetic retelling of the tragedy or as a celebratory testament to the might of the Greek army. Themes include hubris divine retribution and the interplay between expectation and failure. A forum will be held after the Wednesday
This adaptation held in the Lindhurst Theatre is challenging in several ways. For several of the actors this is their first professional production. Also the small venue and the rushed production change the dynamics of the play. Freshman Caleb Powell in his debut believes that the concentrated rehearsal schedule (“Four hours a day for about the last three weeks!”) will make the play something worth seeing.
“The Persians” opens Tuesday Oct. 6 at 7:30 p.m. It will show nightly through Saturday Oct. 10 with a 2 p.m. matinee performance on Oct. 10. Tickets are $15 and $10 for Pepperdine students.
