Classical Receptions in Drama and Poetry in English
from c.1970 to the Present  

Project Publications
(including Archived Conference papers)

A Democratic Turn

2009 Democratic Turn Eseminar

1998-2008 Archived topics

Secular Oratorio

A Review by Professor Lorna Hardwick

(For other reviews of Secular Oratorio please see database no. 2599)

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Production Note : Running Time : 1 hour 30 minutes. The studio space was very cramped and once space was taken by the orchestra the Chorus of Women had only about 4m x 1m in which to move. There was no set design as such (the space was marked off by black curtains) and the visual elements were defined by costume, and properties and movement (notably in the closing Chorus in which torches carried by the soldiers were used to represent Troy burning).

Chorus: Two choruses : Trojan Women (13 females) and Greek Soldiers (8 males)

Costume : Dress was colourful and represented visually the identities of the figures in the play. Poseidon and Athene wore white. The Greek soldiers wore long black leather coats with fencing masks covering their faces and carried staves which they banged on the ground to announce their presence or emphasise threat. Talthybius also wore black leather with black mitten gloves and a grey/silver half-mask. As a Greek, Helen also wore a black leather coat dress and boots. Menelaus wore a black coat but his trousers had silver flashes, co-ordinated with his silver half-mask and his shirt was given. Hecuba and Cassandra wore long yellow robes and Cassandra's head was garlanded. Andromache and her son were also dressed in yellow. The Chorus of Trojan women included figures dressed in flowing robes and veils in red, in lavender and in green. All wore half masks. Astyanax alone wore a full face mask which concealed gender and age. The mouth of the mask was creased, suggesting misery and added to the pathos by suggesting he was trying not to cry as he was led away to his death.

Music : World premiere, composed and conducted by Paul Luddon. Sixteen piece orchestra, including strings, woodwind, brass, drums.

Performance reviewed - 10th August, 2001

This was a mature and powerful performance by a young and talented cast and orchestra. The oratorio concept was ambitious but music, words and movement were effectively integrated-strikingly so at the moment when the news came of the allocation of the women of Troy to their Greek captors. It was a pity that the very restricted playing space did not allow the whole Chorus to participate simultaneously in the choreographed sequences. The use of music, movement and colour to express shared identity and suffering and to differentiate between social groupings and between the powerful and the oppressed contributed significantly to the clarity of the narrative structure and to the emotional impact of the performance. The body language and full face mask of Astyanax communicated his situation ruthlessly and unsentimentally. The arias, particularly those of Hecuba (Rosemary Morgan) and the Chorus were sensitively and yet powerfully sung. The audience (c.20 at the performance reviewed) was spell-bound and responded enthusiastically at the end.

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