A tragedy of unreconcilable opposites, the tragedy of Phaedra and Hippolytus tells the story of two characters, each trying to escape from their own cages; for the wife of Theseus, represented by a marriage in which secret love finds no exile; for the young son of the King, by a city contrary to the primordial attraction of hunting and the wilderness.
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Teatro Grassi
Phaedra, the wife of King Theseus of Athens, burns with loving passion for Hippolytus, Theseus’s son by his first wife. The young man, descendant of the queen of the Amazons, attracted by nature’s inherent promise of innocence, devoted to hunting and detached from family ties, rejects the queen’s offer, who thus plots a vicious vendetta against him, carried out by Theseus, totally unaware. The tragedy finishes with the violent death of Hippolytus and the suicide of Phaedra. As the director Andrea De Rosa explains: “I have always been fascinated by stories dominated by a dark component, and when you work on “legends”, you always find yourself faced with this type of force, potent and mysterious (...). The Latin word what Seneca used most often to describe Phaedra’s state of mind is furor, which means madness, but also, and just as importantly, violent passion, amorous delirium, unbridled desire. Whatever meaning we use, this word leads to a vision of love which forcefully sweeps away the romantic and sentimental sediment that has been deposited on this subject. Here love is seen literally as something with which one becomes possessed, something which come from outside, something deeply foreign, like a virus which begins to reproduce in our body without our permission”.
Duration: One hour and 15 minutes
Phaedra, the wife of King Theseus of Athens, burns with loving passion for Hippolytus, Theseus’s son by his first wife. The young man, descendant of the queen of the Amazons, attracted by nature’s inherent promise of innocence, devoted to hunting and detached from family ties, rejects the queen’s offer, who thus plots a vicious vendetta against him, carried out by Theseus, totally unaware. The tragedy finishes with the violent death of Hippolytus and the suicide of Phaedra. As the director Andrea De Rosa explains: “I have always been fascinated by stories dominated by a dark component, and when you work on “legends”, you always find yourself faced with this type of force, potent and mysterious (...). The Latin word what Seneca used most often to describe Phaedra’s state of mind is furor, which means madness, but also, and just as importantly, violent passion, amorous delirium, unbridled desire. Whatever meaning we use, this word leads to a vision of love which forcefully sweeps away the romantic and sentimental sediment that has been deposited on this subject. Here love is seen literally as something with which one becomes possessed, something which come from outside, something deeply foreign, like a virus which begins to reproduce in our body without our permission”.
Duration: One hour and 15 minutes
Meetings and insights
Credits
Piccolo Teatro Grassi
from 14 to 26 February 2017
Fedra
based on Phaedra by Seneca
(with extracts of Hippolytus by Euripides and Seneca’s letters)
adapted and directed by Andrea De Rosa
with Laura Marioni, Luca Lazzareschi, Anna Coppola, Fabrizio Falco, Tamara Balducci
sets and costumes by Simone Mannino, lighting by Pasquale Mari
sound by Gup Alcaro
An Emilia Romagna Teatro Fondazione, Fondazione Teatro Stabile di Torino production
Information and bookings
Telephone service 02.42.41.48.89
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Sunday 1.00 p.m. to 6.30 p.m.
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Groups and organisations
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Tel. 02.72.333.216
e-mail: promozione.pubblico@piccoloteatromilano.it