[dynamic string music]
I'm Lucy Jackson, Assistant Professor
in Ancient Greek Literature.
- I'm Erin Lee, Head of Archive at the National Theatre.
- In this series of films, Erin and I
will be looking at some of the Greek tragedies
that have been staged at the National Theatre.
Using the records held in the theatre's archive as a starting point,
we'll look at the practicalities of staging
an ancient Greek play in a modern theatre building.
- The archive is home to thousands of items, from photographs
to prompt scripts, technical drawings to set models -
dating the way back to our opening night in 1963.
Every production has left behind some traces
of the multiple artistic choices and practical
considerations that go into making a performance.
- By exploring these plays as staged productions,
rather than as pieces of literature, we begin to see
these ancient works in a new light.
Going behind the scenes of the productions makes
us ask fresh questions about why these plays
and their myths are still relevant today.
- Euripides' ''Medea'' was staged at the National Theatre
in 2014, directed by Carrie Cracknell,
in a new version by Ben Power.
- I gave you sons.
I bled them out for you and you have thrown me away.
You have turned everything upside down.
The promises mean nothing to you.
Do you think that the gods have died?
That you could so easily break the
oaths you made in their names?
You see this damned hand which once you held, you
see this body you used to embrace, polluted now,
having been touched by you, infected
and infested with your sins.
[mysterious music]
- In a newspaper interview, Ben Power talks about
the creation of the chorus as a major
artistic decision when staging any Greek tragedy.
- The National has produced tragedies that present the chorus
as individual people, as we saw in Poly Findley's ''Antigone'',
but also as a more formal, structured entity,
singing and speaking in unison.
This was the approach taken in Peter Hall's landmark ''Oresteia'' in 1981.
The chorus in Carrie Cracknell's ''Medea''
explored a middle ground.
When we first meet the chorus,
they are dressed as individuals, but they
appear in an eerily stylised straight line
on the upper layer of the set.
The Costume Bible reveals that each of the 13 chorus members
were fitted with their own outfits.
They share an aesthetic, but are
still distinct from one another.
- From the outset, they seem to occupy
a space somewhere in between realism
and something a bit more supernatural.
Individual chorus members speak their lines,
but they also move as a group - sometimes in unison,
sometimes with a few of them dancing.
Over the course of the play, they gradually lose their individuality.
Even more so, when they change into matching bridesmaids dresses.
By the end of the play, they have
morphed into something almost otherworldly when they perform
an unsettling and violent dance and are dressed
in muddied and torn versions of these dresses.
- A note for the Wigs, Hair and Make-Up team says
that the chorus should look muddied and scratched
when they appear through the forest in these
broken down versions of their dresses.
- It's as if they've been drawn down from
the polite, clean wedding party on the upper layer of the set,
down into the mysterious and menacing forest
that lies directly beneath
and which stands for the immense,
supernatural power of the character of Medea.
They are no longer separate and above,
merely commenting on her actions.
By their failure to intervene
and stop her murdering her own sons,
they have enabled Medea's final, awful act.
- The two outfits that Medea wears in this production
give us important information about her
character, her mental state,
and about the world of the play.
- We looked at the idea that she was wearing
some of Jason's clothes, that there was
an idea that she hadn't released.
She hadn't let go of his smell of him.
- At the beginning, she's dressed in these baggy old clothes
that belong to Jason, which shows, as Helen says,
that she hasn't been able to move on.
She's stuck.
- The change into her white flowing jumpsuit signals
that she has a new plan and a way out.
- This outfit was made especially for Helen,
as we can see from this internal label
giving the name of the maker.
- The flowing lines are like those you
might see on a Grecian statue.
- We still occasionally see designers,
such as Dior and Dolce and Gabbana
making similar callbacks in their collections.
The fact that it's a trouser suit
gestures towards Medea's more masculine energy.
This masculinity is a prominent feature of her character
in the ancient Greek play and adds further layers
to her own complicated relationship to motherhood.
The choice of colour also makes
us think of a wedding dress.
It is an intentional irony, of course, for her
to meet and talk to her ex-husband on his
wedding day dressed, herself, like a bride.
- The colour of her jumpsuit also
serves a rather gruesome purpose.
In costume notes, we see that the Costume team
wanted the nurse, played by Michaela Coel, to wear
a light colour top to show up the blood.
This was also likely the reason behind the
colou r of Medea's dress to show the final,
horrific act all the more clearly.
[mysterious music]
- In Euripides' play, Medea escapes from Corinth
with the bodies of her sons in
a flying chariot pulled by winged serpents.
However, in this production, she staggers off
through the forest carrying her two sons.
- From the first production meeting notes, we learned
that this was not the original plan.
They mention a car that was to be driven
around the back of the set, and the production
files show a plan that was made to map out
whether the sight lines would work.
- A month into rehearsals, the creative team are
still discussing the practicalities of driving the car
around the back of the set.
It looks as if Aegeus was meant to leave the car keys
with Medea when he promises he'll receive her in Athens,
and that at the end of the play, Medea would get
in the car and leave via this more modern winged chariot.
- We don't hear why the team eventually decided not to
use the car, but traces of this alternative ending give
us a brilliant glimpse into what might have been.
- It is often said that Medea is a witch,
with access to dark supernatural powers.
She is also semi-divine.
Her grandfather is the sun god Helios.
The creative team found a very specific and successful way of
bringing in supernatural elements into the play
in a way that didn't jar with a modern setting.
They drew inspiration from horror movies.
- In the production files, we find masses
of reference materials for the set design,
including lots of pictures of films like
''The Shining'' and Lars Von Trier's ''Melancholia''.
These were very concrete reference points for the team.
We see an echo of a wedding dance floor
on the lower level of the set.
Two of the chorus members looked strangely similar and stood
together on the balcony when they first come on.
This is a reference to the
unsettling twins in ''The Shining''.
- This menacing tone was also conjured by the music - written
especially for the play by the pop duo Goldfrap.
The ethereal qualities of the music - electronic and operatic,
bring out the supernatural elements of the play.
[electronic music]
- We see discussions in production meeting notes
of how to create magic effects.
A piece of carpet or a chair moving by itself.
The effect chosen in the end was a sudden spark in an
ice bucket, a prop that will be used in a later scene.
- Other ideas for highlighting the natural world
fell by the wayside as rehearsals progressed.
At one point, the team planned for it
to rain in the forest on stage.
The impact of this effect on practical matters,
such as costume, is discussed in
production meeting notes and rehearsal notes.
- Once again, we see how the rehearsal process is
a crucial time for trying out ideas -
not just in how actors play their parts, but in how
the production as a whole achieves its overarching impact.
- The National Theatre Archive really is a unique resource
that allows you to get up close to all
these incredible productions and unlock interpretations of classic texts
that perhaps you've never considered before.
- Anyone can book a time to access
the resources of the National Theatre's Archive
by contacting us via our website.