John Barton and Kenneth Cavender's The Greeks"" marks the first time that the Madison Repertory Theatre partners with faculty and graduate students from UW-Madison's Department of Theatre and Drama. This historic collaboration takes place on the Playhouse stage, the smallest of the Overture Center's three theaters. Although most of the actors and crew members are fellow Badgers, the play turns out to be as powerful as if it were done by the professionals of Madison Rep.
""The Greeks"" is adapted from epic works by Euripides and Homer, but it is in no way boring. The play is performed in three 35-minute intervals, one for each of the three stories, with two short intermissions.
The first adapted work we see on stage is ""Iphigenia at Aulis."" This part of the play has the least amount of fighting scenes, but that's because we're introduced to main characters Agamemnon (David Wilson-Brown), Clytemnestra (Stephanie Monday), and daughter Iphigenia (Rebecca Chicoine).
Despite this part of the play having very few fight scenes, it still comes with its fair share of tragedy and scandal. Soon, the audience learns that Agamemnon has to sacrifice Iphigenia to the gods. Although this part of the play lacks the powerful emotions of the other two adapted works, the actors portray it just as dramatically.
The second adapted work is ""Achilles,"" but the first person we see on stage is his mother, Helen of Troy (Leia Espericueta). ""Achilles"" profiles the warrior (Steve Wojtas) and how he balances his desire for fighting with his ethics. This story is far more powerful than ""Iphigenia at Aulis,"" mainly because of the sacrifice of Patroclus (Josh Krevsky), a secondary character whom Achilles loved more than anything or anyone else.
One scene in which Achilles is seen crying and embracing Patroclus' dead body as if he were still alive feels like it's straight out of a dramatic movie. ""Achilles"" is also where most of the fighting happens in the play.
The final adapted work, ""The Trojan Women,"" opens with Agamemnon declaring victory over the city of Troy and its warriors, with lots of post-battle rubble littering the stage. The wild personalities of the principal characters make up for the lack of fighting. This story is the aftermath of the war from the eyes of the women who lost their husbands or children. Although their levels of craziness, especially Cassandra's (Clare Arena Haden) and Andromache's (Olivia Dawson), seem exaggerated at times, the fact that the war affected them still gets across to the viewers.
At times, it may seem hard to separate the three stories, especially because more than half of the cast plays more than one character. Despite this, Madison Repertory Theatre's ""The Greeks"" is still a riveting play that shouldn't be missed, especially considering its historic collaboration with UW's Department of Theatre and Drama.
