Iphigenia 2.0

Photo/Carol Rosegg

Charles Mee's physical and political reinterpretation of Iphigenia in Aulis doesn't provide as firm a foundation for director Tina Landau as Moliere's The Misanthrope does for Ivo Van Hove, but this Signature Theater production, cheaply ticketed ($20), is a great cross between downtown experiments and uptown sensibility. The plot, which focuses on the necessary self-sacrifice of a leader, is easily accessible, even if the staging (which involves dance breaks, symbolically sparse settings, and highly athletic transitions) is not. However, Mee's style is to collage his work, and the various threads he finds (many of which resemble alienating lists from a chorus of soldiers or pair of bridesmaids) don't help enforce an emotional connection. We get that from some of the actors, mainly in the innocence Louisa Krause gives to Iphigenia, or in the thoughtful grief Tom Nelis lends to Agamemnon, but on whole, the production dazzled me a lot more than it moved me.

[Read on] [Also blogged by: Patrick]