"That looks like a book series!" my wife spoke with some horror upon seeing the cover of 'The Revenge of Iphigenia'. And yes, it has to be said: in book format, the poster of Theatre Group Alum's latest theatre production is a bit too much of a stretch. From the A0 poster, you would never have thought so. Indeed: those Aluin posters are always mega-large, strong and 'worthy of a large theatre', while Theatre Group Aluin, founded 20 years ago by director Erik Snel, has always remained small as a matter of principle. The Utrecht company has always played in small theatres and took that lesser chance of high earnings for granted by always going all out in publicity. Although that remains difficult when Amsterdam is not your home base, but Utrecht.
In its Utrecht home port, an old railway building on the NS/prorail yard north of Utrecht Central Station, Aluin celebrated its 20th anniversary on the last weekend of January. Invited to that commemoration was Harm Lambers, director of the also great little Utrecht theatre Kikker, because he had been there from the beginning. Which did make insiders feel the loss of then-café boss, now restaurant owner Arnold Meulenbeld, in whose café De Bastaard Aluin 1n 1991 debuted with a fine adaptation of Henry James' "The Beast in the Jungle". But Meulenbeld has his hands full with Deeg, his excellent organic restaurant in Utrecht's Museum Quarter. No shares, by the way, but checked it out the other day and it was top-notch. Things just grow, and sometimes that's apart.
Back to birthday: The Revenge of Ifigeneia may seem like a book series as a book, but as a performance it is a typical Alum. A classic theme, elaborated with respect for the ancients but put into perspective enough for a (young) Dutch audience averse to fattening up about gods and heroes. Erik Snel wrote the text and left the directing to Leidsche Rijn promoter Daphne de Bruijn, resulting in a performance with cabaretesque traits that stimulates the intellect rather than touching the soul. Not bad, that: Dennis Coenen plays the fair-weather playing war veteran Agamemnon who on returning from the war discovers that his wife is not only cheating with the neighbour, but also wants to punish him harshly for the sacrifice he had to make at the start of the war: their own little daughter Ifigeneia.
The history is Classical Greek, a pause number between Homer's description of the destruction of Troy and the blood-stained story of Orestes, the son who goes back to seek revenge for his mother's murder of Agamemnon. Not that Erik Snel is so arrogant as to add, with The Revenge of Ifigeneia, a new tragedy to the impressive repertoire the Greeks left us 2,500 years ago. He merely plays with the idea of what that moment between homecoming and murder would actually be like. Well: the side characters turn out to be side characters and the murderous spouses steadfast in their death drive. That does give them the opportunity to now properly explain why they are doing what they did and are going to do, and Agamemnon in particular gets a chance in a nice monologue to tell how he had to do what a man had to do.
That the play really should have had a different title, you discover in the final seconds. The Revenge of ifigeneia should actually be called 'Ifigeneia Must Die'. Go and see, from September 2011, why.
Seen: The Revenge of Ifigeneia by Theatre Group Alum on 28 January 2011. reprise tour from September 2011. Enquiries: www.aluin.nl
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