PENTHESILEA at the Edinburgh International Festival

★★★★★

“a memorable reimagining that must be seen”

In Eline Arbo’s adaptation of Kleist’s classic play, Penthesilea becomes a deeply queer and transgressive. That’s in keeping with the spirit of a drama deemed “unplayable” in its own time. So if you have a chance to see the Internationaal Theater Amsterdam’s production at the Lyceum Theatre during this year’s Edinburgh International Festival, take it. Don’t expect an easy time of it, though. The show is performed in over two hours, without an interval, in Dutch. The English surtitles are, if anything, distracting, because it’s Kleist. That means hyperbolic language competing for your attention with the extraordinary things going on, on stage.

Fortunately for English speaking audiences, Arbo, who also directs this production, has reimagined Kleist’s Penthesilea as a non-binary, grungy, punk rock concert with lyrics in English. True to the spirit of the Kleist original, this Penthesilea will send you away asking important questions. Questions that upend heteronormative notions of what constitutes a civilized society; questions about the nature of war when fought by men and women with equal savagery against each other; and questions about love that devours (literally). If Kleist’s Penthesilea isn’t a punk play, what is?

What’s the story? Forget your Homer—the legend of Penthesilea doesn’t appear there. In Kleist’s version, Penthesilea is an Amazon queen who rides onto the battlefield taking prisoners regardless of whose side they are on. She has particular reasons for doing this, as Kleist reveals later. The uncomprehending Greeks and Trojans are disgusted by such behaviour. They have never before encountered a culture where women fight like men, and have their own rules for battlefield etiquette. The men simply cannot imagine a culture where men are not only absent, but only permitted to interact with the Amazons under certain, carefully orchestrated rituals. Kleist explains why. So the meeting of Greek hero Achilles and Penthesilea on the battlefield is an unusual, and fateful, meeting for both. When they fall in love, it’s a love condemned by both sides, for very different reasons. In Penthesilea, it’s the heteronormative relationship that is seen as deviant, and anarchic. It all ends in blood, as you might expect. In Kleist’s Penthesilea, an all devouring passion becomes a metaphor made real. It’s a truly revolutionary drama, and that includes the dramaturgy.

This production keeps you busy on many levels. From the sparse, raked stage that uses light and picture frames to focus our attention, to the red rose petals that transmogrify to the viscousness of blood, Pascal Leboucq’s set is a space for installations of overpowering bright lights, and visceral sounds, throwing every focused detail into sharp relief. The costumes are studies in individuality. From the flowing suit of Penthesilea to the punk outfits of the musicians and ensemble players, each design from Alva Brosten reminds us that this production is about upending expectations. Thijs van Vuure’s music moves easily from the lyrical to the anarchic, depending on the moment. If the music, sound and lighting is overpowering from time to time, that’s appropriate for rock concert Penthesilea. The cast (Daphne Agten, Marieke Heebink, Maarten Heijmans, Maria Kraakman, Jesse Mensah, Ilke Paddenburg, Eefje Paddenburg, Felix Schellekens and Steven Van Watermeulen) have to manoeuvre between being in frame as musicians to stepping outside as characters in the play. If there’s a certain staginess to all this picture framing, it seems appropriate as ironic commentary on the classical theatre Kleist was trying to overthrow. It doesn’t distract from the relationship that is developing between Penthesilea and Achilles. Both actors playing these roles walk a fine line between the warriors they are, and the lovers they become. Violence is always lurking in the interactions between these two. The actors surrender their bodies to the violence of their passions, until the bodies, inevitably, fall apart.

This production of Kleist’s Penthesilea is a great opportunity to see a classic that poses as many questions as it answers. The Internationaal Theater Amsterdam have provided a memorable reimagining that must be seen.

PENTHESILEA at the Edinburgh International Festival – The Lyceum

Reviewed on 3rd August 2024

by Dominica Plummer

Photography by Jess Shurte

PENTHESILEA

PENTHESILEA

CLICK HERE TO SEE ALL OUR REVIEWS FROM EDINBURGH 2024