Phaedra by Jean Racine
The poet Edwin Morgan has translated this French classic tragedy, with its measured and highly formal rhetoric, into a vigorous, specific idiom: a Glaswegian-based Scots. He considers it at once true to the drama and psychology of Racine's play, but also answers the dramatic needs of modern theatre. His aim is to make the play speak with immediacy and to remove the hushed respect with which Racine is often presented. "Phedre" was first perfomed in 1677 as "Phedre et Hyppolite". It is Racine's last secular tragedy, drawing on the Hippolytus plays of Euripides and Seneca. Phaedra, wife of Theseus, King of Athens, is in love with her stepson Hippolytus who is in love in Princes Aricie. When Theseus is absent, presumed dead, Phaedra confesses her love. When Theseus returns Phaedra allows Hippolytus to be accused of attempted rape. Theseus rejects his son, who dies in battle with a sea-monster. Phaedra, torn by guilt, confesses and takes poison.
Jean Racine (1639-99) is widely regarded as the greatest seventeenth-century Frenc tragedian, both observing and transcending the conventions of classical tragedy. Robert David MacDonald (1929 - 2004) was born in Elgin, Scotland. After originally training as a musician, he worked as a Director, Playwright and Translator. As an Assistant Director, he worked at both the Glyndebourne Opera Festival and for the Royal Opera House. In 1971, he became Co-Artistic Director of the Glasgow Citizens Theatre, where he directed fifty plays and wrote fifteen for the venue before his retirement in 2003. The plays that he wrote for the Glasgow Citz include The De Sade Show (1975), Chinchilla (1977), Summit Conference (1978), also seen in the West End with Glenda Jackson and Gary Oldman, A Waste of Time (1980), Don Juan (1980), Webster (1983), Britannicus (2002) and Cheri (2003). As a translator, MacDonald translated over seventy different plays and opera from over ten different languages including The Threepenny Opera, Tamerlano, Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail, The Marriage of Figaro, Orpheus and The Human Voice, Conversation at Night, Shadow of Angels, The Balcony, The Government Inspector, Tasso, Faust I and II, Ibsen's Brand and Hedda Gabler, Lermontov's Maskerade, Lorca's The House of Bernarda Alba, Moliere's School for Wives and Don Juan, Pirandello's Enrico Four, Racine's Phedre, Schiller's Mary Stuart, The Maid of Orleans and Don Carlos, Chekhov's The Seagull, Verne's Around the World In Eighty Days, Wedekind's Lulu and Goethe's Clavigo. His adaptation of War and Peace ran for two seasons on Broadway and received an Emmy award when shown on U.S television. The Finborough Theatre has previously presented Robert David MacDonald's versions of Rolf Hochhuth's Soldiers (2004) and The Representative (2006)
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781857544640 |
| ISBN 10 | 1857544641 |
| Title | Phaedra |
| Author | Jean Racine |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Carcanet Press Ltd |
| Year published | 2000-04-27 |
| Number of pages | 128 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |