The Greek Plays at Syracuse
IN April the enchanted land of Sicily is ablaze with sunshine and flowers. The Greek temples and theatres, embowered in fresh green, stand out majestically under the cloudless southern sky. The myths of ancient recce seem near and very real and therefore the time was horoughly suitable for the revival of classical drama in he great open-air theatre at Syracuse, built in the fifth "itifry B.C. All throUgh the' month of April- the little "11 MS in -a. ferment of excitement and preparation ruler the -guidance of Count •Gargallo,- who has done so uh for the elissicid -revival In Italy.. The artlfitle management was -in the hands of Ettore Romagna, the well-known Italian translator of the classics, who directed the performances at Syracuse in 1914, 1921, 1922 and 1924.
This year the plays chosen were the Medea and The Cyclops, The Clouds and Satyrs on the Hunt, thus intro- ducing a lighter clement than in other years when only tragedies were given. The leading actors were Gualtiero Tumiati and Maria Letizia Celli, both noted for their classical interpretations, and they were supported by a picked company including some of the best elements of the Italian stage.
The small amount of scenery considered necessary to satisfy the needs of a modern audience were designed by Duilio Cambelotti, and consisted of an allegorical back- ground for Medea, representing the Argosy and the Golden Fleece guarded by the hydra ; a group of buildings representing the Acropolis in caricature for The Clouds, and a rocky background with a mysterious cavern for The Cyclops ; this same scene, with the addition of a gate, serving for The Satyrs.
. All this scenery was mounted on wheels running on rails and so could be quickly changed, the process being masked by clouds of smoke rising from openings in the stage floor. Two wall-like projections decorated with conventional masks served as wings. The music for the choruses and dances was composed by Giuseppe Mule, with the exception of that for The' Clouds, which was written by Romagnoli, who is musician as well as poet.
The first performance took place on April 20th. At Easter the weather had broken and the 19th was hope- lessly wet and cold. The Syracusans, unaccustomed to bad weather, looked miserable and aggrieved and went about with humped-up shoulders, under dripping umbrellas. The dress rehearsal had to be abandoned. But the 20th dawned in splendour. The blue Sicilian sky was reflected in a still bluer sea. The flowery meadows surrounding the Greek Theatre glowed in fresh beauty, and crowds of spectators arrived in every conceivable kind of vehicle and on foot, and swarmed into the vast audi- torium, whose seating capacity is calculated at 10,000, though on the day of the King's visit it is said to have contained more than 20,000.
At 4 p.m. a bugle announced the commencement of the performance, and Medea's Nurse appeared and declaimed her long lament. Then came Medea—a mag- nificent figure clad in green and gold, with flaming hair and glittering ornaments, which recalled her descent from the Sum. In thrilling tones she poured out to the faithful Chorus her woes and plans for vengeance.
The action moves quickly. The climax of horror is reached when Medea, after her impassioned appeals to Aegeus and Creon and her scene of bitter recrimination with Jason, prepares the fatal gift of a poisoned garment which is to destroy her rival, and takes her heart-broken farewell of the children she adores but is resolved to kill. Maria Celli was superb. Her grief was so real ; so admirably aid she depict the torment of the primitive woman of Colchis torn by savage love for her offspring, and by the revengeful fury of the deserted wife, that when, after her agonized cry : " Go ! Go! I cannot bear to look on you ! My sorrows overwhelm me ! " she flung herself on the ground and lay there motionless, many eyes were wet. The play ends with a somewhat unsatisfactory anti-climax, when Medea from her magic chariot on the rocky height exchanges recriminations with the frantic Jason below ; but even here Maria Celli was equal to the difficult altuation, and stood proudly there on high, all green and gold and flaming hair, while the Sun, her anoestot; now mar his setting, lit Up her form and drew metallic: flashes from her wide bracelets. The strain of tragedy was relieved by The Cyclops. Gualtiero Tumiati made such a ferociously jolly figure of the bear-like ogre that one felt sorry for him at the close when, blinded by Ulysses and tormented by the Satyrs, his former slaves, he groped about, hitting his hairy head _against the rock and cursing his fate—the fulfilment of an ancient prophecy that Ulysses would . blind him when returning from Troy.
On the second day The Clouds was the principal piece, followed by that little-known farce of Sophocles, Satyrs on the Hunt. In The Clouds the actors wore the grotesque masks of ancient comedy, but notwithstanding this amusing touch, and the graceful cloud dances accom- panied by Romagnoli's dainty music, the play seemed somewhat heavy, so that the audience turned with relief to watch the antics of the Satyrs in the quaint fragment pieced together by the translator.
The season at Syracuse closed on May 8th and was followed by a shorter one at Pompeii, where the Alcestis was given by the same company.. In June the Antigone will be given in the recently excavated theatre at Ostia.
• ISABEL EMERSON.
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