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| In the arena : Andromaque at the Bouffes du Nord |
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| Wednesday, 05 December 2007 | |
 It is a truism to say that while English theatre has no coherent classical core, it wins out by having produced Shakespeare. Declan Donnellan’s production of Racine’s Andromaque in the original French at the Bouffes du Nord in Paris until December 8 brings together a masterpiece of C17 classical dramatic writing with a director whose repertoire is shot through with Shakespearean productions. The result is rather explosive. Andromaque is set in the aftermath of the Trojan war. The survivors, Pyrrhus, Orestes and Hermione, on the Greek side are the children of Achilles, Agamemnon and Helen. Hector’s widow, Andromache represents what is left of the Trojans. The action opens with Orestes, Greek ambassador, coming to claim Pyrrhus’s hostages, Andromache and her young son Astyanax for Greece.  Declan Donnellan takes the point of view that this is a play about generations, with the main protagonist being Astyanax, an offstage presence in Racine, who he makes very much an onstage adolescent presence. Played with great ironic guilelessness by Sylvain Levitte, Astyanx, the survivor, mutely charms his way around the mythic VIPs and admiringly echoes some of their lines. Donnellan also discovers and realises Racine’s subversive undercurrents: the primitivism of the political and emotional passions that are clothed by the music of his verse and the symmetry of his intricate plot and structure. To this end he and his designer Nick Ormerod use the full depth of the stage space, and bring the action out in front of the proscenium arch, so that most of it takes place surrounded by the audience as in Shakespeare’s theatre. This gives the actors freedom of movement to prowl around each other like wild beasts or gladiators in the arena, hurling the verse in each other’s faces. He also makes much use of simultaneous staging, so that different triangles can be visually and physically set against each other, Andromache, her confidante and Astyanax against Pyrrhus, Orestes and Hermione. Hermione striking Oreste parallels with Pyrrhus virtually raping Andromache, Astyanax wheedling his way around Orestes is juxtaposed against Pyrrhus making love to Hermione. Characters not involved in the action sit on a row of chairs at the back of the stage, as if they were their illustrious ancestors sitting in judgement. The costumes are as sombre as the set. Black suits and uniforms for the men and the women’s black tight-waisted 1940s style dresses add to the post-war sense of doom and fatality. There is some fine acting, with Xavier Boiffier as Orestes, Camille Carol as Andromaque and Christophe Grégoire as Pyrrhus. Romain Cottard, Vincent de Bouard, Anne Rotger and Dominique Charpentier provide exquisitely sombre doubles as the confidants.  Declan Donnellan will bring an English production of Shakespeare’s Troilus and Cressida to the Théatre Les Gemeaux at Sceaux in March 2008. SZ Bouffes du Nord tel 01 46 07 33 00 |
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| Drive to help women boost their UK state pensions |
| Further to recent articles in French News about women's pensions, the UK Department of Work and Pensions has issued a press release explaining that "women pensioners could boost their state pension or even be in line for a windfall payment under special terms. | |
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