After the chorus wept and the music cut out, silence fell over the crowd. The actors gathered on stage, bowed, and stood as still as sheep. With the blinding lights finally turned on in that small, dingy theater, I had prayed to every god I knew that maybe those lights could wake me from the nightmare I had just witnessed.
Phaedra: Threat or Menace is an eye-opening adaptation of Euripides’ Hippolytus directed by an Internet-borne alt-right group known as the “National Antifeminist-Sexist Infantry” (or NASI for short). This troupe, infamous for their previous works A Medea Family Reunion and Odysseus Christ, embarks on their third journey into Greek plays this time centering on “rape allegation” culture. Featuring virtually no known actors or actresses with enough dignity to put their names on this project, the play feels as unpolished as the old theater in which they slowly drained my will to live for three straight hours.
The ancient tragedy itself is not necessarily the one to blame. In the original Hippolytus, Euripides weaves a tale of ids and egos, where godly matters manifest into the hearts of the innocent caught under their struggles for power. The titular character, Hippolytus, pledges himself to the goddess Artemis and follows in her creeds of hunting and chastity. Contrasting him is his step-mother, Phaedra, who is married to Hippolytus’ father Theseus and mirrors the lustful desires of the goddess Aphrodite. Hippolytus’ virgin aura upsets Aphrodite so she curses Phaedra to start falling in love with him. When he rejects her advances, she commits suicide and leaves behind a death note saying that Hippolytus had raped her to keep her virtue intact. In response, Theseus exiles Hippolytus and asks Poseidon to attack Hippolytus with a bull from the ocean, leaving him nearly dead. Angered, Artemis tells Theseus that the accusation was false; Hippolytus is then carried to Theseus to say a final farewell to his guilt-ridden father before dying. Thematically, Hippolytus explores the role of shame shaping the hyperbolized extremes of chastity and sexuality. Phaedra represents an erotic desire that is pushed to the point of incest. Hippolytus himself is celibate to the point of arrogance, even being quoted in the original by saying: “O Zeus, why did you ever set women in our sunlit world to lead men astray with their corrupting ways? If you wanted to propagate a race of human beings, you should not have done so using women.”
Yet, this one line may have laid the groundwork for Phaedra: Threat or Menace. With its heavily misogynistic subtext, the lines of Hippolytus have been twisted beyond simple misunderstanding. The all-male cast aged 18-25 speak in modern cadence and retain the same names as their ancient counterparts, which in itself is a respectable way to engage a modern audience to a classical text. However, changing the suffering character of Phaedra into an insufferable caricature on stage is appalling. The screeches of the actor portraying her could shatter the cheap light fixtures above. This version of Phaedra characterizes her as the main antagonist, not because of the curse of Aphrodite but her own promiscuity. Her consequent suicide and rape accusation in this play is not one of shame and despair but of pure, mustache-twirling revenge. The so-called “victim” in this case is Hippolytus, portrayed by the same actor for Odysseus and Jason in the NASI’s previous plays. Gaining absolutely no new acting experience from his past productions, he displays the same white, heterosexual, woman-hating stereotype; he’s a “Superman without the need for a Lois Lane”. There are no mentions of gods or goddesses in this modern rendition and as such results in characters too maniacal for mortal men. Still, this results in some rather comedic scenes which serve as the only enjoyable parts of the play. For example, instead of Theseus asking Poseidon to attack Hippolytus, he sends his own bulldog (my favorite character) out to go and nearly bite the actor’s leg off on stage.
While Hippolytus details how the wheels of fate had corrupted the psyches of tragically devoted characters, Phaedra: Threat or Menace dodges these complications in favor of making a shallow political statement on the consequences of false rape accusations.
Let’s hope that their next play, Oedipus Sex and the City, leaves a better taste in my mouth.