Classical Mythology

CLASSICAL MYTHOLOGY IN MUSIC, DANCE, AND FILM 753

modern vision. One of the finest productions of all three Theban plays of Sopho-
cles (Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus, and Antigone) was done for BBC Tele-
vision, in a new translation by the director Don Taylor, with a cast that includes
John Gielgud, Claire Bloom, and Anthony Quayle, all of whom are superb. A
movie version of Antigone, written and directed by George Tzavellas, in Greek
with English subtitles, has the incomparable Irene Papas in the title role as its
greatest strength. A production of Jean Anouilh's Antigone for Great Performances
on PBS Television, starring Genevieve Bujold, Stacy Keach, and Fritz Weaver,
may be obtained from Broadway Theatre Archive. Antigone: Rites of Passion, a
powerful movie by Amy Greenfield, adds a wonderful dimension of music and
dance to the drama.
Not to be ignored is Oedipus Wrecks, one of three short films included in the
movie New York Stories, directed by and starring Woody Allen, about a fifty-
year-old neurotic lawyer tormented by the specter of his nagging mother.

THE ORESTEIA

An unusual production of Aeschylus' Oresteia, by the National Theatre of Great
Britain, directed by Peter Hall, employs both a new rhyming translation by Tony
Harrison and the stylized use of masks; although in many ways dramatically in-
tense and well worth seeing, the overall conception verges at times on the mo-
notonous. Of historic and histrionic importance is the movie version (1947) of Eu-
gene O'Neill's American Oresteia, Mourning Becomes Plectra, particularly for the
performances (very much in the grand manner) of Katina Paxinou and Michael
Redgrave, but Rosalind Russell is miscast as Electra. A production of the play for
Great Performances on PBS Television, starring Bruce Davison, Joan Hackett, and
Roberta Maxwell is fortunately available from The Broadway Theatre Archive.
The Italian director Pier Paolo Pasolini recounts his preparations for a film made
in Africa of a modern version of the Oresteia (which he never lived to complete)
in Notes for an African Orestes; he documented local rituals and searched local vil-
lages in Uganda and Tanzania for likely candidates and situations for the filming.
This is a study of specialized interest, to be sure, even though it attempts, not al-
ways successfully, to illuminate many parallels between political and social issues
in the ancient trilogy and those of Africa in the twentieth century.

ORPHEUS
Among the more significant treatments of ancient mythology are modern
retellings of the Orpheus legend. The problematic but arresting play Orpheus De-
scending, by Tennessee Williams, has become a noteworthy film (under the title
The Fugitive Kind), thanks to its stars, Marlon Brando, Anna Magnani, Joanne
Woodward, Maureen Stapleton, and Victor Jory. The words of Marlon Brando
in the brief opening scene of the movie speak volumes. The name of this