ALCESTIS REVISITED
Alcestis Revisited
by Svarupa
Directed by Svarupa
Cast
Alcestis: Agnesz Hoekstra
King Admetus: Matthew Carney
Phares: Ken Kitchen
Minstrel: Brandon Grantham
Apollo: Benjamin Keaton
Hercules: Paddy O'Connell
Thanatos: Terrence Sinclair
Alesia: Annika Groeneveld
Delia: Katie Webster
Milos: Michael Williams
Atropos: Laura Gallagher
Lachesis: Beenish Tufail
Clotho: Deirdre Diamond
Elder: Johan Muller
Crew
John Ricker, Peter Hubbard, Giorgi Rossi, Lawrence Bailey, Harald Seiwart
About the Play
Greece, 500 BC. Everything is going good. The Sun is Shining. It’s always shining in 500 BC. Greece
But then Death walks on the scène. He has come to collect the young, very arrogant King Admetus. The young, very arrogant Apollo who is a friend of the Royal Family strongly objects and storms off to try and persuade his Sisters (the 3 beautiful) Fates that they should change the King’s destiny and let him LIVE! A bargain is struck and he may live if someone volunteers to take his place.
“A piece of cake,” thinks the King ….But it seems no one is ready to step up for that honor…until his beloved wife, Alcestis unselfishly gives her life for his. This of course puts the cat amongst the pigeons and King Admetus loses what little respect he had left. Just in time the Hero Hercules unexpectedly shows up and being a Hero decides to battle Death for the life of Alcestis. What happens then is as much a surprise today as it was in 500 BC.
This is our variation on Euripides' play. He picked his version up from a travelling actor and changed the legend and characters around to suit what he wanted to say. We do the same with this comic-tragic plot using both humor and pathos to create a script for our time that both actors and audience can get their teeth into.
