Grierson takes on Greek tragedy solo

Published on Thursday 20 March 2008 18:11

WHEN the Lazzi Experimental Arts Unit premiered their visceral and haunting Oresteia last year, it was described as "a visually stunning and challenging piece of theatre that seared its place in the mind."

Featuring award-winning Scottish actor Sandy Grierson in a solo performance, the production was an elegantly classical, yet astonishingly real, rendition of ancient Greek playwright Aeschylus' tragic trilogy Agamemnon, The Choephorae and The Furies.

In this adaptation, the hero, Orestes, appears before the audience – who double as his judges – to answer to the crime of matricide.

Grierson plays Orestes in an intense portrayal that tests the limits of physical performance and plunges audiences directly into Aeschylus' timeless themes of revenge, torture, guilt and justice.

For the duration of the 50- minute work, the actor must stand, arms raised and bent at the elbows, knees splayed and bent. A gruelling position he holds as the story unfolds.

Grierson who, unlike many of his contemporaries, did not go to drama school, studied privately with Lazzi director David WW Johnstone and award-winning Polish director Zofia Kalinska – both steeped in the theatre traditions of Eastern Europe.

Grierson says, "Our Oresteia is a one-person performance that on every level tries to make acting impossible. Sometimes in a one-man show, it's a case of watching a performer doing all sorts of different parts.

"We wanted to do something where I was simply in character all the way through, to take it back from being too much of an exercise in acting multiple characters.

"We wanted to keep the formality, the epic nature of the piece, even though it's a one-man show, evoke the scope that Greek tragedy has.

"The audience shares Orestes' distress on an uncomfortably real level. Perhaps what makes this piece unique is that not only are they asked to debate the guilt or innocence of the character – and the concept of morality itself – they must also question the boundary between the real and the portrayed in the actor's performance."

Johnstone adds, "Lazzi is concerned with redefining the possibilities of theatre. Whether working with comedy or tragedy, I like to ask the audience to experience a courageous experiment on the part of the performers.

"Sandy Grierson shares this thirst to go beyond expected limits, to delve into the raw and rough edges of theatre. We embrace the possibility of failure – but the process is a challenge we relish."

For Johnstone, the production is the realisation of a dream he has held for more than two decades.

"I've had the idea of a one-man Oresteia for more than 20 years. Originally I thought it was something I'd do myself, but other projects came along and procrast-ination took hold. Then I realised Sandy was the one to do it, he is the only person I know who could pull this off.

"I've worked with him constantly and seen him grow, I've put him through a lot of training similar to the training I had when I was his age.

"Oresteia is the perfect graduation project, it's quite difficult and demanding. I couldn't do this project, it would kill me, but Sandy can."

&#149 Oresteia, Traverse Theatre, Cambridge Street, next Thursday-Saturday, 8pm, 13, 0131-228 1404