Desire Under the Elms is a retelling of the story of Phaedra and Hippolytus, in which the young wife of an old cock-of-the-walk (a King in the original story, a farmer in this version) falls in love with her stepson. Phaedra does the honorable thing and, having been rejected by Hippolytus, does away with herself. In Eugene O'Neill's distinctive and tragic reframing of the story in American redneck country, she does away with her child. It's unbearably moving.
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| Farmer wiles |
The modern (1924) Hippolytus is Eben. We meet him on the family's New England farm. His much older twin brothers are dozy dreamers. He's a bit of lummox, but harbours big ambitions. Stealing his father's savings, he buys his brothers out of their share of the family farm, just as their horny and hoary old dad returns home with Abbie, a spiky young blonde half his age who immediately takes ownership of their home.
Saddled with the old, cold and fearful Ephraim for a husband, Abbie soon starts making eyes at her thwarted, resentful, immature stepson. When her feral advances are ultimately reciprocated, the stage is literally set for tragedy - the rooms of the house made up of a series individual boxes pushed in and out of position, creating airless, low-ceilinged, claustrophobic hutches, in direct contrast to the wide open spaces outside. Sean Holmes' production steadily gathers momentum, tipping you over the edge with the lightest of touches.
In conclusion: Finbar Lynch is a brilliant Ephraim, Morgan Watkins - last seen at the Lyric in another play about infanticide, Edward Bond's
Saved - is a gauche and angry Eben, and Denise Gough sizzles as the tough, love-hungry Abbie.
References
Lyric Hammersmith,
tickets
Ian Shuttleworth review in the Financial Times
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