PHAEDRAS BATTLES
According to Euripides, Seneca and Racine
By Gabriele Schelle & Elisabeth Moll
premiere
Premiere:
08.06.2005
K
Cultural Center Hansastrasse 48, Kiel
Resumptions:
Hamburg Speech Work
,
Theater Tiefrot Cologne
Festival:
International Monodrama Festival VIDLUNNYA Kiev/Ukraine 2007
International Festival ARMMONO Yerevan/Armenia 2007
International Festival FYRO Bitola/Macedonia 2008
International Festival MONOAKT Peja/Kosovo 2009 MEDIA AWARDInternational Monodrama Festival MONOBALTIJA Kaunas/Lithuania
Awards:
Media Award International Monodrama Festival MonoAKT Kosovo
Phaedra: The story of the woman who falls in love with her stepson, is rejected by him and, out of revenge, accuses him of rape. The consequence that she willingly accepts: the death of her lover and her own death.
The texts by Euripides, Seneca and Racine serve as the source material for "Phaedra's Battles". Through the adaptations of the various authors, the story develops from an inner struggle between the power of love and the desire to preserve honor (Euripides) to a description of the excesses of a ruler (Seneca) to a highly emotional love drama of a rejected woman (Racine). We have developed a text that places the conflict within the character and deals with her conflict between desire and reason, norms and the desire for freedom. A woman who knows about rules and norms, but, driven by her passion, ruthlessly ignores the conventions. In doing so, she directs her desire at an unattainable object of desire and thereby drags him and herself into the abyss.
Director:
Constance Ullmer
Text/Concept:
Elisabeth Moll, Gabriele Schelle
Music:
"I'd do anything for love (but I won't do that)" Meat Loaf
Stage:
Constance Ullmer
With:
Gabriele Schelle
Cultural Center Hansastr. 48, Kiel
Hamburg Speech Work
Theater Tiefrot Cologne
International Monodrama Festival VIDLUNNYA Kiev/Ukraine 2007
International Festival ARMMONO Yerevan/Armenia 2007
International Festival FYRO Bitola/Macedonia 2008
International Festival MONOAKT Peja/Kosovo MEDIA AWARD 2009
International Monodrama Festival MONOBALTIJA Kaunas/Lithuania 2011
LINKS
Critical Stages
International Theatre Institute ITI
“I was surprised by the ability of the director and actress to create an absolutely new space, an experiment with the permanent form [...]. The elements of context are losing their importance, because the rules of the game are being changed by the actress's concentrated state of mind and body. The character becomes the actress."
"Some Polish spectator, getting a drop of 'blood' on his white bootee, was shocked and pronounced the play "feminist performance."
"The director of performance Konstanze Ullmer and the author of the concept Elisabeth Moll told the story of Phädra without indulging to the stylistics of the contemporary German theatre, but found authentic ways [...]. Phaedra`s Dreams reminds of Orestea by Michael Thalheimer, produced in Deutsches Theater Berlin, that was brought to Vilnius in the framework of festival 'Sirenos' program in 2008."
Daiva Sabaseviciene,
Menufactura, Festival Lihuania, Monobaltija
"The abandonment and the struggle to suppress all this were wonderfully brought to the stage by Gabriele Schelle. Although she spoke German, there was great communication with the audience."
Ardianë Pajaziti, for the newspaper Zerï, Monodrama Festival MonoAKT, Kosovo
“Gabriele Schelle shone in the monodrama Phaedra’s Battles.”
Kiel News
