Ajax, a mythical Greek hero and protagonist of a Sophocles’ play written circa 450BC. What a cool premise for a piece of contemporary theatre. The programmes on our seats went big. They braced me to be interrogated and challenged to question my capability to deal with the effect of violence so common in society today via explosive and visceral physical theatre. So when it was all a bit disjointed and mushy, I sat there reminding myself of the Ajax story I knew from high school in order to keep up.
Theatre Rheo has real talent and big ambition but they are not shown in their best light here.
Ajax was a thoroughly competent performance of a muddled narrative that lacked clarity and cohesion. From where I was sat (in the audience, bang centre), I could totally see what they were aiming to do – present an ancient Greek myth to a 21st century audience in a multifaceted and accessible way. Both Mimi Findlay and Susanna Hook are obviously very talented; their use of movement, vocal arrangements, and good old-fashioned acting is very impressive. But they did so much in 45 minutes almost section-by-section, discipline-by-discipline; it ended up a bit of a half-baked jigsaw. You can see a beautiful and intellectually stimulating picture in there somewhere, but I left not quite knowing what it was. Rather than provoking thought, it just left a bit of pap.
There are moments of real innovation in Ajax. The moment Mimi first transforms into her Ajax characterization was very powerful, the deterioration of the human condition/soul was evident and the rare moments when the two performers gave the audience their eyes and allowed us in were striking. I would argue those occasions don’t have to be so sparse.
Obviously Theatre Rheo has real talent and big ambition but they are not shown in their best light here. I can’t help but think basic storytelling has been sacrificed in the devising of this piece and I’m not sure what it was replaced with.
