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The Elagabalia

The Elagabalia explores the idea of where we all belong as people. Whether we are in the right body or not, or whether we are truly serving our purpose no matter which era we are in. We meet Varia - a teenage girl who seems to be trapped in the body of a weak Roman emperor, confused as to where she truly fits in. As a man, they could truly follow the calling of traditional greatness. As a woman, they could be one of the best High Priestesses in the world. But can they also have a romantic life alongside their rather difficult position power wise, as well as be their most authentic self?

The Elagabalia explores the idea of where we all belong as people

Whilst the concept is good, the issue that occurs here is that it seems to cram so much into one hour, that it becomes almost chaotic and too intense to properly follow. Some of the characters are not as well formed as they could be, such as the almost God-like figure that is silently present throughout the whole piece, watching Varia make some atrocious mistakes, yet challenges them to ascertain their loyalties to the senate. It doesn't seem clear until nearer the end what the purpose of this character is. Alongside this, The Elagabalia as a piece of writing seems confusing as to which era it is set in. The costumes are modern, the language and events are modern, yet the places and names referred to are more traditional in placement; such as taverns and the Senate.

One way of exploring this idea in more detail to potentially make it more palatable is to turn it into a film. Whilst theatre is a great way to make certain things more interesting in a smaller space such as The Actors Theatre, on this occasion it seems to intensify the action on a grander scale than it needs to due to the shortness of the piece. By turning it into a film, Achy Bits Productions would have more scope to expand the story and explore all these interesting themes in more detail.

There are however two characters that particularly stand out which makes this play more interesting to watch. Firstly, Varia's grandmother, who despite being a more traditional grandmother figure on the outside, comes across as a more ruthless, political figure controlling the puppet strings. Her calm and collected approach gives a more rounded contrast to Varia's chaotic mindset, that we question who the real manipulative ruler is here. Then we see Varia's lover Heracles, who is originally bought as a slave for pure pleasure. The simplicity in the delivery of the performance of this role brings a sense of power over Varia's madness. The love you feel here is raw and in the present rather than being an archetype of a lover one can expect from a piece like this.

The Elagabalia has potential to be developed further and is right now particularly suitable for audiences who want to be introduced to Greek Tragedy and Comedy in a different way.

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Reviews by Sascha Cooper

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Performances

Location

The Blurb

You. You there. You are Emperor of Rome. You are the twinkest of them all. You hang upon the wall. (Like Sarah Kane. (You wish.)) You are a woman. You are ahead of your time, ahead of all time. You serve him above, Elagabalus, the god by whose name you will be forever remembered as the most disgusting of all Roman Emperors. Yes, worse than Caligula the bollock-chewer, Nero the mother-shagger-killer, worse even than that limp pontificate Marcus Aurelius. ‘They say he lived an unbelievably disgusting life.’ (Some dullard on the internet.) ‘The worst of Emperors, he took to the taverns in lipstick and wigs and plied the trade of the lowest women.’ (Some dead cis-het white boy.) ‘Zoticus, the charioteer slave, was another husband of this woman.’ Dio, a CONTEMPORARY SOURCE. Meet Varia. She’s a teenage girl TRAPPED IN THE BODY of the twinkiest Roman Emperor there ever darn was. She’s really quite mentally ill.
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