Tron, Glasgow
A Greek chorus of narrators exploits Seamus Heaney's robust text for every bit of its narrative drive in this dramatic reading
A Greek chorus of narrators exploits Seamus Heaney's robust text for every bit of its narrative drive in this dramatic reading
Grendel is dead. Beowulf is victorious. The mood is of celebration and so, in Seamus Heaney's taut and muscular adaptation, King Hrothgar calls for a bard to commemorate the defeat of the monster. What is needed, he says, is a work that links "a new theme to a strict metre".
It is the observance of Heaney's own strict metre that distinguishes Lynne Parker's consummate staging of this Old English poem. Billed as a dramatic reading, her austere, controlled and gripping production splits the text between Helen McAlpine, Lorraine McIntosh and Anita Vettesse, a Greek chorus in muted greys who strike every syllable with urgent authority.
Continue reading...
