College students bring Greek tragedy to life

     Film & Theatre

Commanding performances made Ridgeway College’s adaptation of a Greek myth a pleasure to watch.

Rape, mutilation, vengeance, borderline incest ... The Love of the Nightingale, performed last week at Ridgeway, had all the disturbing elements of a juicy Greek tragedy, with a tantalizing African twist. This modern take on a mythological story was written by English playwright Timberlake Wertenbarker and locally directed by Roshnee Guptar of Louis Trichardt for Ridgeway’s stage.

Ridgeway's cast, who won the 2015 Inter-schools Drama Festival recently, added enough of their own elements to make the myth their own.

The stage opens on two princess sisters, Procne (Tanaka Mapfumo) and Philomele (Joyce Khunoane), who confide in each other about men. Their lives are ripped apart when the war hero Tereus (Robert Waller) enters their lives and their father, King Pandlion (Masha Khomunala), gives Procne to him as wife. The female chorus, played by Yisha Raphael, Xintomane Mahange, Khanyi Mngomezulu, and Aphrodite (Hulisani Musekene) foretell of the waiting heartbreak.

Procne, far from her home in Tereus's homeland Thrace, soon pines for the companionship of her sister, which sees Tereus journeying by sea to bring Philomele to Thrace. Tereus becomes enchanted by his sister-in-law’s beauty, and enraged with jealousy to find her in the arms of the ship’s captain, he kills the captain and forces himself on Philomele.

This violent scene is brilliantly cushioned by the antics of the male chorus, lightening the mood, and moving the play along swiftly to the next scene, where the servant Niobe (Mpho Kutama) comforts Philomele.

Tereus cuts out Philomele's tongue because she refuses to stay quiet about happened to her. He keeps Philomele in Thrace, telling her that her sister has died. He also deceives Procne, by telling her that Philomele died at sea. Five more years pass, in which time Procne bears Tereus’s son. During a festival, which treats the audience to some local drum music, Philomele and Procne are reunited, and the truth is told.

They swore vengeance towards Tereus, and Procne kills her infant son, thus fulfilling the omens of the male and female chorus.

Finally the gods intervene, seeing Aphrodite return to the stage and transforming Procne into a swallow, Tereus into a hoopoe and Philomele into a nightingale.

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Entertainment - Date: 29 April 2015

Isabel Venter

Isabel joined the Zoutpansberger and Limpopo Mirror in 2009 as a reporter. She holds a BA Degree in Communication Sciences from the University of South Africa. Her beat is mainly crime and court reporting.

Email: [email protected]