Isabelle Huppert Returns to BAM in PHAEDRA(S) Tonight

Isabelle Huppert stars as the mythic queen in Phaedra(s), a postmodern reimagining of the Greek legend, featuring text from Sarah Kane, Wajdi Mouawad, and J.M. Coetzee, Sep 13-18 at BAM.

Isabelle Huppert returns to BAM as the doomed queen Phaedra, a woman grappling with an incestuous desire for her stepson. Polish director Krzysztof Warlikowski weaves together multiple versions and variations of the Greek myth of Phaedra, offering a radical reconstruction of this tragic tale. The play's text is composed of excerpts from Phaedra's Love by British playwright Sarah Kane (itself a modern adaptation of Seneca's Phaedra) and J. M. Coetzee's novel Elizabeth Costello, as well as original writing developed in collaboration with Lebanese-Canadian playwright Wajdi Mouawad.

The shape-shifting queen is cast as a vengeful goddess, an exotic dancer, and an aging scholar.
In Euripides' Phaedra, Aphrodite appears in person to announce Phaedra's fate as a collateral victim of the goddess' hatred for Hippolytus. Mouawad reimagines this prologue, casting the queen as Aphrodite herself, drunk with love and spite. Kane's Phaedra exists in a godless world, driven to drastic measures by a hollow Hippolytus and his unquenchable thirst for obscene transgressions. The final Phaedra, inspired by Coetzee, has lost everything, including her name. She is now Professor Elizabeth Costello, delivering a witty and insightful lecture on Greek myths and sex.

Ma?gorzata Szcz??niak's stark set of glass chambers and close-up projections magnifies the action onstage, allowing the carnal triptych to drift between these varied worlds. Its bare walls are occasionally covered with faces and bodies, but the rooms remain cold and clinical. Warlikowski's production presents a graphic theatrical collage and Huppert's performance of "astonishingly uninhibited physicality" (The Guardian) melds these fractured visions, offering a startling postmodern look at a mythic figure.

IF YOU GO:

Phaedra(s) US Premiere
After Sarah Kane, Wajdi Mouawad, and J. M. Coetzee
Directed by Krzysztof Warlikowski
Odéon-Théâtre de l'Europe

Dramaturgy by Piotr Gruszczy?ski
Set and costume design by Ma?gorzata Szcz??niak
Lighting design by Felice Ross
Music by Pawe? Mykietyn
Video design by Denis Guéguin
Choreography by Claude Bardouil and Rosalba Torres Guerrero
Makeup and hair design by Sylvie Cailler and Jocelyne Milazzo
Additional music composed by Bruno Helstroffer
Sound design by Thierry Jousse

At BAM Harvey Theater (651 Fulton St)
Sep 13-17 at 7:00pm; Sep 18 at 3pm
Tickets start at $30

In French with English titles

Talk: Phaedra Interpreted
A program of the Brooklyn Book Festival
Sep 18 at 11am, Borough Hall Courtroom (209 Joralemon St)
Free

Photo by Pascal Victor

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