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Gill Nathanson and Bill Buffery, from the multi story theatre
company in Barnstaple, England, have consistently brought
challenging plays - often modern restagings of classical
stories - to the fringe circuit.
This year they are
doing Cassandra, an elegantly brutal version of the life
of the Trojan priestess whose fate was to foresee the
future and have her prophecies ignored. Nathanson's
inhabitation of the title character is a wonder to watch,
as is the quicksilver way that Buffery slips from the
role of Cassandra's fated brother to her fateful lover
and abductor. Their performances are so seductive they
almost mask the dark message of Buffery's script: it is
impossible to tell the civilized man from the barbarian.
The play was written in the aftermath of Sept. 11, and its
red and grey tones are a perfect palette for a world in
which ash has covered over blood. In one section, Buffery
pronounces a whirlwind speech incorporating phrases from
an actual address given by George W. Bush. Initially they
sound right, but ultimately ring hollow. Cassandra is the
most nihilistic play this gifted pair of actors has yet
performed at a Winnipeg Fringe Festival.
Robert Enright, Globe & Mail
You may remember Gill and Bill from Messing With Medea and
Earthly Delights. This play is inspired by the story of
Cassandra, the Trojan priestess whose doom-laden
prophecies were ignored. On a spartan stage with
carefully placed spotlights, the story is masterfully
told as Gill draws you in to the visions of Cassandra.
Bill, who plays Cassandra's father's servant, her
brother, and the man in her dreams, slides smoothly from
character to character as they influence and manipulate
Cassandra. This is a beautifully acted play and will
surely be one of the critics favourites for the Fringe.
Ken Gordon CBC Winnipeg
The lighting here is remarkable. Manipulated by the actors it imparts a true sense of the spiritual
realm. Combined with the strong performances and story flow, it makes
Cassandra a must-see play.
Jon Waldman Winnipeg Sun
The dark, willowy Nathanson performs as though the
ill-fated priestess was conceived by the gods
with her in mind.
Morley Walker Winnipeg Free Press
Again, Nathanson and Buffery display their charged chemistry as
Buffery assumes the roles of all the men in the play. He
easily slips between characters, with each doing his best
to contain Cassandra's mind or her body.
CBC Manitoba
Filling in the holes.
With Cassandra, Bill Buffery and Gill Nathanson continue to theatrically deconstruct Greek myth.
In such productions as last year's Earthly Delights and the memorable Medea, they have probed the ancient tales of Greece to find the age-old power of the stories and the aftershocks they set up in our own times.
The two, who write and direct their own material, illuminate their chronicles with intelligence and theatricality. The approach is spare - there are no wasted movements or empty ideas. And they are marvellous actors.
In Cassandra they use the myth of the daughter of the King of Troy whose blessing is the ability to see the future and whose curse is not to be believed.
This is probably the most contemporary of their plays. They use the myth as a commentary on society that has as much to do with 9/11 as with the machinations of ancient Greece. Here there are meditations on the nature of power, truth and trust, our suspicions and misunderstanding of people who don't share our beliefs, how war brutalizes all and, in a particularly telling observation, how we have sacrificed our own heroes and gods on the altar to economic benefit. The great war that brings down mighty Troy is fought over the imposition of a tax on wine.
Or perhaps it might engage you on the simpler plane of the old sci-fi conundrum - if you forecast an event, have you then set in motion forces that will cause it to happen?
It doesn't take much to hear the words of the war on terror (and the terrorists themselves) in speeches like "The barbarians scorn the freedoms we hold most dear" or "We wage war to save civilization itself." In fact, some of the dialogue is taken directly from the speeches of U.S. President George W. Bush. The play might as well end with Osama bin Laden and Bush screaming "barbarian" at each other across the gulf of misunderstanding.
This is not an easy work to understand and there are times when you are not sure what it's getting at. But that's part of the experience.
The two keep firing ideas and images at their audiences and letting us fill in the holes. We all come away from Cassandra with different, but probably valid, perspectives.
However, I don't want to give the impression that Cassandra is either impenetrable or a veiled lecture. It is intense, challenging and involving theatre presented by two performers who are in complete command of their medium.
Leave time when this one is over - you'll want to think about it. Or consider seeing it twice.
Colin Maclean, Edmonton Sun & CBC
