A simple stage and modern casual wear looked incompatible with each other in this 17th century French neo-classical masterpiece. Yet this arrangement allowed the audience to concentrate on the powerful lighting effects, and the intensively emotional performance that was accompanied by the dramatic effect created by Bach’s cello music. Unfortunately, this stunning idea heightened the expectation of the audience to an unachievable level and amplified the result of the mismatch.
The greatest challenge for the performers was to unveil the hidden passion from each of the characters, especially the title character Phaedra, and make the audience to feel the pain of their psychological turmoil. This is an arduous task even for the most experienced performers. Many confrontations between characters happened at the side stage, and powerful voices were crucial to project the tension.
These expressions were, however, buried in the back of the performers, testing the audience’s tolerance in feeling their hidden emotions in the dark! Phaedra, the presumed granddaughter of the sun, ran into a perverse dilemma by falling in love with her stepson. This important reason behind the agony of Phaedra was slipped away in one of her lines without drawing much attention from the audience.
The dramatic effect the director intended to create was quite impossible to achieve for the student performers from the very beginning. Since the meticulous arrangement was not tailor-made for the target performers, it could not fit the expectation of the audience as well. The mismatch on the part of performers inevitably translated to the disappointment of the audience.
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