Polis and Panathenaea | Flaming Carnations & Anywhere Festival
Flaming Carnations’ production of Polis and Panathenaea for the 2023 Anywhere Festival was a sensory work of promenade theatre in which powerful women from ancient Greece try to reclaim their agency.
Set in South Bank’s VENTSpace, the warehouse-like venue was already brimming with its own ambience, which was only added to by the spectacular and atmospheric set design similar to that of companies like Australia’s Broad Encounters and UK’s Punchdrunk.
Written and directed by Georgia McKenzie, the work explored the narratives of five women of Greek Tragedies – Medea (Roxane Gardiner), Clytemnestra (Hannah Flannery), Phaedra (Grace Lofting), Medusa (Eli Free) and Antigone (Sereima Caldwell) through a modern feminist lens; telling their stories from their perspectives and not from that of a man’s.
The space was divided into each femme fatale’s quarters, with the attention to detail with each and every prop, dressing, light, and small touches reflecting the character’s story, personality, and internal struggles. In the middle of the space was a stage of sorts, which we, the audience, imagined that all characters would gather on for the final scene of the work; as is the case with most site-specific, promenade performances. However, this was not a direction that McKenzie wished to take.
Performance stand outs included Gardiner’s portrayal of Medea and Free’s of Medusa. As Medea Gardiner was both sexy and sociopathic as she detailed her historically misunderstood relationship with motherhood. Free’s physicality as Medusa slithered and snaked, as could only be appropriate for her character. I would have loved for Free’s movement piece at the start of her act to have had a longer duration; as the way Free contorted her limbs was an impressive and captivating feat.
Whilst McKenzie’s script is generally strong, and each of the monologues had their individual strengths, the script had a lack of finesse in the pacing that effected the impact of some of the pieces. An example of this was Flannery’s monologue as Clytemnestra which reached a powerful crescendo only to continue on for a few more minutes without making any necessary points that justified its increased length. Similarly, Lofting’s act as Phaedra included (spoilers) a reading of a storybook which failed to feel anything more than a gimmick. However, when the writing does it hit, it hits pretty hard, particularly when Medusa chooses to remove her serpent hair as an act of defiance yet continues to act snake like once she retreats back under her veil. A few reworks and some more dramaturgical feedback before the next run would ensure that the work delivers the full impact of McKenzie’s words.
Polis and Pantheneaia gives parts of history the makeover they need, if we only we had the chance to turn back time.
