Goethe apparently thought that Heinrich von Kleist’s Penthesilea was ‘unplayable’. Had he seen this production by International Theatre Amsterdam – directed and adapted by Eline Arbo – I’m not sure he’d have changed his mind. Kleist’s dramatic, tragic take on the tale of the eponymous queen of the Amazons is a bizarre fever dream of a play, given a rock and roll makeover by Arbo.
This story about a race of warrior women in a male-dominated world – one character scorns the ‘unnatural’ Amazons for going against nature’s intention that men should be strong and women gentle – lends itself perfectly to an exploration of gendered expectation. The gender fluid costumes and casting engage the audience directly in this discourse.
However, beyond this timely theme, it is almost impossible to know what to make of the resulting two hours. At its best, it is powerful and moving, strongest when Ilke Paddenburg and Jesse Mensah are given space to explore the deadly relationship between the Amazon queen and her antagonist/lover, the Greek hero Achilles. They stalk each other around the stark stage, prowling in and out of the shadows with menacing intent.
Paddenburg as Penthesilea is a punchy, powerful presence, a fierce and capricious contrast to Mensah’s lithe, sardonic Achilles. Their first proper meeting is delightfully done, full of all the endearing awkwardness of a school disco. In these more restrained moments, their chemistry is sparkling. However, the more frenetically sexual and savage their interactions become, the less compelling their dynamic.
As the sex and violence – integral to Kleist’s original and maxed out by Arbo and her leads – ramp up and begin to merge, the play delivers some of its most striking moments, and also its most ridiculous. The death of Achilles is a brutal watch, until it goes on too long and just becomes faintly silly. Even more laughable is a sex scene that is presumably supposed to be messily erotic, but instead calls to mind nothing so much as 90s kids TV show Get Your Own Back and its tank of gunge.
Some of the music works well, with haunting harmonies overlaid by Eefje Paddenburg’s (Antilochus) soaring voice. The use of contemporary pop songs is more hit and miss – Cutting Crew’s (I Just) Died in Your Arms draws a laugh, while Joy Division’s She’s Lost Control is much too on the nose. Like the music, the tone of the production is uneven, stumbling slightly on its journey from self-serious to knowingly comic.
The staging, too, is effective in parts. Instruments, props and lighting appear and disappear into the flyspace in hypnotic fashion. Rigid metal structures sometimes frame the characters, turning them into classical statues enclosed in niches. However, from the stalls, much of the most effective staging is invisible or unclear, and only really seen by those up in the balconies.
This production of Penthesilea is one of contradictions, with scenes that will live long in the memory for both right and wrong reasons. Although genuinely savage at points, it is not as shocking as it is maybe intended to be. At its best it is a powerful meditation on masculinity and femininity, sex and death and the fine lines in between. Its just a shame its best moments are so fleeting.
Directed and adapted by Eline Arbo after Heinrich von Kleist
Performed At: The Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh
Cast: Daphne Agten, Marieke Heebink, Maarten Heijmans, Maria Kraakman, Jesse Mensah, Ilke Paddenburg, Eefje Paddenburg, Felix Schellekens, Steven Van Watermeulen
Running time: 2 hours, no interval
Tuesday 6 August, 14:30 and 19:30