Under the Curse

IT IS CLEAR THAT, IF THE PLAY IS TO LIVE, it must live largely off the dialogue, and that the dialogue has to be based on psychological tensions which are recognisable as part of our modern life. The production of Goethe’s play has to guarantee that the plot gathers momentum and that the tension mounts to an almost unbearable degree for Iphigenie when she sings the song of the fates at the end of Act Four. Faced with the dilemma of betraying Thoas or destroying the Greeks, tempted to despair of the gods – to curse them an accept that her family is cursed – Iphigenie is a breaking point. This is no cold, marble statue, Greek or otherwise.