Oxford, England, UK
Red Bull Theater’s Sardanapalus & Global Watch Party Review
By Ali Sami Sezgin
Of everything Byron, the parts that are the least familiar to me are his contributions to the closet drama – to which, I suppose, Sardanapalus belongs no longer thanks to K-SAA, strictly against Byron’s wishes! I was astonished by how strongly Byron’s poetry and psychological representation comes across in a performance that was never meant to be. The excellent actors at the Loreto Theater and their director deserve all due credit for those.
Sardanapalus is a historical tragedy in five acts, detailing the reign of the last Assyrian king and revealing exactly why he was the last Assyrian king. Some of the most interesting things about it include the representations of an utterly distant historical time and place during a time in the 19th century. Orientalism was rapidly becoming the trend in England then. Sardanapalus himself is an unusual ruler, full of self-awareness and self-criticism, yet simultaneously steadfast in his beliefs and his lifestyle despite the opposition he faces from his ailing kingdom. For what reason does he do that? That’s what the play explores.
This is where the cast and crew at the Loreto Theater (spearheaded by director Raz Golden and Omar F. Miranda) step in to bring the play to life, quite literally. The play depends on the chemistry between its thrifty set of characters to indicate the atmosphere of an entire kingdom. For my money, the actors were superb, especially within the context of their very quick rehearsal schedule and the complete lack of (almost) any props, sound, lighting…
Amir Arison plays Sardanapalus as a very nuanced ruler who struggles to break down the binary boundary between pacifism and responsibility. He struggles under the weight of his kingdom’s expectations and his feeling of love, and eventually collapses – though perhaps in his own terms! The rest of the cast is great. Sanjit De Silva is Salemenes, Sardanapalus’ advisor, who in my opinion is the life of the party. He is staunchly honest and sincere and is aware of his king’s grievances, and yet he is also utterly pragmatical about what the king must do for his kingdom for it to prosper and satisfy the expectations of its people.
The other character that forms the great trifecta is Myrrha, a Greek slave girl, the object (or person! The distinction is an important one to make in the play) of Sardanapalus’ highest affection, and the character through which Sardanapalus’ pacifism and altruism – all against his expected roles of kingship, of course – manifest. Myrrha is a multifaceted person and the only other character in the play to deliver her own soliloquies besides the king. She communicates differently with different people (including the audience), and her character brings with her otherness as a foreigner a different perspective on faith, ancestral tradition, and government, which are all things Sardanapalus contends with and sorely needs a fresh outlook on.
I’m guessing the subtitles provided by the Red Bull Theater were not manually transcribed word-for-word – although I don’t think this was an issue of major detraction. The actors enunciated very well and knew exactly when to turn their pages to best heighten the drama and the eloquence of their communication, as if part of an orchestra. Sardanapalus’ defiance to the end is either inspiring or stupid, and characters of the play offer ideas that support both theses. It really is up to the audience and the professional discussion with one another, and themselves.
