University of Melbourne
Red Bull Theater’s Sardanapalus & Global Watch Party Review
By Miranda Stanyon
Pageant Power
On a mild spring afternoon, Romanticists in English and Theatre Studies hosted a celebration of Byron’s Sardanapalus at the University of Melbourne. This Australian chapter of Red Bull Theatre’s ‘global viewing party’ had what might be called a chillout zone vibe, as staff and students drew breath at the end of the teaching semester, and turned their minds to higher and stranger things. Prof. Clara Tuite set the scene with an illustrated introduction, drawing the audience from Ninevah to Northern Italy, New York to Narrm (the traditional Woiworrung language name increasingly used for Melbourne). Clara underscored the cosmopolitan dimension of Byron’s return to an ancient story he had known since boyhood, including the way he radically rewrote his sources to encompass a love story between the Assyrian ‘she-king’ and a freedom-loving daughter of Greece. This is a plotline with particular resonances for audiences in Melbourne, a city that was home to one of the largest Greek communities outside Greece following WWII. (Here as elsewhere, commemorations of the Greek war of independence have intersected with bicentenary celebrations of Byron, most notably in the Hellenic Museum’s exhibition The Spirit of Byron.)
Prof. Tuite’s deft evocation of the multiple investments, topical allusions and legacies of Byron’s play provoked a string of conversations after the screening. Following the show, our audience defied looming austerity measures at the university – provoked by a new government cap on international students which no doubt would have appalled the idealistic cosmopolitans as well as the savvy financiers of Byron’s world – and repaired to the university club to raise the golden goblet thick with gems and feast upon cheese cubes and an assortment of vegan-friendly dips. Gathered under the club’s pavilion-like marquee were undergraduate and graduate students, professional staff, colleagues in art history, musicology, philosophy, literary studies and theatre studies, and members of the public. Conversations ranged from the contrast between Byron and Delacroix, to Byron and Italy, Near Eastern archaeology, Byron’s self-portraits, the ‘growth’ of Sardanapalus and Myrrha over the arc of the play, whether the play would benefit from a fully-staged production, the dignity and pathos of Shayvawn Webster (Myrrha), the party-boy charm and changeability of Amir Arison (Sardanapalus), and the Shakespearean gravitas of Sanjit de Silva (Salamenes). One attendee was sizing up the play for her reading group on long form poems. Another admitted that he had blown in out of curiosity, and, while he often nodded off during plays, had been riveted by the performance. Drawn to the contrast between the actors’ illuminated bodies and the dark stage behind them, his view was that a fully-staged production would have drawn focus from the unfolding plot and passionate performances. Hosting a viewing party at a university has all the risks and nerves of hosting a regular party – but the rewards were plain to see, and the reflections of the elusive man on the street were a testimony to the brilliant work of Red Bull Theatre, Omar F. Miranda and collaborators, and to the pulling power of Byron’s not so insubstantial pageant.
This event was made possible by the generous support of the English and Theatre Studies program and the School of Culture and Communication at the University of Melbourne.
