Adapting Racine's classic, Andromaque, based on the Greek myth, Craig Raine imagined that in place of Greeks and Trojans, the Axis powers and the Allies were battling, with losers and victors reversed. In the year of the play's title, a radio blasts "The British Empire is dead!" General Von Orestes acts as Hitler's secret envoy to Rome to return to Berlin - and certain death - the imprisoned son of Lady Annette LeSkye and the late English king, and to persuade Vittorio Mussolini to marry German Princess Ira. But Vittorio dotes on Lady Annette to the point of risking Hitler's threat of war should he be disobeyed, and Orestes himself is infatuated with Ira.
(How fitting that "Embraceable You" is the background music. This kind of ironic humor, along with all scenes being performed alternately in French and English languages with complementary sensibilities, relieves this production from being too dense.)
A tripartite set, with left and right stages often presenting mirror images, allows most action to hold the center. Similarly, Clara McBride plays three characters who announce, get general information and explain; whereas Fabienne Thayen's Kate receives crucial confidences only from Lady Annette.
The differences in the two seductions of Orestes (good guy who can't help himself in Eddie Crew's version; torn and brooding in Sven Seguess') highly amuse. Nadia Van de Ven's statuesque Ira is assertive and deliberate in voice and movement. Purring Beatrice Bonnaudeau slinks up to Orestes, wraps her legs around him and sheds a veil or two. As for Annette, Eloisa De Laurentiis plays her seemingly close to home as a strong-minded English Lady, whereas Julie Quesnay appears frailer physically but parentally and morally every bit as committed. Staging the murder scenes simultaneously, with Vittorios in full dress uniforms and Annettes in white satin, makes them bloodily effective, illustrating literally the company's desire to add "new colours to a classical tragedy."
World-Wide Act's primary goal is to develop multilingual performances. Publicity for 1953 noted that the show would integrate surtextual translations - an idea not realized but worth exploring in the future. Presenting everything twice isn't totally successful, as a few times this adds annoying length. Yet, for a classic, the whole experience glides by relatively quickly and cleverly, without sacrificing meaning or credibility.
