Brittanicus
at C (Venue 34), Edinburgh

Andrew Chippindale

Aside from the obvious point that it is hard enough to get people to come to see your new translation of any neo-classical French tragedy (even if they have heard of it), it is quite strange that James Noyes decided to let Brittanicus stand as its title.

Both the translation and the direction of the play centre not on Brittanicus, but around the eponymous hero's brother, Nero. The Nero of Brittanicus is as great a tragic hero for modern times as Richard III or Coriolanus, following as he does in a great tradition of Macheivellian, mother-fixated villains, whose seductive appeal to the audience creates that dimension of moral difficulty which serves to keep alive the relevance of the questions the play forces you to ask. Young Jordan Frieda's Nero is an excellent stab at portraying the mass of contradictions of this raging, powerful but spineless emperor.

Agrippina, Nero's mother - a beautifully spoken performance by Joanna Bending - has set her son on the Imperial Roman Throne through her seduction of the previous two Emperors, with the effect that Brittanicus, the natural heir, has been displaced by his half brother. As the play opens, Nero has been turned against his mother, through a failure of her designs, and become the pawn of the scheming Narcissus. It is ultimately Narcissus who directs the whim of the weak-willed Emperor against his brother using Nero's infatuation with Britannicus' sweetheart Junie. Nero has her abducted and is trying to seduce her, yet his obsession seems to stem from a need to destroy her lover rather than from any actual desire on his own part.

James Noyes' new translation is a remarkably elegant bit of writing, well served by a highly professional production. Director Alex Winckler, with his cast, has achieved an admirable level of clarity. However, a little of its splendour could have been sacrificed for a touch more humanity. As it stands, the world of the play feels at times a little too cold and remote to wholly immerse its audience.