By Venus Zarris

Lookingglass Theatre delivers a visually pleasing but dramatically underwhelming World Premiere of Fedra: Queen of Haiti. Playwright J. Nicole Brooks has reimaged the Greek myth Phaedra to play as a sophomorically shallow melodrama, resembling a television After School Special rendition of a very adult story.

Phaedra is a character that has captured the devastation of unrequited desire, perhaps more completely than any other written for the stage, but Fedra never musters enough believable maturity to convince us of anything more than petulance and egotism.

The lack of dramatic depth and the lack of believable chemistry between most of the characters render the production emotionally flat. There is no nuance. You never feel that their lives and stories existed prior to the lights going up and the dialogue beginning. The production values are lovely but the appropriately vivid color schemes coupled with the two-dimensional characterizations create a staged cartoon. It’s fun to watch but you don’t believe it.

Fedra’s husband, King Theseus, goes missing after a plane crash. There is jockeying for the throne in the midst of the subsequent political turmoil. Fedra is grief stricken and unmotivated to vie for the position but her manipulative handmaiden, Enone, convinces her that she must take over the country. Fedra’s stepson, Prince Hippolytus, is gaining popularity but is more concerned with his father’s fate. In the midst of the upheaval, the Goddess Afrodite casts a vicious spell on Fedra causing her to fall madly in love and lust with her stepson. Fedra can’t contain her passion and attempts an unsuccessful seduction. When Theseus returns, she accuses Hippolytus of rape. (The Greeks really knew how to throw a tragedy.)

This is an adaptation and many liberties are taken with characters, setting and dialogue. Adaptations can take all the liberties in the world if they work and if they serve some purpose, be that towards plot, character development or overall message, but in this case the tragedy of the original story has been replaced with the tragedy of cliché and stereotype.

Adding to the cliché, the character of Enone has been insultingly rewritten as a lesbian. If you’re not familiar with the original story, Enone is the nurse to Fedra. Typically she is portrayed as a loving and dedicated older woman and although she is part of the story’s deceit, her motivation is traditionally for the sake of saving Fedra’s ass. In this adaptation, she is conniving, power hungry, controlling and has an unrequited affection/sexual attraction for Fedra.

There are a few cheap shots early in the play about her being ‘less butch’ than usual and a ‘what would YOU know about men’ reference culminating in an embarrassing profession of Enone’s love for Fedra towards the end of the play.

There is nothing wrong with gay characters being flawed or even antagonists, but this serves no recognizable purpose. I can’t imagine why this writing choice was made and whatever the reason, it didn’t work. It gave me the same feeling that I get when I see my niece or nephew casually use the word ‘faggot’ on their Facebook pages, that feeling being ‘immature kids.’

The production is not without merit. The cast is strong with particularly powerful performances delivered by Anthony Fleming III, as Hippolytus, and Morocco Omari, as Theseus. Kevin O’Donnell’s original musical composition is outstanding and the overall look of the production is attractive.

But ultimately Fedra: Queen of Haiti is a superficial treatment of a substantial story. Rather than successfully deviating from its source material, it diminishes it.

1 ½ STARS

(”Fedra: Queen of Haiti” runs through November 15 at Lookingglass Theater in Water Tower Water Works, 821 N. Michigan Ave. 312-337-0665.)

Lookingglass Theatre Company

Fedra: Queen of Haiti production photos by Sean Williams.

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