A comedy by the Greek playwright Aristophanes, The Birds was first performed in 414 BC. The play begins with two middle-aged men stumbling across a hillside wilderness. They are in search of the legendary Thracian king Tereus who once was metamorphosed into a hoopoe bird. Both are fed up with Athens, its law courts, politics, false oracles and military antics. A brilliant idea is born. The birds should stop flying about and build a grand city in the sky. Not only would they be able to lord over men, they could also blockade the Olympian gods. No sacrifices from humans means the gods would starve into submission, much like the Greeks had recently done to the island of Melos.
Staged in the large St. Ann’s Warehouse, this production has been co-produced by the Onassis Cultural Centre-Athens. With the exception of bird caws, the entire play is performed in Greek with English subtitles. There is a band on stage for the semi-successful yet indulgent musical interludes. The original also had a Chorus and songs. Scholars have debated whether this piece was a political allegory or simply escapist entertainment. Characters who are fed up with law courts, politics, false oracles and military antics? 2500 years later and thrust into cray cray America, The Birds feels like both.
How to describe this production? We begin with the two men cluelessly wandering around as if this were a Greek production of Waiting For Godoh. (Except it should been renamed Waiting For Dodo.) Toss in bizarre visuals which would be completely at home in any episode of David Lynch’s Twin Peaks. Add a dash of silent movie realness and a little French-inspired surrealism. Wrap all of this in a very modestly budgeted but cleverly executed Cirque de Soleil environment.
The Birds is the longest of Aristophanes’ surviving plays. Parts of this exercise are fun to watch. Other sections drag on and on. While The Birds is creative, amusing and historically interesting, it is also just too long. Might this artistic Greek cassoulet be best appreciated by elite intellectuals? Like the man sitting next to me repeatedly checking his phone throughout the performance? When it was over he leapt to his feet loudly shouting “bravo, bravo.” I sensed a false oracle in our midst.