Seton Pollock in Ajax. Image: Mansoor Noor.
Ajax should perhaps come with a warning that you may need time to recover afterwards. It is raw, intense, strong, and shattering.
A bilingual English and Arabic production chillingly directed by Robert Johnson, the play is set in the Trojan War but updated to the present, with a focus on the horror of war and allusions to contemporary conflict in the Middle East.
The set is a large grey plastic tent-like formation: we can imagine the terror hidden within.
In Sophocles’ original tragedy, written in the 5th century BC, the warrior Ajax – encouraged by the goddess Athena – begins a horrific orgy of death and destruction through the army’s cattle herds when the armour of his deceased friend and comrade Achilles is awarded to Odysseus instead of himself. He finds himself caught in a long, bewildering campaign that seems pointless when he emerges from the madness. We see the entrails of slaughtered beasts and Ajax’s mortification as he wakes up to what he’s done. Ashamed, he plans to kill himself. His mistress and child try to convince him otherwise but to no avail.
In this condensed version, Ajax is a modern-day Australian solider who is bald, bloody, and struggling with PTSD after a decade of war. His mistress, Tekmessa, is portrayed as a Muslim woman who wears hijab, while Odysseus gives Ajax’s daughter, Eurysaka, a Christian bible. The frantic constant wail of sirens, helicopter rotors and jet turbines foregrounds the sound of modern-day warfare.
Solid, muscular Seton Pollock gives a shocking, tormented bravura performance as Ajax, stripping bare the soldier’s fractured emotions – imploring, mourning, filled with anger and remorse. His extended death scene compels us to watch gripped and horrified as he tries various ways to shoot himself. As brisk and determined Odysseus, Chad O’Brien is alert, calm, and controlled amid the violence.
Ajax is a relentless, dark, and very edgy production that questions war, faith, and why we are here.
4 stars ★★★★
Ajax
Burning House Theatre
After Sophocles
Text by Robert Johnson, Jonathan Graffam & cast
Director/producer/designer/adapter: Robert Johnson
Dramaturg & sound design: Jonathan Graffam
Linguistic consultant: Stephanie Ghajar
Cast: Seton Pollock, Michelle Robertson, Chad O’Brien, Leikny Middleton
23 April – 4 May
Old 505 Theatre, Newtown NSW
