The Trackers of Oxyrhynchus
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The Trackers of Oxyrhynchus | |
|---|---|
| Written by | Tony Harrison |
| Characters | Apollo, Silenus, Hermes, Bernard Grenfell, Arthur Hunt, Kyllene, Satyrs |
| Date premiered | 12 July 1988 |
| Place premiered | Delphi, Greece |
| Original language | English |
| Subject | Ichneutae |
| Genre | Satyr play |
| Setting | Oxyrhynchus, Oxford, Ancient Greece |
The Trackers of Oxyrhynchus is a 1990 play by English poet and playwright Tony Harrison.[1][2] It is partially based on Ichneutae, a satyr play by the fifth-century BC Athenian dramatist Sophocles, which was found in fragments at the Egyptian city of Oxyrhynchus.[3][4][5]
In addition to its classical content, Harrison's play is also a dramatised account of the discovery of the papyrus fragments containing Sophocles' play by Bernard Grenfell and Arthur Hunt.[6] The play had a one-performance première on 12 July 1988 in the ancient stadium of Delphi,[7] Greece with a follow-up performance at the Royal National Theatre two years later on 27 March 1990.[8][9][10][11] The 1988 premiere at Delphi starred Jack Shepherd as Grenfell, Barrie Rutter as Hunt and Juliet Stevenson in the role of the mountain nymph Kyllene.[12] No filming was allowed during the 1988 performance.[13] Before appearing on the stage in London the play also had a "homecoming" performance at Salt's Mill, a former textile mill, at Saltaire, Bradford. Additional performances were held at the Wharf Theatre, in Sydney, Australia in 1992 and the West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds in 1998. In January 2017 after nearly 30 years since first opening in London it returned to the Finborough Theatre.[14]
Harrison's play is partially based on the events surrounding the discovery of the ancient papyrus found at Oxyrhynchus containing fragments of Ichneutae, a satyr play by the fifth-century Athenian dramatist Sophocles, which was found in fragments at Oxyrhynchus, an Egyptian city where an archaeological site was discovered considered one of the most important ever found. The papyrus fragments containing the ancient play were found by Oxford dons Grenfell and Hunt. Harrison then takes some of the events surrounding their discovery and weaves a play involving the two British archaeologists in a modern version of the classic play.[3][4][5][6]
Plot
The play starts with the two archaeologists shown doing excavations in situ at Oxyrhynchus in 1907. While both are depicted in the play deeply involved with their work, Apollo intervenes and commands Grenfell, in rhyming verses, to find an ancient play where the God plays a prominent part:[8]
He heard Apollo yammering for scraps and tatters
of a lost play of Sophocles: The Tracking Satyrs.
"Grenfell, Hunt!" he heard the voice abjure.
"Prevent Apollo's play becoming mere manure."
Night and day the voice went: "Grenfell, Bernard Pyne,
hunt for my papyrus. This order is divine!"
The two dons are shown in the play to feverishly search for the fragments and they finally find them. Grenfell, in particular, is shown as possessed by Apollo. After their excavations, the Oxyrhynchus papyri, including those with the Sophoclean play, are packed in wooden crates and sent to Oxford for further study. Upon arrival at Oxford, the crates open up and a satyr chorus springs from inside, clogging.[2][8][15][16]
A metamorphosis then happens. Grenfell becomes the Greek god Apollo while Hunt turns into Silenus, the leader of the satyrs. The characters then start following Sophocles' play and begin looking for Apollo's missing cattle. Apollo strikes a bargain with the satyrs according to which the satyrs will become rich and free if they find his cattle.[8]
The satyrs finally find the cattle only to discover that the cows are also keeping amongst them baby Hermes who although an infant has just invented the lyre. Apollo is happy now that his cattle have been found and keeps his end of the bargain by granting the satyrs the riches and freedom he had promised them. However the satyrs also want to keep the newly discovered lyre but Apollo rejects that idea telling them that satyrs do not deserve such a highly artistic instrument and advises them that they should instead concentrate on low-level art.[8]
The satyrs are very unhappy and they become even more so since the gold bars that they received from Apollo have turned into gold leaf-covered boomboxes blaring a music they cannot even dance to. Having lost their chance to get involved in "High Art" the satyrs rebel and 2500 years later they become hooligans coming out of the crates and destroying the very papyrus to which they owe their existence in modern times.[8]
In the Delphi performance the satyrs destroy the backdrop papyrus screens of the play and are depicted playing a soccer match with a ball fashioned out of the Ichneutae papyrus.[8] In the National Theatre performance Silenus is shown destroying the physical papyrus screen which functions as the backdrop of the theatrical play and commenting that the papyrus "could be put to better use as bedding material for the homeless of London's South Bank".[8]