Greek
Greek Theatron, McAulay Studio Theatre, Hong Kong Arts Centre Reviewed: Jul 2
Theatron's staging of Steven Berkoff's Greek is a revival of a 1997 production which, according to director Michael Harley, 'received high praise in the press and played to full houses'.
This time around the McAulay Studio Theatre was half empty, which may be because Greek is past its sell-by date or, more likely, many opted to watch the World Cup.
This was tough on a talented cast who made as much as could be made of a truly atrocious play.
Adam Harris, Kim Haslam, Nathalie Cockayne, and Harley, himself, handled 10 roles deftly, making swift transitions and doubling as a sort of Greek chorus.
The staging was simple, and would have been effective but for Berkoff's crude dialogue and the essential vacuity of the play.
In 1980, when Greek was first produced in London, the liberty to use words on stage that 30 years later can be printed in most papers was a novelty. Berkoff takes full advantage of that liberty in a clumsy reworking of Oedipus Rex. The idea is to shock; the effect is to bore.
Harley and Theatron are to be commended for their courage in staging plays outside the comfort zone of Hong Kong audiences, but not for choosing this one.
