(Hecuba or the canine gynaeceum)
In Euripides’ text, the Greeks enslave Hecuba after she loses almost all her children in the Trojan War. For the celebrations of Achilles’ death, Polyxena -one of Hecuba’s daughters- is to be sacrificed over his grave. Hecuba implores Odysseus to take her place. He refuses and takes Polyxena, who would rather die than become a slave. While Hecuba laments over her daughter’s death, she finds the lifeless body of his son Polidoro, killed by Polymestor, king of Thrace, when he received the news on the Trojan defeat, and seized their wealth. So Hecuba decides to take revenge. Polymestor comes before Hecuba pretending to be sorry for the misfortune of the Trojan. He lies that Polidoro still lives. Hecuba, designs a plot and speaks about treasures stored in the tents of the Trojan captives. When the king of Thrace and his children walk into a tent, they get stabbed by the Trojan women and by Polymestor himself, blinded by Hecuba. In agony, he prophesies Dionysus’ announcement, where she will turn into a bitch to wander forever by her children’s graves. However, in this version two fundamental changes are performed: the first is that the Avenging Mother is now a Fury Mother who refuses to merely fulfill the designs of fate. Aware that the future is atrocious and that she will not be able to twist it, she confronts the premonitions of disgrace killing her children first and then killing those who would have become their murderers. As a result, she turns into dog. This is the operation: two mythical female characters are combined, Hecuba and Medea. Hecuba kills her children in order to escape and, at the same time, fulfill the fate. Becoming the murderer of her own offspring, she becomes an animal. When she, as a social subject, breaks the imposed moral precepts of civilization -the preservation of the species- she turns into an amoral being and assumes an animal status. The dividing line between her and the animal, i.e. culture and morals, has disappeared. The second change is formal. The tragedy is compressed into two characters: Hecuba and the Chorus. Each time, the Chorus, embodying destiny, introduces the situation, followed by a long monologue by Hecuba. The tragedy gets split in two parts, systole and diastole, divided by an intermission entitled ‘Interference’. In turn, each part is also split in two: Diastole contains Tristitia and Hypnos, and systole, Anachoresis and Chrysalis. The Interference is subtitled ‘Bufido’ (Snort), and includes a poem by Nicolas Prividera. The rest of the texts are authored by Emilio Garcia Wehbi. In the staging, the visual and sound imprint is of paramount importance, favoring the coexistence of the textual and conceptual universe with the formal, features commonly found in EGW’s stage work.

Performers
MARICEL ALVAREZ
EMILIO GARCÍA WEHBI
HORACIO MARASSI
NICOLÁS PRIVIDERA

Author
EMILIO GARCÍA WEHBI
Author of ‘Bufido’ (Interference)
NICOLÁS PRIVIDERA

Produced by
CENTRO CULTURAL RICARDO ROJAS
INSTITUTO NACIONAL DE TEATRO
Graphic Designer
LEANDRO IBARRA
Intern
CAMILA CARREIRA
Choreographer
MARINA SARMIENTO
Video and image design
SANTIAGO BRUNATI
Music and sound design
MARCELO MARTÍNEZ
Iggy Pop’s King of Dogs version
MARIO CASTELLI (Piano)
MARCELO MARTÍNEZ (Winds and percussion)
Lighting Design
ALEJANDRO LE ROUX
Executive Producer, Assistant Director & Set Designer
JULIETA POTENZE
Concept, staging and director
EMILIO GARCÍA WEHBI


Sala Batato Barea, Centro Cultural Ricardo Rojas, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2011.

Fotos Sebastián Arpesella, Mariano Rapetti.