Director Selects: Martha Graham Reimagines the Greeks

When I was a student, I can’t say that I was enthusiastic about ancient Greek mythology, but I did acquire a solid foundational understanding of Sophocles, Aeschylus, Plato, and others. I’m not sure if the same can be said today, a question I raise not to spark debate about role of humanities in contemporary education, but rather to point out that audiences today posses differences in generational and cultural background. 

In the 1940s and 1950s, Martha Graham delved deeply into the Greeks, elucidating their works by shifting the point of view to their female protagonists. Surely Graham did this, in part, to provide herself a platform to dance these powerful roles herself. But that alone wouldn’t have been motivation enough. She would expect her audience to come to the theater with a shared knowledge of the classics and a hunger to revisit them, both as familiar allegories and as revelations found in fresh interpretations.

Thanks to Freud, few names in Greek mythology are as easily recognized as Oedipus. One of Graham’s most revered pieces, Night Journey, reframes the Oedipus myth, putting his mother, Jocasta, at the center of the story. Journalist and author Debra Levine further expands on this topic with synopsis, analysis, and observations that will enrich all audiences, regardless of how much Greek mythology they studied in school. 

Night Journey will be performed along with two contemporary pieces when the Graham Company opens its 100th Season at The Soraya on October 4, a milestone that has been highlighted in both the Los Angeles Times and New York Times. 

Gratefully,

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