“Let me through to my queen’s arms”
Theseus is confused at Phedre’s cold response when he reaches her and can show this by his body language and facial expressions. When he goes to hug Phedre she pushes him away and he stands there with a puzzled expression and his arms spread out. This makes the audience even more sympathetic towards him because they can see his bafflement and they know why Phedre is so cold towards him.
Theseus’s mood improves when his son enters. His facial expression should show that he is pleased to see him and he should move to embrace him but once again he is given the cold shoulder.
“ I beg your permission to leave” p46
This time Theseus is puzzled at Hippolytus’s behaviour, “ this is a strange welcome for your father,” but also reacts angrily towards him.
“What is happening?
What is it about me
Sends my family reeling from me?
Has that hellish pit done something to me?
Has it made me a pariah?” p47
Theseus should spit out the word “pariah” and his face contort to show his disdain, and accentuate his despair and frustration to further gain the audience’s sympathy.
He should bang his helmet on the table and start to shout at his son about his adventures in Epirus using a lot of gesticulation and moving about the room quickly. Hippolytus tries to responds to his father but is cut short by Theseus storming out of the room in a rage in search of Phedre.
When Theseus next enters with Oenone, she has told him the truth about Hippolytus’s desires. He is absolutely beside him self with rage. He can grab Oenone and shake her as if he is trying to shake the truth out of her but when he sees Hippolytus in the distance he pushes Oenone to one side and draws his sword as if he is going to kill him, thinking better of it when he approaches so re-holstering the sword and just grabs him and pushes him up against the wall. Hippolytus is now puzzled because he doesn’t know that the queen has accused him and is displeased that his father is angry with him. Hippolytus’s innocence only infuriates Theseus more and he should start to push Hippolytus around the room and pick up items off the table to throw at him.
When Theseus prays to the God Neptune to take revenge on his son he can sink to his knees and hold his arms aloft. Towards the end of this exchange Hippolytus tries to reason with his father but to no effect. Theseus is now seated with his head in his hands because he is so disgusted with his son that he doesn’t even want to look at him. When he orders his son out he should hold his arm out pointing at the door while deliberately looking in the opposite direction.
At this stage I would want my audience to feel very different about Theseus realising that all the previous talk about his mischievous past is true. They have seen in the previous scene that Theseus easily loses his temper and can become very violent. I would now want them to be losing patience with him and his increasingly violent actions should ensure that they now don’t feel very understanding towards him.
In the part when Theramene is describing Hippolytus death to Theseus, Theseus is already on stage. He is still angry but now with himself for tempting fate. He is also worried for his son’s safety. He can be pacing the room anxiously awaiting some news and when Theramene enters with his news, Theseus’s facial expression should be one of worry because he knows that he should be with his son so he rushes over to him forgetting his nobility and flings himself at Theramene’s feet begging him for news.“ He was only a child. Where is my son” p73. I would now want the audience to have mixed feelings about him, some to feel sorry for him because he has lost his son and others to feel that Theseus has got what he deserved as he asked Neptune to intervene on his behalf. The audience’s ambivalence should be played on in this speech by Theramene.
“Ah- so much concern
Coming so late and so superfluously.
Such paternal love. And all so useless”
While Theramene is recounting his story Theseus is seated and can be mindlessly pouring wine into a glass that can start to overflow. His facial expression is one of shock with a fixed stare ahead. After the tale’s conclusion, Theseus should rise slowly with his head hung and place his hand on Theramene’s shoulder showing that he doesn’t blame him for his son’s death.
With Hippolytus dead and Phedre’s betrayal at the very end when Theseus goes off to mourn over his son’s body, I would want the audience to feel sorry for him because of what he has been through and his new found dignity in pronouncing Aricia a member of his family.
“Aricia, from today you are my daughter” p81
I would hope that by portraying Theseus at times confident, baffled, frustrated, violent, griefstricken and finally dignified, I would make the audience experience a range of emotions that would intensify their enjoyment of the production.
