Kevin O’Donnell and Robert Woodruff |
The ruler of the mightiest nation in the world has begun to appreciate his power. Ignoring his advisers, except for those who tell him what he wants to hear, he makes decisions according to his own desires and without regard for the common good. The infighting within his inner circle suggests that no one can be trusted.No, we’re not talking contemporary Washington, DC. It’s the court of Nero, the young emperor of Rome, circa 55 AD, as described by 17th-century French playwright Jean Racine in his seldom seen Britannicus. The production by American Repertory Theatre that opens January 20 will be the swan song of outgoing artistic director Robert Woodruff.
Nero and his mom, Agrippina, made quite a twosome — until he had her murdered to get out from under her domination. Woodruff believes that, like the inhabitants of ancient Rome, “we as citizens are subject to personal back stories of our leaders. We have a president trying to deal with a lost childhood and perhaps his father.”
The Romans, however, acted on their instincts. Agrippina almost certainly poisoned her husband (he was also her uncle), Emperor Claudius, in order to seize the throne for her son from the rightful heir, Claudius’s son Britannicus. Then Nero killed his teenage stepbrother to rid himself of the competition.
Racine sets the play soon after Nero has come to the throne, when Agrippina is still alive and scheming to retain her influence. But he enlarges the importance of the young Junia, who is beloved of Britannicus and lusted after by Nero, thereby supplying another motivation for the fratricide.
The action takes place within the palace, which has been re-created in a modern style for ART by set designer Riccardo Hernandez. The center space, a transit area between Nero’s quarters and Agrippina’s, has the feel of a waiting room — or, according to Woodruff, “a war zone.” Clear plastic walls at the back are covered with blinds that close to hide eavesdroppers. Is Nero is one of them? Woodruff: “I don’t know. He’s Nero. He can do whatever he wants.” What Woodruff does know is that “Empire creates its own reality.” At least, that’s the motto he’s hung above the stage. It’s based on a comment by a Bush White House staffer that “we create our own reality.”
In the title role is Kevin O’Donnell, a New York–based actor who grew up in Randolph and Cohasset and graduated from Emerson College and Juilliard’s prestigious acting program. He says he’s playing his character as a 17-year-old, with Nero a few years older. “In real life, Britannicus died at the age of 14. There’s never a sense of completion in his life or in any scene he’s in, just like adolescence.”
Britannicus | American Repertory Theatre | Loeb Drama Center, 64 Brattle St, Cambridge | January 20–February 11 | $29-$76; $15 students | 617.547.8300
On the Web
American Repertory Theatre: www.amrep.org
