The tiny Eclipse Theatre is ending its ambitious season devoted to the plays of Jean Cocteau with one of the author’s several excursions into Greek mythology, “The Infernal Machine.”
Premiered in Paris in 1934 in a famous production directed by Louis Jouvet but rarely staged in the United States, the play follows the basic plot of the Sophocles tragedies, in which Oedipus kills his father, marries his mother, becomes the king of Thebes and finally, learning of his crimes of patricide and incest, blinds himself and is led off into exile by his daughter Antigone.
Linking the story of Oedipus to that of Hamlet, both of which concern young princes who are anxious seekers of truth, Cocteau begins his play with a near-copy of the opening scene of “Hamlet”: Two palace guards on the ramparts of Thebes chat about the ghost of the slain king they have seen on their watch.
With that strange, long segment out of the way, the play moves directly into the Oedipus legend, with Cocteau presenting the deadly Sphinx as a young woman who immediately falls in love with the ambitious prince, willingly gives him the answer to the riddle that will lift the curse from Thebes and, her secret revealed, dies in his arms.
Despite his triumph, however, the ambitious Oedipus (Sean Bradley) cannot escape the fury of the gods and the infernal machinations of his destiny. His wedding night is plagued by ominous dreams and portents; and, 17 years later, in the play’s final scene, he learns of and is crushed by the cruel trick of fate that has been reserved for him.
This combination of Shakespeare, Freudian psychoanalysis, ancient tragedy and Cocteau’s own contemporary take on the Oedipus legend is a most curious work that often (at least in Carl Wildman’s English translation) undercuts its high tragedy with bourgeois pettiness. The royal family frequently seems to be suffering more from ennui than from fatal circumstances.
The eight-person Eclipse cast, under Sarah Gabel’s direction, takes on the challenge of trying to make this melange of styles and influences compelling and meaningful.
But there’s only so much a small-budget production of sandals, togas, masks, curtains, shadowplay and Edith Piaf recordings can do with this material.
The actors earnestly intone, but they have neither the vocal training nor the emotional heft to make the dialogue resonate.
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“The Infernal Machine”
When: Through Aug. 1
Where: Eclipse Theatre, 2074 N. Leavitt St.
Phone: 773-862-7415
