Slaughter

Tomasz Fryzeł reviews the play Phèdre(s) directed by Krzysztof Warlikowski (Odéon - Théâtre de l'Europe in Paris, premiere: 17.03.2016). Fryzeł points out that the multiplicity of texts that inform the play cause the co-existence of many different narratives on stage within a single character - Phèdre. The author interprets the part based on Wajdi Mouawad as a mythological anti-history in which the evaluation of the character takes place from Phèdre’s perspective. Fryzeł sees the second part, based on Sarah Kane’s Love of Phèdre, as a critique of Western civilization. In the third part, staged as a television interview, Phèdre becomes Elisabeth Costello from the novels of J. M. Coetzee. The critic notes that quotes from Racine’s Phèdre allow Warlikowski to take a critical standpoint against the French tradition of staging this drama and the interpretation of the main protagonist.