HELIOS
Written and performed by Alexander Wright. Composer Phil Grainger. Wright & Grainger.. Co- produced by Dionysus and Lexi Sekuless Productions.
Major partner: Elite Event Technology. The Mill Theatre. at Dairy Road Fyshwick. March 23 & 24 2024.
Reviewed by Peter Wilkins
Over four hundred years
ago Flemish artist Peter Paul Rubens painted The Fall of Phaeton, a graphic
depiction of the Greek myth that
describes the fall of the son of the Sun God Helios from his father’s chariot
as he lost control of the horses and it veered chaotically too close to the earth,
scorching the land and too far from the
Earth during the impending chaos, freezing parts of the earth. Rubens’ baroque
painting captures the very moment when tragedy strikes and Zeus releases
thunderbolts to strike Phaeton for his hubris and send his body falling to
earth from the chariot. Writer and
performer, Alex Wright draws inspiration for his touring one man show Helios from Rubens’ artwork. Helios is no simple retelling of the
myth. It is a brilliantly conceived interpretation and transposition to a rural
village in Wright’s home county of North Yorkshire. It is a story of a young boy
Phaeton and his dream to fly a plane like his pilot father. It is the story of
a dream to chase the sun.
In the intimate setting of The Mill Theatre, a number of helion lamps
both tall and small light the space. In a circle around a group of tall lamps,
Wright has placed a number of red cards, accompanied by a white sheet of paper.
Composer Phil Grainger’s score plays
from a laptop and an audience sits expectantly in the 67 seat theatre. Wright
establishes an immediate rapport with the audience, asking them who knows the
myth of Phaeton? Who can describe facts about the sun? A couple of people
respond and Wright’s modern day allegory begins with an explanation of the
Greek myth. The audience is instantly engaged, hanging on every word, captured
by the storyteller’s seductive unfolding of his contemporary version of the
ancient myth. His Phaeton is a young Yorkshire lad who lives halfway up the hill
towards a castle forbidden to reach at the top. His father has promised him that
on his eighteenth birthday, Phaeton will be allowed to fly his father’s plane. On
the school bus, Phaeton is teased by Michael Dale with the chant Tony. Tony.
Tony. However the relationship changes when Michael Dale and Phaeton, after a
party, crash Dale’s father’s car into a hedge. An alliance evolves and the two
become friends. The story gains momentum as Phaeton catapults towards his
eighteenth birthday. Cards are handed to audience members to read the parts of
Michael Dale in bold type. They become accomplices in the unfolding drama,
building the urgency and heightening the suspense.
Wright’s narrative assumes a breakneck pace, compelling an
audience to listen, to hang on every word and become mesmerised by Wright’s
masterful narration. They are taken aback by the account of Phaeton’s brother’s
death, mystified by the evolving relationship between Phaeton and Dale. Wright’s
script blazes like darting light rays from the sun, driving the action forward
and hurtling the captivated audience towards the inevitable climax. At one
point a member of the audience is asked to time his monologue. The words tumble
from Wright's lips and the audience is transfixed. He calls out Stop. The time on
the stopwatch is 8 minutes and ten seconds, close enough to the time of 8
minutes and twenty seconds that it takes for the light to reach Earth from the
sun. Wright’s timing is precise, his sense of the drama magnetic and his
performance incandescent in its storytelling.
The audience sits in astonishment as Phaeton gives the car full throttle
on his eighteenth birthday and lets fly over the land’s edge and high above the
water to chase the sun.
Helios is no allegory in
praise of moderation. The blue plaques on houses in Wright’s homeland do not
salute meritorious moderation. They are a testament to all who strive to catch
the sun, to fly high and dare to reach the castle on the hill or steal a kiss
from another boy within the forbidden castle’s wall. Helios urges audiences to dare.
Sadly Helios played only two performances in Canberra. For those
fortunate enough to see this outstanding production from Wright and Grainger
they have been witness to an amzing
theatrical event.
