June 2, 2009
It is a balmy summer evening, a light wind stirs amidst the trees and the air is filled with the delicate odour of the lilac. In the golden light of the setting sun butterflies flap their shiny wings, lustfully tease and chase each other, recite poetry and amuse themselves when one of them is eaten by a bird.
Such is the beginning of The Insect Play, written in 1921 by the Czech brothers Karel and Josef Capek, and currently showing on the lawns of Trinity College. The play, using anthropomorphised insects, satirizes human greed, complacency and selfishness. A drunken tramp falls asleep in the woods. Woken up by an excited lepidopterist the tramp suddenly notices the little creatures that flitter and flutter, creep and crawl around him and he starts observing them. The butterflies are superficial, sex-obsessed and hedonistic. The capitalistic dung beetles only care about their rolled-up balls of dung and dirt. Meanwhile, middle-class Mr and Mrs Cricket are happy with new curtains. An army of red ants, led by a communist tyrant, wants to take over the world and starts a sanguinary war. Chrysalis, a narcissistic actress undergoing metamorphosis, finally emerges as a beautiful imago, only to last for one ephemeral dance. But despite this spectacle of futility and shallowness, the tramp concludes that life is worth living and he successfully defeats death.
A great play, a very nice production and many good performances. Especially Rob Jones as the butterfly Viktor, the Northern Mr. Beetle and the despotic red ant commander, as well as Alex Gilmore as the eccentric lepidopterist, the gangster fly, the red ant scientist and the snail, are real chameleons and give their various characters depth and wit. Also great are Samantha Losey's nymphomaniac and cruel butterfly Iris, and Charlotte Mulliner's Isadora Duncan-like Chrysalis. Flapper dresses, antennary headpieces and expressionist dances add to the Roaring Twenties atmosphere, and the luscious gardens of Trinity College provide the ideal backdrop for the play, especially on a beautiful sunny evening as on the opening night.
Such is the beginning of The Insect Play, written in 1921 by the Czech brothers Karel and Josef Capek, and currently showing on the lawns of Trinity College. The play, using anthropomorphised insects, satirizes human greed, complacency and selfishness. A drunken tramp falls asleep in the woods. Woken up by an excited lepidopterist the tramp suddenly notices the little creatures that flitter and flutter, creep and crawl around him and he starts observing them. The butterflies are superficial, sex-obsessed and hedonistic. The capitalistic dung beetles only care about their rolled-up balls of dung and dirt. Meanwhile, middle-class Mr and Mrs Cricket are happy with new curtains. An army of red ants, led by a communist tyrant, wants to take over the world and starts a sanguinary war. Chrysalis, a narcissistic actress undergoing metamorphosis, finally emerges as a beautiful imago, only to last for one ephemeral dance. But despite this spectacle of futility and shallowness, the tramp concludes that life is worth living and he successfully defeats death.
A great play, a very nice production and many good performances. Especially Rob Jones as the butterfly Viktor, the Northern Mr. Beetle and the despotic red ant commander, as well as Alex Gilmore as the eccentric lepidopterist, the gangster fly, the red ant scientist and the snail, are real chameleons and give their various characters depth and wit. Also great are Samantha Losey's nymphomaniac and cruel butterfly Iris, and Charlotte Mulliner's Isadora Duncan-like Chrysalis. Flapper dresses, antennary headpieces and expressionist dances add to the Roaring Twenties atmosphere, and the luscious gardens of Trinity College provide the ideal backdrop for the play, especially on a beautiful sunny evening as on the opening night.