hadestown

photo: uk.hadestown.com

I’m watching Hadestown years after its first production, only because a friend suggested we see it. She loves this show. I had resisted because I’m a Greek myth purist, but by the end of the first number I am no longer worrying about whether these myths are one hundred percent accurate, but about why we don’t promote community and audience participation in mainstream London theatre.

Perhaps it’s the powerful and soulful voice of Melanie La Barrie who plays Hermes, our narrator, reminding me of the videos I have seen of gospel choirs, and the scene in Sex Education where Eric re-discovers his faith. The opening number of this production seems to invite us to dance and sing with the cast and sitting silently in my chair in a row of people, also sat and silent, I feel as though I should be up dancing and celebrating with everyone in the room. The relatively demure audience I sat with, who only cheered and clapped at the end of a number as is the acceptable behaviour in Britain, I thought of the wilder audiences I have been a part of in underground and fringe theatre. Would this joyous production with such an emphasis on the power of community have more of an emotional impact in another kind of theatre space?

This is especially poignant to me in the moment when the Workers are inspired to stand together, and take off their hats to reveal who they were before Hadestown. The message that we fight together against oppression is an aspiring one, and one that we must believe if any cause is to win, but it felt bittersweet as I was still pondering why I was sat so demurely in this moment that would otherwise make me feel so inspired to action.

In the emotional hold that this production had over me while I was watching, I could suspend my disbelief and accept a new story about Hades and Persephone but after some consideration outside of the emotional hold of the production, I would still be wary of the danger of picking and choosing elements of myths and old stories to tell a new story. Hadestown leaves out the violent elements of Hades and Persephone’s marriage and suggests that the only issue between the two is Hades changing while Persephone is above ground and her being dismayed at his development into a capitalist with hints of fascism. Why ignore the problematic elements of a story while using it to tell another story which lauds collective resistance against an oppressor? 

I am no dedicated fan of British musicals, but underneath my doubts and criticisms of certain elements of this production, I must admit it stands alone as a West End production with a truly powerful message and my theoretical analysis of a production should not take away from the fact that such a radical message has infiltrated London’s West End with a truly diverse and talented cast and a unique soundtrack to top it all off.