reviews

‘A ragbag of refugees stands in front of the GLA, still adorned with the stripes of the Olympic bid, as sirens, of the police rather than the Greek variety, fill the crimson sky. ‘We’re up, we’re down, God chooses’ they declaim, and I doubt if a more eloquent expression of London’s pendulous week will be found anywhere.

Phil Willmott happened upon the Scoop while walking along the Thames on evening. With the support of More London, he has envisioned a captivating space that is harmoniously integrated with its civic and artistic surroundings. The amphitheatre digs into the earth beneath the GLA building, with the underground offices behind and the skeleton of the tallest building in Europe rising above. The effect is like being implanted in an Andreas Gursky photograph, as the flickering spectacle of a smoky candlelit chorus congregates within an endlessly reflective backdrop.

Willmott’s direction and Kenneth McLeish’s translation achieve the rare feat of being faithful to Euripides and relevant to London today. The children of Hercules, persecuted by their father’s enemy Eurystheus, seek asylum at Marathon. The authoritarian forces wear the uniforms of British immigration officers, but otherwise the costumes are of the timeless tattered gypsy variety. The coup of this production is for the final plea to be made not to the booming city slickers looming down from the gods, but to the audience themselves.

It is an audience that has grown fourfold since the beginning of the performance, and almost parodies multi-ethnicity. This truly democratic space actually stops people in their tracks, and draws them into performances they would not normally see. Dignified, demystified, free theatre whose heart-swelling message is ‘I respect this city – I love it.’’ Benjamin Davies, Time Out

‘At the National Theatre you can buy a seat for £10. Further down the South Bank, a fiver entitles you to be a groundling at Shakespeare’s Globe. Further still, at the Scoop, the magical open-air amphitheatre near Tower Bridge, Phil Willmott’s Steam Industry Company performs for free. In this year’s summer season, Willmott has directed his witty adaptation of Treasure Island, which runs in rep with his incisive, modern-dress, take on Euripides’s Children of Hercules.

The joy of this alfresco occasion stems from its canny responsiveness to the extraordinary diversity of the audience, which ranges from seasoned theatregoers with their wine and picnics to casual passers-by.

Willmott and Steam Industry have developed a style of writing and performance of full-bodied vigour and sophisticated teasing. The amphitheatre becomes a dynamic debating chamber – for Children of Hercules. Pursued by their father’s enemy, Eurystheus, the offspring of the legendary hero are repeatedly denied asylum until they reach Marathon. This impassioned staging does not need to force the contemporary parallels, as the ruler Demophon (whose moral discomfort is vividly conveyed in Willmott’s edgy portrayal) grapples with the dilemmas. It is civilised to shelter political refugees, but how can this be reconciled with the duty of protecting your own citizens who will thereby come under attack? The alert, confrontational production throws such questions out to the audience. There is a jolting moment towards the close when Hercules’ mother, Alkmene, calls for savage revenge against the captured Eurystheus.

Treasure Island in this account, is a delightful blend of the salty and the silly. It must be the first stage-version of Stevenson’s novel in which the craving for cheese of the marooned Ben Gunn (Nick Smithers loopily obsessive Brummie) is turned into a lavish musical extravaganza. It makes another droll innovation in equipping the Hispaniola with a partly female crew, headed by Bea Holland’s feisty and un-nautical Lady Trelawney.’ Paul Taylor, The Independent

‘One bridge along the river from the Shunt Vaults is another new stage, the perfectly named Scoop. This concrete amphitheatre has been hollowed out as if by a giant ice-cream ladle; it is making news with its free, open-air, come-and-go-as-you-please season of plays.

Phil Willmott has commandeered the arena to direct the Steam Industry Company in one of the most bizarre double-bills in London: a zany version of Treasure Island, with a special line in jokes about cheese, and a penetrating adaptation of Children of Hercules. Euripides’s play is about the perils of asylum, not only for the seekers but for the providers.

Refugees wander from town to town, pursued by their enemy. They are eventually given shelter at Marathon, but as the persecutors close in, their presence puts the civilians at risk: how should the ruler of the city react?

There’s no labouring of modern-day parallels, no cutting-edge bravura. Despite some suits on stage, the production is traditional, dignified, driven by a few simple theatrical strokes: a torch-lit procession; some sudden alarming screeches of fiddle-strings; a miraculous rejuvenation under a mask; and, finally, a direct appeal from actors to audience to decide what is best for their city.

A week after the first London bombs, this was met with acute attention.’ Susannah Clapp, The Observer

‘There is no other theatre in London where the audience are not only asked to turn off their mobile phones before the performance begins, but also to keep their children and pets in order, but then there is no other theatre quite like the amphitheatre called the Scoop, hard on the Thames between London and Tower bridges. Throughout the summer this little open-air gem is offering free performances of Euripides' little known tragedy Children of Hercules, as well as a new version of Treasure Island.

Phil Willmott's spare production plunges you straight into the bloody heart of a play that begins in the wake of Hercules' death. Pursued by Hercules' enemy Eurystheus, the hero's widow and children wander from place to place where all their pleas for asylum are rejected until they arrive at the city of Marathon. Here, King Demophon offers them shelter - with devastating consequences.

The modern parallels are obvious, and Willmott is right not to push them too hard. His production has a timeless quality. It also takes a play that puts the drama into a series of moral questions (is it right to take in the needy if it threatens your own security? Do you take revenge on those who have done you terrible wrong?) and throws them straight back at the audience. On the night after the London bomb attacks, tussling with these questions seemed utterly natural and to the point. For maximum impact and intimacy, grab yourself a seat close to the action.’ Lyn Gardner, The Guardian

‘Euripides’s Children of Hercules has its key themes frighteningly pertinent to today, with its focus on a bunch of desperate asylum seekers. The Thames-side Scoop amphitheatre, now hosting its third season of free theatre, is a wonderfully authentic location for Greek drama… Playing in the early evening slot is Treasure Island… jolly, swashbuckling, pantomime-like fun!’ Fiona Mountford, Evening Standard

‘The Heracleidae, or Children of Hercules, is usually considered one of the more minor plays by Greek tragedian Euripides. But previous Steam Industry productions at the Scoop have shown this theatre group is keen to re-examine the ethical dilemmas presented in ancient plays in the light of modern-day debates – and this is perfect fodder for them…Inclusive and engaging…’ Siobhan Murphy, Metro

‘Overshadowed by London's City Hall, the open-air Scoop, swept by zephyrs, is like an Athenian amphitheatre in miniature, with audiences seated on stone tiers surrounding a bare performing area.

Entrance is free, and it makes a perfect setting for Phil Willmott's robustly authentic staging of Euripides' short but tragic Herakleidae, given in a fine modern translation by the late Kenneth McLeish.

At what is almost certainly the play's professional London premiere, it enjoys a production and performance by the Steam Industry troupe worthy of the occasion.

Having completed his 12 famous labours, Hercules lies dead, while his orphans, banished from their homeland, are hounded across the Grecian peninsula by the tyrannical Eurystheus of Argos. Seeking asylum in Marathon, they get their wish but at the cost of sacrificing a high-born virgin, and fighting a vicious enemy in the form of Stewart Alexander's limber warrior king.

Willmott, in smart casuals, himself portrays the urbane Marathon monarch whose preference for fair play and democracy becomes a stumbling block when faced with warlike threats from Argos and the whims of the capricious gods, represented by the glamorous Ally Holmes as spokeswoman for Zeus.

Dramatically the standout performances come from Ursula Mohan's vengeful matriarch Alkmene, and veteran Robert Donald as former best buddy to Hercules, now in loco parentis to the orphans. Finally a man-to-man combat with sticks and kicks, vividly choreographed by Marcello Marascalchi, brings the tragedy to a cliffhanging climax.’ John Thaxter, The Stage

‘Vital, theatrical and dramatic version of a very modern ancient Greek Tragedy.

When a strong leader dies, those he has protected become vulnerable. It’s like that with the family Hercules leaves behind, a tribe in all but name. Pursued by Hercules’ old bete noire Eurystheus they eventually seek protection from Demophon, King of Marathon.

But, as becomes clear when he flinches at the invitation to single-combat from Stewart Alexanderâs Eurystheus, with his black-painted face markings and tall, fearsome presence, Phil Wilmott’s democrat is at a disadvantage in a world of force. The logic is wipe-out at Marathon, and things start going that way, Hercules’ aged fighting-chum Iolaos soon dispatched when he creaks off to battle with the others. The situation is saved by one of Euripides’ deus ex machine, managed in this production by a simple, fine coup de theatre involving this same Iolaos.

Euripides’ deus ex devices might once have seemed ironic and bitter. But with world events throwing several of his plays about dispossession and forced emigration into a new light, they can be seen as part of a fundamental conflict. It’s much the same struggle presented more formally by Aeschylus (whose Suppliants, seen at Battersea, covers remarkably similar territory as this play) in his Oresteia, where blind revenge is finally replaced by law.

So here, the gods’ intervention, costly though it is, becomes less a miraculous, or capricious heavenly, act than part of a struggle for order in the world; the ageless combat between force and justice.

But the composed, dignified and ultimately gravely joyous of the sacrificial Makaria, given a controlled dignity by Kerry Skinner both on her way to death and in a visitation back from the dead, is not the final image. That’s the victims turned predators; when Eurystheus is beaten the suppliant children of Hercules turn on him viciously.

As the modern world struggles to understand what has been revealed (or re-revealed) about human nature and society, this rare revival, performed with energy and clarity, is a valuable contribution. It goes far beyond political rhetoric and in Hercules’ mother Alkmene (a vivid Ursula Mohan), Robert Donald’s loyal Iolaos and Skinner’s Makaria it sets moral positives above the waves of violence and revenge around.’ Timothy Ramsden, Reviewsgate

‘Nestled along the South Bank of the River Thames in the shadow of Tower Bridge lies London's newest open air festival theatre, The Scoop, a small grey stone amphitheatre backed by the luminous glass windows of the More London buildings and the Thames, with the Tower of London on the opposite side. The situation is idyllic, particularly on a warm summer evening when it is reminiscent of the Cornish amphitheatre carved out of the cliffs at Minack, and the occasional hum of passing river traffic. But here the sun is setting over a city and curious passers-by can sit and enjoy the theatrical experience for free.

Bathed in moonlight, it was the sublime location that inspired director Phil Willmott and producer Suzanna Rosenthal, the brains behind the venture, to approach More London with the idea of transforming the space into a performance arena. What followed was an impromptu three-week run of Oedipus back in 2003 which was so successful that the Steam Industry returned the following year to perform two productions, Agamemnon and Androcles and the Lion, attracting an even greater mix of multi-cultural audience members, both young and old.

This year supported by local businesses, Southwark Council's STEP Festival and for the first time the Arts Council, the summer season continues with Willmott's productions of Children Of Hercules continuing the tradition of Greek drama, and the more family-orientated show, Treasure Island, which plays earlier in the evenings at 6pm allowing even the youngest of theatrical enthusiasts to enjoy this unique experience.

Children of Hercules is a rarely performed Euripidean classic with a new translation by Kenneth McLeish and is a highly pertinent tale considering today's political discussions concerning asylum seekers in the twenty-first century. Starting at 9pm and lasting just over an hour, it is a great way of introducing the theatrical novice to the experience of live performance with the lights from the Tower of London creating an atmospheric backdrop.

Willmott's direction is clear and concise and the actors perform with enthusiasm and energy enticing an audience to join them, with Eastern European-style tunes played on a variety of musical instruments.

And of course it is not just theatre that breathes life into the award-winning 13-acre business district. 2003 also saw the inaugural music festival at The Scoop including percussion from Africa, traditional Indian Music, steel bands and some of the best new Jazz talent in the country. It continues this year from 6 August to 9 September with a mix of Jazz, soul, funk, Latin and R & B, whilst running alongside is Yann Arthus-Bertrand's Earth From Air Photographic Exhibition with astonishing photographs of some of the world's most beautiful natural landscapes.

This extraordinary regeneration between London Bridge and Tower Bridge by More London has transformed the area with a variety of public spaces opening up views towards the Bridge and the Tower of London. There is commissioned public art from contemporary artists including David Batchelor, Stephen Balkenhol and Fiona Banner and this year sees the Unicorn Theatre for Children making their permanent home along the Thames.

More London supports the creative arts in every way, offering performance platforms to professionals and experiences for those who might not have chosen to enter a theatre or gallery before. With the Steam Industry also presenting free summer schools during the school holidays, inviting young people to work alongside actors to create a new play culminating in a public performance, as well as rehearsing for their own productions at The Scoop, theatre, art and music will hopefully enthrall and inspire along the Thames for many years to come. Peggy Leader, Rogues and Vagabonds