'Ajax' a bloody start to Bellingham's summer theatre

Repertory theatre is abundant in Bellingham this summer. You don’t need a hotel room, but mark your calendar for repeated trips through August to the Sylvia Center for the Arts for, as their website states, “five plays based on the plays of Ancient Greece, presented in contemporary versions.” Three of them are free and outdoors, below the Whatcom Museum.

“Ajax” opened last week. Rewritten from Sophocles play by Bryan Doerries, a military veteran, it recasts this Greek tragedy, war being a human constant for more than 2,500 years.

In Homer’s epic, “The Iliad,” the warrior Ajax, second only to Achilles, has been deluded by Athena, the goddess of war. The play opens with eight soldiers laying prone, on a sand floor. Ajax, played intently and masterly by Samuel Johnson, enters with sword and shield. In a well-choreographed fight scene, he slays them all.

But wait, Athena (Siara Lindholm), who has watched and walked among the carnage, spear in hand, pounds it on the floor. The scene starts over and Ajax slaughters once again. And then again, after Athena again pounds her spear. The carnage repeats.

Afterwards, Ajax bows at her feet. Is she real, or in Ajax’ mind? In this retelling, Ajax is suffering from PTSD – Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome – as do modern soldiers.

That is the value of directors’ introductions. Here, Shu-Ling Hergenhahn-Zhao spoke to the audience, summing up Doerries’ plot. “Ajax,” she explains, was written for the generals and society’s elite and would have been performed before veterans returned from war.

The back story: Before the curtain goes up Achilles has been killed, but his armor given to Odysseus (Ian Bivins), decreed by commanding officers. In a rage, Ajax goes into a field, slaughtering goats, sheep and cows, believing them to be warriors.

When Ajax comes to his senses and realizes his delusion, he is ashamed, his honor destroyed. The rest of the drama plays out the consequences to his wife, Tecmessa (played with intensity by Dawn Hunter), their baby, Odysseus, a chorus of soldiers, and generals Menelaus (Michal Brannan) and Agamemnon (Michael Morgan).

Go see this play. The production values are superb, from costumes stained with blood, to makeup (Ajax is literally red with blood; great job by Julia LaFortune) to the simple set (more blood on the curtains) to the steady drumming provided just off stage by William Anker, to the directing. The entire cast ans support team gets kudos.

Fight choreographer Ryan Han also succeeded well with his troops.

An interpretation of Homer’s “Odyssey” opens in August at the Sylvia Center. In between, a teen production of Aristophanes’ “The Birds” plays for free at Maritime Heritage Park the last two weekends of July,

Closing this week is “Briseis,” a world premiere by Glenn Hergenhahn-Zhao, his imaging of a captive bride’s view of the end of the Trojan War, July 5 and 6. It is also at the park and free, as is “An Iliad,” playing the last two weekends in August. Information: https://sylviacenterforthearts.org/events/category/shows/theater/

Separately, the Fairhaven Summer Repertory Theatre is presenting “Wit,” “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” and “The Clean House” almost daily through July. Information: http://bellinghamtheatreworks.org/current_season.php#repertory

This is your season for more than one trip a week to Bellingham for entertaining and provocative theatre.