Stars: Isabelle Adjani, Niels Schneider, & Carmen Maura.
The cast was impressive. I mean their speaking voices are striking, captivating and sexy. They commanded the stage, and their presence and energy filled the theater. The way they moved was dramatical, but the gestures were somewhat inappropriate and unrealistic at times especially compared to the contemporary context of the story.
Isabelle Adjani is sexy, sultry, and believable as the passionate middle aged editor in chief longing for her trainee. I have seen Niels Schneider in films and I wasn’t that impressed but in Kinship he surprised me, he was seductive and played it with innocence and Carmen Maura was convincing and funny as the intrusive mother.
The Phaadra analogy shared with the audience throughout the play lead us to believe that their fates would inexorably be similar to the Greek tale but the author managed to surprise the audience. This contentious passion between Adjani and Schneider in this play intelligently shared the responsibility for the outcome, and their reciprocal manipulation.
The epilogue reflects the ordinariness of these relationships and our contemporaries’ ability to forget and suffer in silence.
Worn out Spines 