NOHO ARTS REVIEW: Aristotle/Alexander
By
Samantha Simmonds-Ronceros
Aristotle/Alexander is a new original play by Alex Lyras, who also directs. It was developed at the J. Paul Getty Museum for the Getty Villa Theater Lab and produced as a staged reading last spring. A young Alexander the Great, still living at home with his mother, requires a tutor. His mother, the brilliant and often historically overlooked Queen Olympias, chooses Aristotle, who was already a legend.
Alexander is a typical teenager, headstrong and arrogant, heir to an enormous empire. But Alexander is also an accomplished tactician, a brilliant warrior and student, ambitious and driven, so his arrogance has some validity when you consider his future life path.
Aristotle, a genius in any century, has his own baggage. At that time, philosophy was almost a contact sport, extremely competitive and poorly paid. Aristotle has mouths to feed and his old age to plan for, as well as a reputation to defend. Tutoring the future king of Macedon could certainly be considered a wise choice.
In retrospect, it was one of the most brilliant trades in history. In return for his time, Aristotle’s hometown of Stageira was rebuilt and its population released from slavery by King Philip, Alexander’s father, who had burned it to the ground years before.
Aristotle/Alexander revolves around this crucial moment in history. Who’s to say who Alexander might have become if not for the critical mind of Aristotle and the challenges made to his own narcissism?
Rather than conquering most of the known earth and expanding his empire further than anyone could have imagined, his life and the history of our world might have gone in a totally different direction altogether.
What an inspired moment to dramatize. Writer Alex Lyras studied ancient texts and took documented conversations and writings by both Alexander and Aristotle to create this fascinating and powerful play. As Aristotle and Alexander learn more about each other, their intellects expand in ways neither of them could ever have anticipated. Aristotle must have been as surprised as Alexander.
The action on stage is accompanied by some gorgeous, innovative video design, creating a huge cinematic backdrop for the story. The music is also ingenious, an original score made with the use of authentic instruments from the time. Subtle, atmospheric and utterly immersive.
All these elements, along with a truly phenomenal cast, give Aristotle/Alexander a strangely contemporary feel, given the classical setting, costume and wonderful attention to detail. It feels as if this extraordinary relationship and the consequences of it could occur at any time, even right now.
In many ways, the times are similar enough. Tyrants reign, burgeoning democracy is hanging by a thread. Fortunes are spent and lost on wars whose only purpose it seems is to line the pockets of the already wealthy and decimate populations. History, even if written by the truth speakers rather than the victors, can teach but never change a man.
Centuries from now, will they write plays about our times? Maybe a few horror films?
Aristotle/Alexander is an utterly sublime play, perfection from beginning to end, in fact. Narrated by Isocrates, who flits in to update us on the state of the world and the progress of these two strange brothers in arms. Which gives yet another layer to this wonderfully textured story.
Andrew Byron gives us a stoic, dryly witty Aristotle and Nicholas Clary’s Alexander is positively inspired. Part brat, part psychopath and still somehow charming. John Kapelos’s grumpy, scene-stealing Isocrates is adorable and slightly dangerous and Elyse Levesque is beautiful and more than a little scary as the woman with the ultimate agenda, Olympias.
An incredible cast for an epic and disturbingly relevant story. Aristotle/Alexander is an absolute triumph. Who can resist ancient Greeks and their desperate deeds?
Tickets:
https://www.aristotlealexander.com
When:
March 29-May 4
Saturday at 8PM and Sunday at 3PM, with an additional matinee Saturday, April 19 at 3PM
Where:
Company of Angeles
1350 San Pablo St., Los Angeles, CA 90033
The Aristotle/Alexander Cast
The cast includes Andrew Byron (West End’s Night of the Iguana, Brighton Fringe Festival’s The Good Russian) as Aristotle, Nicholas Clary (Mountain Avenue Theatre’s Midnight Summer’s Dream, Acidman) as Alexander, John Kapelos (National Hellenic Museum’s The Trial of Socrates, The Breakfast Club) as Isocrates, and Elyse Levesque (CW’s The Originals, Fox Searchlight’s Ready or Not) as Queen Olympias.
The Creative Team
In addition to Lyras, the creative team for Aristotle/Alexander includes original score by Andreas Fevos, set design by Joel Daavid, visual design by Jon Bonk and Tim Kennedy from Immerse Studios video, video and lighting design by Justin Huen, costume design by Paula Davis, hair & make up by Heidi Lowry, fight choreography by Orion Barnes, technical consultant Matt Richter, digital content by Effie Samios, video editing by Peter Chakos, casting by April Webster, and stage management by Claire Dewar.
COMPANY OF ANGELS (Co-Producer) was founded in 1959 by Leonard Nimoy, Richard Chamberlain, Vic Morrow, and Vic Tayback, among others, is the oldest non-profit professional equity waiver theater in Los Angeles.