Playwright: Roland Schimmelpfennig. At: Sideshow Theatre Company at the DCA Storefront Theatre, 66 E. Randolph St. Tickets: 1-800-838-3006; www.sideshowtheatre.org; $25. Runs through: Sept. 23
Things didn't end well for participants in the Trojan War, not even for the victors. Crafty Odysseus needed 10 years to get home, although he got laid a lot along the way. Or consider lesser-known Idomeneus, king of Crete, who ranked with Odysseus and Agamemnon as a Greek general. He commanded 80 warships79 of which were destroyed in a storm on the way home. His flagship survived only when he vowed to sacrifice the first living thing he saw once he safely returned to Crete. But this is Greek mythology: You're damned if you do or don't. The first living thing Idomeneus saw was his eldest son. When he fulfilled his vow, a plague fell upon Crete and he was driven into exileor, a younger son overthrew him. There are several versions.
Contemporary German playwright Roland Schimmelpfennig (meaning "moldy penny") riffs on Idomeneus (in this production pronounced "EYE-doe-MEN-ius" vs. the usual "EE-doe-mi-NAY-us") and complicates things by rerunning the various possible scenarios of the myth: he didn't kill his son, his son became a sea monster, his wife was unfaithful to him, his son was betrothed to Electra (whose father sacrificed Electra's sister), etc.
Familiarity with Greek mythology would help one understand the tangle of possibilities, but it isn't essential as things are explained with reasonable clarity. More to the point, all the retools of the tale serve a larger idea, tipped by a banner hung across the stage before the show, "War is over. Please discuss." The entire play is a discussion of Schimmelpfennig's central premise that the sacrifice of even one human life is "crossing the boundary," let alone the many lives sacrificed in war. The chorus comments to Idomeneus, "The human sacrifice has already happened, is happening. Who knows this better than you?" It doesn't matter if he actually killed his son or not.
Idomeneus is stimulating but demands focus as it's exceptionally classical in form and length (one hour). It's an extended choral ode spoken and chanted by a chorus of 15, several of whom speak the roles of Idomeneus, his son, his wife, etc., although even these roles shift among several players. I suspect the script allows the director assign the lines and decide how many actors to use. Here, Jonathan L. Green is the skillful director substantially assisted by movement coordinator Katie Spelman. The ritualistic movement combines elements of dance, combat and the esoteric performance discipline, eurhythmy. The striking thrust sandbox playing area, with an upswept cyclorama of blond wood slats, is well-conceived and -executed (Joe Schermoly, scenic designer; Mac Vaughey, lighting). Kristin DeiTos' costume elements are a carefully selected mishmash that blend well and suggest the universality of the message.