★★★★★
Adelaide Fringe. The Yurt at The Courtyard of Curiosities. 5 Mar 2025
How can an old myth thought to originate sometime around 500 BCE hold any contemporary relevance whatsoever?
The myth of Helios and his son Phaeton, as described briefly below, is often interpreted as one warning against hubris: when humans aspire to be godlike or, worse, to be greater than the gods, the Gods are unforgiving and meter brutal punishment. This is the only interpretation most have encountered.
However, Wright and Grainger’s superb reworking of the myth attributed to Euripides brings it hurtling into the present and flips it very powerfully indeed.
Helios, God of the sun, guardian of oaths, and the god of sight lived in a golden palace to the East, as far away as the edge of the world. Each dawn, Helios emerged from the palace crowned with the sun, four winged steeds drawing his chariot across the sky. Each dusk, Helios reached the furthest point West where he descended into a golden cup which, during the night, returned him to his palace via the streams of Okeanos.
Like many young men, Helios’s son, Phaeton, pestered his father to drive the chariot. In doing so, Phaeton would prove his relationship to the sun. But the young man’s ambitions exceed his abilities, his lack of skill resulting in loss of control of the steeds. The resulting chaos risks the Sun colliding with the Earth. To protect the realm of mortals, the mighty Zeus is compelled to step in and strikes Phaeton down with a bolt of lightning. Order of sorts is restored.
Wright greets his audience with endearing openness and warmth and engages in chat about the nature of the Sun and Peter Paul Rubens painting, The Fall of Phaeton. What initially appears to be light banter quickly brings into the world of Gods of time and place, local Gods where we learn about a small boy, Phaeton, residing with his mother in rural Yorkshire.
Wrights writing is crisp, richly evocative and deeply moving, although the title Helios is something of a misnomer. As Wright observes during the conversationally toned prologue, the story is really Phaeton’s.
We are drawn into the story of a young boy, much left to his own devices by a figuratively distant mother and literally distant father; Helios is cast here as a long-haul pilot while mother, Rhodda, is referred to but oddly absent.
Compliments of his mother’s extensive vinyl collection – the play is set when Walkman’s were a thing - Phaeton possesses a richly eclectic taste in music, among his favourite artists, Elton John, who is included on his various “mixed tapes”.
We become aware that Phaeton has grown up beneath an omnipresent cloud, the origins of which we find to be shocking and deeply moving. Phaeton moves awkwardly into his early teens, an adversarial relationship with the school bully, Michael, a predominant feature. There’s school bus politics and a standoff in front of everyone at a party. This leads to a dare involving a car which, when fulfilled, seals Phaeton’s place in local teen lore; it also serves as premonition for events after the boys’ reunion on Phaeton’s 18th birthday involving a gold Ford Mercury.
The Yurts intimacy lends itself well to Helios, the audience’s proximity to the storyteller ideal for Wright’s high energy, cadent, clearly articulated delivery directly to audience; there’s no fourth wall here!
Wright is the consummate storyteller, his words and energetic pace conveying the story with touching warmth and intensity. With their consent, individuals are drawn into the story as readers, a wonderful device serving to heighten the immediacy of the relationship between Phaeton and his adversarial school friend, Michael as well as observations about the nature of the Sun. The simple lighting device of several single light globes and Phil Grainger’s sound track simply serve to heighten this wonderful story. Where the Phaeton of Ancient Greek mythology serves as dire caution to avoid behaving in a way as to attract hubris, Wright and Grainger’s iteration presents us with a refreshing point of view - but that it is up to you to find out.
I was swept away by this show last year, and I found myself even more so this year!
Go! See it!
John Doherty
When: 20 Feb to 23 Mar
Where: The Yurt at The Courtyard of Curiosities
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
