CULTURE INTERVIEW
Myth and magic Ahead of this month’s Ancient Greek Meze performance, alongside Britten Sinfonia and stand-up classicist Natalie Haynes, mezzo-soprano Helen Charlston tells Louise Hoffman what it means to embody three powerful women of myth
Can you briefly introduce us to the three women of Greek myth you’ll be portraying this month? Daughter of the Cretan king Minos and his wife Pasiphaë, sister to Ariadne and half-sister to the Minotaur, Phaedra’s place in mythology is rooted to her marriage to the great King of Athens, Theseus, and the tale of her overwhelming lust for his son, Hippolytus. Upon Hippolytus’ inevitable rejection of her advances, she is humiliated and, aware of the irreversible consequences of her actions, kills herself. Ariadne was put in charge of the labyrinth where the Minotaur was imprisoned. Regular sacrifices of children were made to the Minotaur, and one year Prince Theseus takes the place of one of these children, set on killing the Minotaur. Ariadne fell immediately in love with the prince, giving him the fateful ball of thread with which he could retrace his steps and escape the labyrinth unscathed. He succeeds and escapes, running away with Ariadne. But on their journey back to Athens, the fleet stopped on Naxos and Ariadne is left behind. Very much from a different family line, Medea is granddaughter of the sun god Helios and niece of Circe. She is powerful, adept with magic and ends up using it time
and time again to ensure her survival and to enact revenge. She uses her power to help Jason (and the Argonauts) to victory, falling in love with him and building a new life together away from her family, but he eventually betrays her – leading her to enact her revenge. What is it about their stories that particularly resonates with you – both personally and from a performance perspective? I find it liberating to live a little of the fire and passion of our heroines through this programme. Their situations are so extreme, and thankfully not ones I have experienced in my own life, but it’s amazing to step into their shoes guided by such brilliant music. Do you have a favourite? Musically, Phaedra. Britten conjures an amazing sound world: the vibrancy of the string orchestra with the otherworldly additions of solo cello and harpsichord, and the representation of her sometimes madness, sometimes strength, in the percussion parts. In terms of wider story, Medea is the queen for me. She is an amazing mouthpiece for the injustice of being an outsider. At a time when women were given
so little right to talk, she makes herself heard and impossible to be ignored.
Greek myth has of course been much in the spotlight in recent months. Was this concert in any way influenced by the release of Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey ? It’s completely unplanned, but a nice coincidence! This programme has been an idea for many years; the anniversary of Benjamin Britten’s death this year and the opportunity to collaborate with Britten Sinfonia gave the impetus it needed to jump to life. It’s certainly apposite that many in the audience will have The Odyssey in their mind (and Odysseus does make a brief appearance in one of the orchestral pieces – Ulysses Awakes by John Woolrich). It’s exciting to think they might draw some of their own connections that we never even intended. Does it feel good to be dedicating such a powerful programme – and yourself – to women of myth, given that their stories
28 OCTOBER 2026 CAMBSEDITION.CO.UK
Powered by FlippingBook