Derek Mahon: Racine’s Phaedra

Length/Form A verse-play in two acts

Allusion to Classical figure Phaedra, Hippolytus, Theseus, Oenone, Theramenes, Aricia, Ismene, Panope, Artemis, Aphrodite

Allusion to classical place Troezen

Relationship to Classical text In the staging of the play, images of Artemis and Aphrodite appear to the right and left of the stage, in a nod to the ancient source (the divine roles are minimised in Racine’s play) and the gods are referred to by their Greek, rather than the Roman names used in Racine’s Neo-Classical reworking.

Classical/post-Classical intertexts Mahon translates Racine’s Phèdre (1677), rather than the ancient texts (i.e Euripides’ Hippolytus and Seneca’s Phaedra). Having studied French Literature at Trinity College, Dublin, and at the Sorbonne, Mahon has frequently translated and reworked French texts. See, for instance, The Chimeras, a version of Les Chimères by Gérard de Nerval (Dublin: The Gallery Press, 1982) and High Time, after Molière’s The School for Husbands (Dublin: The Gallery Press, 1985).