In the Name of the Gods

To be sure, cathartic feeling is as scarce in Hall's severely altered version of Tantalus as spectacle and shtick are prevalent, leading one to wonder whether the director's vision has clouded, rather than crystallized, the writer's. Hall's shaving away of as much as a third of the text during rehearsals appears to have been a wise move, but given that each play is more or less self-contained, eliminating a couple more hours' worth of background information wouldn't have hurt. At times the saga lurches where it should pick up speed, such as in the first two plays of both the beginning and middle segments. And even though the third and final segment begins with the red-hot tale of Hecuba, the play runs out of gas during the anti-climactic trial of Helen. The result is more of an intellectual exercise and feast for the senses -- albeit an expertly staged one -- than a cleansing emotional experience.

Questions of auteurship and tone aside, however, Tantalus does raise questions about the divine forces that humans regard as both infallible and blameworthy, and of the double-headed nature of justice in a world that both demands and rejects absolute answers. Though labored and extended here and there, Hall's production speaks unerringly of the dangers that arise when we aspire to be godlike before understanding our own mortality.