UCLA undergraduate theater students rehearse a scene from their production of the “The Trackers,” an ancient Greek satyr play.
As the afternoon sunlight filters through the windows of Macgowan Hall and illuminates the black rehearsal clothes of a group of UCLA theater undergraduates, they’re not exactly acting as one would expect. Butts pointed skyward, noses firmly planted on the floor, they break out into a pulsing, rhythmic chant, pretending to follow the scent of a trail of cow dung.
“Track. Track. Gotta track, track. Gotta track, track, track. Gotta track, track,” they sing.
Periodic laughter breaks out as some of the actors begin to joke about that certain four-letter word they’re pretending to sniff.
“Hey guys, we’re dealing with 2,500-year-old jokes here,” said Michael Hackett, theater department chair and director of the show, cutting in.
Cow dung. Swearing. This isn’t exactly the usual content of classic Greek theater.
The cast, which also includes masters of fine arts alumni, is preparing to portray a chorus of satyrs ““ the mythical half-man, half-beast followers of Dionysus ““ in a production of Sophocles’ “The Trackers.” The play will be performed at the Getty Villa Friday and Saturday as part of “The Making of a Satyr Play” and will supplement the museum’s larger ongoing exhibition, “The Art of Ancient Greek Theater.”
According to Rainer Mack, manager of education for the Getty Villa, as a satyr play, “The Trackers” is part of a distinct genre of classic Greek plays that were normally performed to lighten the mood after the audience had watched a series of tragedies.
“Satyr plays are this really interesting, really Greek thing that was developed almost as a sort of safety valve in connection to tragedies,” Mack said.
Hackett also emphasized the subversive nature of satyr plays.
“There is a kind of “˜Saturday Night Live’ consciousness, a somewhat rude consciousness where the mythological material that has been treated tragically is now, in some way, made fun of,” he said.
According to Mary Louise Hart, associate curator of antiquities at the Getty Villa, the play is based on a myth in which Hermes steals the sacred cows of Apollo and invents the lyre. Sophocles added a new dynamic to that traditional story by including a chorus of satyrs who must “track down” the lost cattle by following a trail of cow dung.
“(Satyrs are) half-human and half-beast, so they’re really uncivilized,” she said. “What we think is lovely, they think is disgusting. And what we think is revolting seems very natural to them.”
For fourth-year musical theater student Katelyn Myer, the chance to play a satyr is one of the reasons she chose to audition for the play.
“I really like the fact that you can just become an animal and go back to instinctual impulses,” she said.
According to Hart, the original papyrus upon which the play is written will be displayed at the Getty Villa and was discovered in a garbage dump in northern Egypt, where 70 percent of surviving literature from the ancient world comes. Although only 400 lines of “The Trackers” survive, it is one of the most complete satyr plays in existence.
The incomplete nature of “The Trackers” allowed Hackett and individual cast members to come up with their own interpretation of the play.
They analyzed ancient Greek vases that depict actors performing satyr plays and based their movements on what they saw.
“It’s not like a regular play,” said fourth-year theater and acting student Sydney Mason. “We’re experimenting a lot and exploring new things.”
Fourth-year theater student Matt Borst said he was excited about this collaborative approach and about being able to have a hands-on experience with the material.
“What’s been great is that we’ve had the flexibility to just kind of take risks and really just create with each other,” he said.
The educational experience has gone both ways, as Hackett has learned a few things from his actors, as well.
“I’ve learned a lot by looking at the movement. … Things that used to look static to me on the vases now look very alive.”