Mr Racine

Mr Racine is Emma and Lily's history teacher. Of all the teachers they have had, he is easily one of the best. But, this isn't about him.

Book report:

Racine, Phaedra and Britannicus
Racine was a 17th century French playwright. So, post-Shakespeare, not Greek. Phaedra is exactly like what would happen if Euripides or Aeschylus wrote one of their plays after reading Shakespeare. It had all the feel of the classic Greek dramas, yet it felt liberated from the conventions of Greek drama. No chorus, a slightly larger set of main characters, longer speeches and monologues. But, still, somehow, it seemed like reading a Greek drama. The story of Phaedra was great; the characters were quite interesting. I have a very hard time, however, imagining any actress who would be good enough to play the title role, and only a marginally easier time imagining actors to play the primary male roles. I suspect seeing this play would be a terrible disappointment.

Britannicus was also good, but not as great. Set in the court of a young Nero, we get to watch the young ruler grow up to be, well, Nero. While the setting was Rome rather than Greece, the play still has the underlying tone of a Greek drama.

I read the George Dillon translation of both--I haven't compared translations to know how this one rates as a translation--but, it read well in English.

I asked Emma and Lily if they would ask their teacher if he has any relation to the author, but neither of them seemed to care.