“This is not about love, this is about guilt and terror”: Phaedra Backwards (2011) and forwards by Marina Carr

Abstract

ABSTRACT Marina Carr’s relationship with the Greeks has been acknowledged in her Midlands tragedies and Ariel (2002). However, Phaedra Backwards (2011), one of her latest versions of a Greek myth, has not yet received the critical attention it deserves. This analysis aims to view Carr’s play as an example of an adaptation that constitutes a valuable contribution to the corpus of Irish versions of Greek tragedies; the discussion also intends to consider to what extent Carr is close or departs from the classical myth and what are the implications of this for the main protagonist. Whether the play is a feminist adaptation of Euripides, in terms of the major themes it represents – the representation of women, their agency and search for identity – and the transformation of mythological figures such as the Minotaur are other questions that will be addressed. A revision of Phaedra’s previous stories, from Euripides to contemporary accounts, unveils the new meanings acquired as the myth travels in time and confirms that Phaedra Backwards is a revision of the classical myth where the changes of time constitute the spaces for adaptation in which the background stories reconstruct and announce the future of the myth.