Mark Sherman: Lauren!!!
Some of us were talking about it after rehearsal today and were wondering what the back story to these two characters are.
How did they fall in love? Does Hippolyta really love Theseus or is she forced to?
Let me know what you think..
Lauren Beck: Excellent question. As you know from the text, Theseus wooed Hippolyta with his sword. And although there are many versions of the myth, they all involve Theseus (sometimes with "kinsmen Hercules") kidnapping and conquering Hippolyta. HOWEVER, this does not necessarily mean that Hippolyta is forced to marry or love Theseus. I mean, just because Theseus conquered Hippolyta, doesn't mean he HAS to marry her. I like to think that Hippolyta, the queen of the Amazons has never met a man that could defeat her, while Theseus, a royal conqueror, has perhaps never met a woman who could dominate him. These two, being sort of equally matched in strength, intelligence, and aggression, I believe, DO fall in love. And rather than see Hippolyta as surrendering to Theseus, we can almost see Theseus surrendering part of his dukedom to Hippolyta. That's how I like to see it anyway. ESPECIALLY in the more modern context of the 1960s. Although even by just examining the text, we can see that Hippolyta stands her ground with Theseus, and isn't a meek creature in the background.
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