The Nymph Kyllene in Tony Harrison’s "The Trackers of Oxyrhynchus"

Abstract

Tony Harrison’s play The Trackers of Oxyrhynchus, chosen as one of the 100 best plays of the 20th century by the National Theatre Millennium Poll, came in from the desire to bring the Greek genre of satyr play back to stage, since there are scarce satyr plays when compared with the amount of classical tragedies and comedies. The Trackers of Oxyrhynchus is a reworking of the papyri fragments of the satyr play Ichneutae (Trackers) by Sophocles, which was inspired by the Homeric Hymn to Hermes. This paper analyses Tony Harrison’s version performed at Delphi (1988), focusing on the importance of the role of the nymph Kyllene. Although she neither appears in the Homeric Hymn nor plays a leading role in either Sophocles’ version or Harrison’s, she represents a noticeable theatrical contrast with the satyrs, who feature heavily in Sophocles’ Ichneutae and Harrison’s version. Therefore, the character of Kyllene will be examined to find out which elements from the Homeric Hymn to Hermes and Sophocles’ Ichneutae Tony Harrison has kept and which ones he has modified. Furthermore, I will study the reasons why he has carried out these changes and conclude with an interpretive analysis of Harrison’s play.