Night Journey (1960)

Night Journey

1960

Music Drama

Synopsis

Night Journey, the dance, had its premiere only two and a half years after Appalachian Spring, and it is a close cousin. It too has a stream-of-consciousness narration: Jocasta, as she is about to kill herself, remembering what has happened to her. It too contains soul-delving solos, broken up by ensemble dances. Here, however, the ensemble is a darker element. As the story was taken from Greek tragedy, so the corps is the equivalent of Greek tragedy’s chorus. They tell us how to feel: afraid mostly. In this piece Graham pushed her habitual economy to its limits.

Credits

Director

Alexander Hammid

Cast

Akiko Kanda as Chorus

Bertram Ross as King Oedipus

Bette Shaler as Chorus

Carol Payne as Chorus

Ethel Winter as Chorus

Helen McGehee as Chorus Leader

Linda Hodes as Chorus

Martha Graham as Queen Jocasta