Review: ‘Memnon’ restores a forgotten African hero to the Classical pantheon at the Getty Villa

For its 18th annual outdoor theater production, the Getty Villa has reached beyond the surviving canon of ancient Greek and Roman plays. A new play by Will Power, “Memnon” tells the tale of the revered African warrior, who was a popular subject of the ancients but whose story was mislaid over the millenniums. Memnon is briefly mentioned in Homer’s “The Odyssey” and his image figures prominently on vase paintings. This world-premiere production of “Memnon,” a collaboration between the Getty Villa and the Classical Theatre of Harlem, represents an act of cultural recovery. In terms of plotting, “Memnon” doesn’t manifest the structural ingenuity of a play by Sophocles, who understood that no matter to what extent fate controls the outcome of a story, it is in those moments when a protagonist is exercising free will that an audience is mostly deeply engaged.