Goethe's Iphigenie auf Tauris in a new version by Dan Farrelly

IT IS CLEAR THAT, IF THE PLAY IS TO LIVE, it must live largely off the dialogue, and that the dialogue has to be based on psychological tensions which are recognisable as part of our modern life. The production of Goethe's play has to guarantee that the plot gathers momentum and that the tension mounts to an almost unbearable degree for lphigenie when she sings the song of the fates at the end of Act Four. Faced with the dilemma of betraying Thoas or destroying the Greeks, tempted to despair of the gods - to curse them and accept that her family is cursed - lphigenie is at breaking point. This is no cold, marble statue, Greek or otherwise.

Of course, the significance of her solution can be debated. With regard to her truthfulness, her openness to Thoas, her humanity, we could ask: are these acceptable solutions to the conflict? At least Goethe doesn't look outside the world of our experience for a solution. Nor does he see that lies and cunning - the tactics employed in Euripides' play and suggested by Pylades in Goethe's play - have any role to play. The solution depends on people and on the way they decide to relate to one another. Much hinges on the integrity of a small group of people, on their ability to build trust. Integrity and trust are the solution offered by Goethe two hundred years ago. In this sense, the play poses a problem for society at the beginning of the new millennium.