Sophocles’ Ichneutae (“The Trackers”) – 2024

    St. Olaf Greek Play MMXXIV

    Cast of Sophocles’ Ichneutae (“The Trackers”) – April 26, 2024
    Click here for a copy of the poster for Sophocles’ Ichneutae.
    Click here for a copy of the program for Sophocles’ Ichneutae.

    Tour Schedule

    Wednesday, April 24, 2024
    Great Oaks Academy (Farmington) — 8:45 a.m
    Blake School, Upper School (Minneapolis) — 10:45 a.m.
    Holy Family Catholic High School (Victoria) — 12:30 p.m.
    Macalester College (St. Paul) — 3:45 p.m.

    Thursday, April 25, 2024
    Parnassus Preparatory School (Maple Grove) — 8:45 a.m.
    Agamim Classical Academy (Edina) — 11:00 a.m.
    St. Croix Preparatory Academy (Stillwater) — 1:30 p.m.
    Gustavus Adolphus College (St. Peter) — 4:45 p.m.

    Friday-Saturday, April 26-27, 2024
    St. Olaf College, Christiansen Hall of Music 233 (Fosnes Hall) — 7:30 p.m.

    Trackers pose in front of Apollo’s temple

    BACKGROUND TO THE PLAY

    Ancient Greek tragedians like Sophocles (c. 496-406 BCE) wrote not only tragedies but also satyr plays—comical spoofs or parodies of serious drama. Each has a plot based on Greek myth, and each includes a chorus of boastful satyrs (goat-men with horses’ tails) who take on a surprising new job or try out a new profession, different from their traditional role as the wild and rambunctious companions of the god Dionysus.

    Today, the only satyr play that survives completely intact is Euripides’ Cyclops. Sophocles’ Ichneutae (“The Trackers”) is the next-best preserved. Early in the 20th century, a papyrus manuscript containing more than 400 verses of the play (from the middle portion; the opening and the ending are still lost) was discovered at Oxyrhynchus, Egypt; it was published in 1912. The playwright Tony Harrison wrote an adaptation, The Trackers of Oxyrhynchus, which premiered in the ancient stadium at Delphi in 1988.

    Sophocles’ play is based on the Homeric Hymn to Hermes, in which Hermes, though just a new-born baby, is already clever (and naughty!) enough to steal Apollo’s herd of cows and to construct a lyre out of a tortoise shell. In the Ichneutae, Apollo hires the satyrs to be hunters and track down his lost cows. For our production, we have added a cowboy, made Hermes less naughty, and replaced the satyrs with a different sort of track team.

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