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Show 286 THE CODE OF TERPSICHORE. HIPPOLYTUS. A GRAND PANTOMIMICAL BALLET, IN FIVE ACTS. A R G U M E N T. THIS Ballet was founded upon what has reached us of Euripides, upon Seneca, and more particularly upon the Phidre of Racine. The plot has given me great trouble in forming, from the necessity of explaining that part of the fable which precedes the action, and which cannot be related or expressed by gesture..-BOURDEAUX, 1814. In the first Act, therefore, I have supposed the incident of a dream, which, by representing all that is necessary for unfolding the subject, enables the spectator easily to comprehend the whole of the following intrigue. Before m y performance, no one had attempted a Ballet upon this subject; no Ballet-master, I believe, has yet adapted it to his purposes in any shape. CHARACTERS. THESEUS, Son of Egeus, King of Athens. He is returning into his Kingdom, after having vanquished the tyrant, who detained him long a. prisoner for having assisted his friend Pyrithous, the companion of his labours. P H ^ D R A , wife of Theseus, and daughter of Minos and Pasiphai; in love with Hippolytus. HIPPOLYTUS, Son of Theseus and Antiope, Queen of the Amazons ; in love with Aricia. |
