<i>Eggo en</i>/ <i>Narcissus en </i>(2023): A Deconstructed Myth for Two Schools and Two Voices

<p dir="ltr"><i>Eggo en</i> and <i>Narcissus en</i> are interlinked one-act plays, conceived as narrative counterparts that reimagine the myth of Echo and Narcissus for the stage. Commissioned in 2023 by Bloemhof Girls’ School for the ATKV-Tienertoneel competition, the project was initially designed as a collaboration with Stellenbosch High School. However, competition rules prohibited co-productions between mixed schools. To resolve this, two separate but narratively entangled plays were written - <i>Eggo en</i> from Echo’s perspective, and <i>Narcissus en</i> from Narcissus’s - each produced by a different school.</p><p dir="ltr">This dual-play structure maintained thematic cohesion while adhering to institutional constraints, and became a vehicle to reintroduce classical mythology in a contemporary South African school setting.</p><p dir="ltr">The creative research asked: <i>How can two autonomous but structurally linked plays, developed independently, function as a cohesive dramatic experience?</i> Additional questions included:</p><ul><li>How can classical mythology be adapted into a contemporary digital idiom without losing its poetic and psychological weight?</li><li>What new dramaturgical possibilities arise from separating and reuniting narrative subjectivities?</li><li>How can transtextual dialogue across institutions expand both artistic and pedagogical engagement?</li></ul><p dir="ltr">The project aimed to create a split but interdependent theatrical narrative that reflects dual perspectives on a shared myth. Beyond artistic goals, the plays served as a pedagogical tool—offering learners a means to explore myth, dramatic form, and voice through the embodied experience of performance.</p><p dir="ltr">This project follows a practice-as-research methodology (Nelson, 2013), informed by adaptation theory, deconstruction, collaboration studies, and Genette’s transtextuality. Hutcheon (2006) provides the foundation for the adaptive logic behind reworking myth into modern settings. Both plays are set in Stellenbosch schools. Eddie (Echo) and Nardus (Narcissus) never meet in person but fall in love through social media. When they message each other, they speak in poetic verse; all other dialogue is prose. This division highlights the dissonance between idealised longing and mundane reality.</p><p dir="ltr">Genette’s theory of transtextuality, particularly <i>hypertextuality</i> and <i>intertextuality</i>, shaped the dramaturgy (Genette, 1997). The plays are hypertexts of the original myth and intertexts of each other. Their five-act structures are identical - (1) meeting, (2) desire, (3) plan to meet, (4) escape, (5) descent into madness - but their trajectories are inverted. <i>Eggo en</i> begins with order and dissolves into chaos; <i>Narcissus en</i> begins in chaos and narrows into focused obsession.</p><p dir="ltr">Deconstructive logic frames the mirroring: each play critiques the other’s assumptions and reveals the flaws in its protagonist’s worldview. The doubling destabilises narrative authority, echoing the myth’s core themes of reflection and misrecognition.</p><p dir="ltr">Although the schools rehearsed separately, a collaborative framework was maintained. The casts were in conceptual dialogue, treating their “invisible counterparts” as real. Performance order varied per showing, reshaping audience perception and intertextual dynamics (Levinson, 2017).</p><p dir="ltr">Subplots reinforce character complexity: Eddie contends with an abusive mother and a younger sister she cannot leave. Nardus’s arc is shaped by his absent, promiscuous father and an aching desire to feel seen.</p><p dir="ltr">This dual-play model demonstrates how fragmented, collaborative dramaturgy can serve both artistic innovation and youth pedagogy. Transtextuality becomes a tool not only for adaptation, but for collaboration—structuring a theatrical conversation between texts, schools, and learners.</p><p dir="ltr">Through mirrored structure, poetic fragmentation, and indirect performance dialogue, <i>Eggo en</i> and <i>Narcissus en</i> offer a fresh model for myth adaptation. They teach structure, voice, and intertextuality through lived, embodied practice - bringing ancient myth to life within the very conditions of contemporary South African youth theatre.</p><p dir="ltr"><br></p>