The Rolling Stones at Slane

Rock'n Roll star Mick Jagger appeared at Slane Castle in an innovatively presented Greek-style drama, "The Eighties Meet the Rolling Stones". In an intriguing twist on the traditional spare format of the drama, the chorus alone took the stage, and the main action in this allegory about accepting the passage of time was presented by a very large cast on a grassy hillside before the chorus. Unfortunately , the size of the production left little room for the audience, only ten or fifteen in number, who had to observe from atop the castle itself.

In a traditional Greek tragedy, much of the dramatic tension lies in a conflict between the hero and the chorus, the former being blind to thea terrible desstiny which the latter sees clearly and describes lugubriously. A second innovation introduced was the thorough, if reserved; unanimity of cast and chorus. When Jagger said have a good time, the crowd (a cast of 80,000 seems a bit much, but then, Cecile B. DeMille had to be shown up some time) jumped to, without so much as defying the gods, or indulging in a brief soliloquoy, They clapped their hands when instructed, yelled along, and cheered with delight at Jagger's "Remember this one?" And remember they did, looking back fondly on the decades that made the Stones great.

For that considerable part of the cast who actually heard "Sattisfaction" when the song was young, the chorus was telling them of destiny; that they had arrived there, and .. wasn't it nice? These had discovered the Stones in the uncertain past when they were the minstels of a frustrated youth in a divided society. Now they met again, and both the band and the youths were prossperous and middle-aged, and ready to get down. You won't catch Aeschylus patting anyone on the back like that.

But the most poignant scenes. were enacted by those who came not to see their past grown wealthy, but to reminisce, perhaps relive just a bit. Like a good tragic chorus, the Stones told them: you can't go back, the eighties are here - and besides, they're, fun. Aren't they?