Octavia
Memorial Theatre, Victoria University, Wellington
09/10/2025 - 11/10/2025
Production Details
Directors: Nathaniel Smith and Stephanie Mckie
Producer: Lucy Aitken
Scenographer: Arcadia Wardley
Composer: Lucy Aitken
Attributed to Psuedo-Seneca
Translators from the original Latin to English:
Cassidy Abbot, Angus Auty, Isaac Bennett-Smith, Juliet Tipler Clemett, Alex Davey, Aidan Economu, Jay Featherstone-Wright, Lillian Graham, Dara Jagose-Dickens, James Parrott
Victoria Ancient Theatre Society
The Victoria University of Wellington’s own Ancient Theatre Society (VATS) is in its 11th year of operation and going strong! After a string of plays made in ancient Greece, this year has seen its roads return to Rome with the Latin tragedy of Octavia—the only extant Roman play set in Rome and about historical events, rather than the mythic or comic.
Often attributed to Seneca, but likely in truth penned in the Flavian dynasty by an unknown playwright we know as Pseudo-Seneca, Octavia is a treatise on the dangers of unabated power and passions as told through the divorce and hardships of the titular Octavia—the first wife of Emperor Nero.
Emperor Nero, famously known for his despotism and allegedly lighting the city of Rome aflame (an event that takes place after the events of Octavia!), is the last emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. The Julio-Claudian line, first ruled by Augustus, heralded the informal end of the republic and Roman democracy in favour of authoritarian rule by the princeps—the supposed “first of many.” This transition to empire restricted the freedoms and rights of Roman citizens, but was welcomed nonetheless: to many, it was a necessary sacrifice for security and stability.
In Octavia, however, we see a surprisingly self-reflective tale on the cost of putting ultimate power into the hands of one. Claudia Octavia, seen by many of Rome as the true heir of the Julio-Claudian line, was married to Nero to secure his rise to preeminence. Now, Nero seeks her gone in exchange for his new love, whilst the people long for her to return the glory of the divine Julio-Claudians from Nero’s capricious claws. All Octavia wants is to be far from any of these expectations weighing heavy on her soul. Unfortunately for her, she may just get what she wishes…
A parable of illustrious excess, philosophical quandaries, and ruthless politics, Octavia is a look back in time to an ancient Rome that may remind us of our own world—in the worst of ways.
“Although Octavia is a tragedy, it is also a profoundly human story. When I first read the play, I was struck by how relevant the themes of power and its (mis)use still feel today. This makes it a timely show for VATS, and I think, for everyone. Overall, Octavia shows us that while resisting tyranny may seem futile, humanity wins out over power.” says co-director Steph Mckie.
VATS is a student-led club at Victoria University of Wellington that puts on an ancient play annually, celebrating the fusion of Classical Studies and Theatre. Our priorities are to learn from the unique experience of restaging ancient works of art and to simply have some fun along the way. This year’s VATS team can’t wait to share both of these in abundance with the Wellington community.
The Victoria Ancient Theatre Society’s production of Psuedo-Seneca’s Octavia takes place at the
Memorial Theatre at Victoria University of Wellington,
on the 9th-11th of October 2025
at 7:30 pm, with doors opening at 7pm.
Waged tickets are $15, unwaged are $10, and high school tickets with a valid ID are $5.
Tickets are available through EventFinda at the link below, with door sales also available at the venue.
The link for purchasing is: https://www.eventfinda.co.nz/2025/octavia-vats-production2/wellington.
CAST:
Octavia: Sapphire Redwood
Nero: Christian Harris
Agrippina: Tuscany King
Poppaea: Hannah Richardson
Seneca: Tim Johnston
Prefect: Leander Mason
Messengers: Alex Davey, Angus Auty, Ryan Cleland
Octavia’s Nurses: Lillyana Ferrarini, Edie Moore, Phoebe O’Neill
Poppaea’s Nurses: Laura Cowles, Zoe Harris
Claudius: Fin Hingston
Nero’s Chorus: Jack Porter, Molly Powell, Namu Dahlberg
Octavia’s Chorus: Aston Matheson, Ffion Young, Georgia Ritchie, Iona Graham, Natan Chadzynski
CREW:
Stage Manager: Teg Ward
Assistant Stage Manager: Robin Bowen
Props Manager: Lily Miller
Stage Hand: Emerson Dahldavis
Lead Lighting: Jenaya Peterson
Assistant Lighting: Glitch Colbeck
Sound Designer: Tim Johnston
Sound Operators: Matthew Jones, Rebecca Stirling
Show Photography and Videography: Ezra Jones-Moki
Make-up designers: Tam Maxwell, Rosie Mazur, Arcadia Wardley
Set and costume design: Charlotte Hayes, Stephanie Mckie, Arcadia Wardley
Set and props makers: Bryanna Cassidy, Irene Alemany, Cassandra Atkinson, Ruth Corkill, Emerson Dahldavis, Alex Davey, Thomas Donnell, Holly Fahey, Sophie Flowerday, Iona Graham, Molly Harms, Miriam Harvey, Charlotte Hayes, Fin Hingston, Stephanie McKie, Ryan Mckie, Esmond Paterson, Nora Quigley, Sapphire Redwood, Georgia Ritchie, Nathaniel Smith, Arcadia Wardley, Lauren Wilson, Sophie Wood
Theatre ,
80 minutes
Well-coordinated production with strong, enthusiastic, energetic cast
Review by Tim Stevenson 10th Oct 2025
Following last year’s Iphigeneia at Aulis, here’s another utterly admirable production from the Victoria Ancient Theatre Society (VATS). This year’s offering is Octavia, a seething brew of murder, civic unrest, resentful ghosts, family strife and more murder, all presided over by erratic and murderous Emperor Nero.
In some ways, it’s a bold choice. The thumbnail above makes Octavia sound rather exciting, particularly if murder and sexual politics in Imperial Rome is your thing. The premise is tight: Nero is about to divorce Octavia, his wife and stepsister, so he can marry Poppae. However, the Roman mob favours Octavia and is moved to protest Nero’s treatment of her. This displeases Nero and turns him even further against Octavia, whom he hated in the first place. So it’s a tense situation and Octavia’s prospects are looking dark.
There’s a ton of conflict going on, mostly driven by erratic, murder-oriented Nero, but the text tends to be exposition-heavy. There’s more telling than showing, and definitely nothing graphic, which can affect the pace and colour of what’s happening on stage. So, for example, Octavia does a lot of lamenting about how badly she is placed right now and why.
This is where the special skills of the clever people at VATS come into play. They don’t miss a trick when it comes to breathing life into the script; not just through the skilful delivery of the lines, but with music, stage business, human tableaux, dance and procession, and imaginative lighting. Sure, these are standard theatrical tools, but I’m impressed by how much fertile imagination and applied effort has gone into keeping Octavia moving.
As mentioned, and judging by what I saw on opening night, managing pace is one of the challenges for this production (I guess the same would go for any production of Octavia). Another is how to voice the text. Octavia is written in Latin verse which has been translated by students and ex-students at Victoria University* – a magnificent feat in its own right, by the way. The translation favours naturalistic speech, but there’s still a lot of Roman history and telling-not-showing to be delivered through dialogue.
My impression is that the actors who are most successful at this take their time and trust the lines, in particular avoiding the temptation to rush. Standouts here included Sapphire Redwood (Octavia), Christian Harris (Nero), Tuscany King (Agrippina) and Hannah Richardson (Poppaea). I particularly admire Tim Johnston’s performance as Seneca. It’s not a glamorous part and the material (an overview of Roman history going way back, plus judicious commentary) is a bit dry, but he gives it a confident, controlled dignity that I appreciate.
It’s a strong, enthusiastic, energetic cast overall. The production has obviously put a lot of work into its choruses, and while not every idea works, the effort pays off. My favourite here is the description, with appropriate action, of Nero’s murder of his mother (he tried to drown her with a ship designed to fall apart, but she survived and he had a soldier kill her the old-fashioned way). This is a long, sustained sequence and the chorus makes it both gleefully gruesome and entertaining.
I’ve already touched on the contribution of the lighting (Lead Lighting: Jenaya Peterson; Assistant Lighting: Glitch Colbeck) and made-for-purpose music (Composer: Lucy Aitken). The exuberance of the makeup deserves its own special mention (Make-up designers: Tam Maxwell, Rosie Mazur, Arcadia Wardley).
Congratulations to the directorial team, Nathaniel Smith and Stephanie McKee – should I also mention scenographer Arcadia Wardley here? – for bringing together such a big production (a cast of 23 plus crew) and pulling so much boisterous creativity together into a well-coordinated whole.
The program gives credit to the staff of Victoria University’s ancient language programs and mentions that the courses they teach are currently endangered.
*Translated from the original Latin by:
Cassidy Abbot, Angus Auty, Isaac Bennett-Smith, Juliet Tipler Clemett, Alex Davey, Aidan Economu, Jay Featherstone-Wright, Lillian Graham, Dara Jagose-Dickens, James Parrott.
Copyright © in the review belongs to the reviewer
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