ARTicles vol.5 i.3a: Britannicus Program Notes

The Action of the Play:

Last night, Princess Junia was kidnapped and brought to the palace by order of the Emperor. Nero’s mother Agrippina had promised Junia’s hand in marriage to his stepbrother Britannicus. However, Nero knows that Junia’s royal blood could grant her husband a claim to the throne. Nero stops the marriage; but by rebelling against his mother’s wishes, he prompts an alliance between Agrippina and Britannicus that could lead to revolution.

The Characters – as imagined by Racine:

Agrippina: Nero’s mother. Agrippina married her uncle, the Emperor Claudius, and arranged for her son to marry Claudius’ daughter Octavia. She convinced Claudius to adopt Nero and grant him rights of succession equal to those of Claudius’ son Britannicus. After poisoning the Emperor, Agrippina had Nero installed on the throne and has enjoyed powerful influence over him until recently.

Albina: Agrippina’s attendant.

Burrhus: a distinguished General and advisor to Nero. Burrhus served the Emperor Claudius in the field and was appointed Nero’s tutor by Agrippina. However, they find themselves at odds when Burrhus’ advice to Nero contradicts Agrippina’s will.

Britannicus: son of the late Emperor Claudius and brother of Nero’s wife Octavia. Britannicus was betrothed to the Princess Junia and would have succeeded his father on the throne if not for Agrippina and Nero.

Narcissus: Britannicus’ tutor. A former slave who rapidly rose to power in Claudius’ court, he was briefly exiled because of his ambitious scheming.

Nero: the young Emperor. Born Lucius Domitius, he took the name Nero upon adoption by Claudius. The first three years of his reign have been peaceful thanks to the advice of Burrhus and Seneca. However, he has begun to resent his mother’s ambition, his arranged marriage to Octavia, and his lack of independence.

Junia: descendant of the Emperor Augustus and the last surviving member of her family. Her brother Silanus was betrothed to Octavia but killed himself when Agrippina broke the engagement. Junia was betrothed to Octavia’s brother Britannicus when he was still heir apparent. She has remained committed to him and shunned the court after Nero became Emperor in his place.

– Prepared by Miriam Weisfeld with contributions from Heather L. Helinsky, Sarah Wallace, and Njal Mjoes.

The First Performance of Britannicus:

By all accounts the 1669 premiere of Jean Racine’s Britannicus was a total failure. Opening night at Paris’ Hôtel du Bourgogne, normally filled with shopkeepers from the rue Saint-Denis, suffered the embarrassment of a mostly empty house. Pierre Corneille, one of France’s leading tragedians and Racine’s primary rival, sat amongst the empty boxes, gloating over his adversary’s flop. The play, however, is not to blame for a lack of ticket sales. A far more dramatic event unfolded simultaneously attracting the Hôtel’s usual crowds. Found guilty of high treason, a Huguenot marquis’ beheading occurred concurrently with the opening of Britannicus, stealing away its audience.

– By Sarah Wallace

Racine’s Historical Inspiration: The Annals, by Tacitus

On the rise of Agrippina and Nero in the court of Emperor Claudius:

“[Agrippina] lured her uncle [Claudius] and engineered the wedding of Domitius and Octavia, Caesar’s daughter – which could not be accomplished without crime, because Caesar had betrothed Octavia to L. Silanus. … Domitius – now son-in-law by troth – became the equal of Britannicus. … Adoption was being hurried up for Domitius on the instigation of Pallas, who [was] bound to Agrippina as the arranger of her wedding and soon entangled with her in illicit sex. … Claudius gave Domitius – the elder by three years – precedence over his son. [Domitius] crossed to the Claudian family and its name of “Nero.” With this accomplished, there was no one so devoid of pity that he was not affected by sorrow at Britannicus’ fortune. … It was then that Agrippina – long determined on her crime, debated about the type of poison. … If she selected a slow-wasting one, Claudius on nearing his end might recognize the deception and return to loving his son. She selected an artist in such matters, by designation Locusta, recently convicted of poisoning. … On the third before the Ides of October, with the doors of the Palatium suddenly flung open, in the company of Burrhus, Nero emerged. (They say that some hesitated, looking around and asking repeatedly where Britannicus was; but soon, with no one to authorize differently, they followed what was being offered.) Nero was hailed as Commander.”

On the court of Nero:

“[Nero] cast off all compliance towards his mother and entrusted himself to Seneca…. Then Agrippina approached her young son with blandishments, and offered her own bedroom and lap as an alternative for the concealment of what his young age and high fortune demanded. But the closest of his friends begged him to beware the traps of a woman who had always been frightening but was now deceitful too. … Nero, hostile to those on whom her womanly haughtiness depended, removed Pallas. … After this, Agrippina rushed headlong to terror and threats, nor did she exempt the ears of the princeps from her testimony that Britannicus was now mature, the true and worthy stock for undertaking his father’s command. … She had no objection, she said, if all the ills of the unhappy house were revealed, and her own deed of poisoning. … Under pressure from Agrippina’s threats, and because there were no grounds for a charge and he did not dare openly to order the slaughter of his brother, [Nero] engineered things secretly and ordered poison to be prepared.”

– Translated by A.J. Woodman and edited by Miriam Weisfeld.

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