In the second part of Aeschylus’ trilogy, the main character is Electra, mourning her murdered father and obsessing over the anticipated return of her brother, Orestes, with whom she plans to take revenge for Agamemnon. In the bleak opening, Electra mourns over her father’s grave. Her laments are added to those of the women of the Chorus, the Libation Bearers. There, she is reunited with her brother, who returns after many years abroad, together with his loyal friend, Pylades, both disguised into foreigners. Upon seeing her in mourning, Orestes realizes they will be allies and reveals himself to her in what is one of the most powerful scene of recognition (anagnorisis) in ancient drama. With Electra’s aid, Orestes and Pylades pretend to be foreigners bringing the dead Orestes’ ashes home. After Clytemnestra welcomes Orestes, he reveals his identity to her and murders both her and her lover and accomplice, Aegisthus. The Furies arrive, relentlessly pursuing Orestes. The hero will eventually be acquitted at Areopagus at the third part of the trilogy, The Eumenides.
With English surtitles
Direction: Argyro Chioti
Translation: Thanasis Valtinos
Dramaturgy: VASISTAS, Efthymis Theou
Lighting design: Tasos Palaioroutas
Music: Jan Van de Engel
Costume design: Iro Vagioti, with Matina Megla
Assistant director: Gely Kalampaka
Artistic collaborator: Ariane Labed
Set design: Eva Manidaki
Construction of musical instruments: Antonis Chatziperoglou
Dramaturgy consultant: Nikos A. Panagiotopoulos
Cast: Evi Saoulidou, Evdoxia Androulidaki, Aeneias Tsamatis, Antonis Antonopoulos, Fidel Talampoukas, Matina Pergioudaki, Yannis Klinis, Georgina Chryskioti, Eleni Vergeti, Dimitris Kontos, Argyro Chioti
Co-production: Athens & Epidaurus Festival - Municipal and Regional Theatre of Kavala - Philippi Festival
Supported by Municipality of Moschato & Tavros
“Am I shouting to the deaf and fruitlessly wasting my voice on people who are asleep?”
The greatest mourning song of ancient Greek literature. A premeditated crime perpetrated on stage, with the complicity of the audience.
This performance will focus on the chorus, this powerful voice that is constantly on stage, pushing things forward and inciting to murder. The VASISTAS group approaches the play as a profound conflict between human instincts and social conformity. The chorus is a massive voice watching, directing, and ultimately holding power over everything. The chorus is the social mandate that occasionally wrests control and defines the course of history.
The two main characters of the play, Orestes and Electra, are like two puppets with barely any right to make choices for themselves. They are weighed down by the burden of the past, forced to follow it all the way, making a seemingly impossible choice. Their future is inextricably bound with the act of murder.
