Agamemnon is a Greek tragedy by Aeschylus, written about 458 BC in Athens. Over 2500 years later, the University of Oxford Classical Drama Society have brought this play to twenty-first century Oxford. They have succeeded admirably in giving the audience such a vivid impression of this most ancient style of drama.
The play is performed completely in the original ancient; it is performed without adornment or dramatic alteration, attempting to show us what the play would have looked like as its author originally intended (or as far as possible without an outdoor amphitheatre). In a time of dumbed-down television this is a welcome sight. The play runs continuously for two hours without an interval. The costumes are stark, the actors’ faces hidden by masks as the original Greeks’ would have been. The music is simple notes, riffs and chords. The only accommodation to the English-speaking audience is a translation projected in surtitles on a screen above the stage.
Yet though this might sound boring it was anything but. The performances were incredible; the static mask faces a tool for the actors’ emotions rather than a hindrance. The language, though incomprehensible (to me at least), was thoroughly imbued with meaning in tone and inflexion. This was no recitation of a dead language, the words were brought alive. To hear such emotion and meaning being conveyed so powerfully in a language that was not the players’ first language was amazing. The chorus was brilliant, singing the words in a mournful chant as the dancers gave a visual representation of the tragic words.
The plot was simple enough but plot is secondary to this play. The importance is the argument of the play, with its central themes of piety, fate and justice. Impiety to the gods and the natural laws is revenged, justice cannot be escaped, fate is inexorable. We find that a curse has been laid on Agamemnon’s house, of blood feuds and kin killing kin. This is a central theme throughout Greek tragedy is brilliantly portrayed in this play. It is a delight to see such strong performances. I will warn that it may put some people off that there is very little action, the chorus dancing is slow, ponderous and measured and the speeches are proclaimed from almost stationary positions with very little direct interaction between the characters. Yet this feels right for the style of play and it was a very interesting experience; one I would strongly recommend.
The play is performed completely in the original ancient; it is performed without adornment or dramatic alteration, attempting to show us what the play would have looked like as its author originally intended (or as far as possible without an outdoor amphitheatre). In a time of dumbed-down television this is a welcome sight. The play runs continuously for two hours without an interval. The costumes are stark, the actors’ faces hidden by masks as the original Greeks’ would have been. The music is simple notes, riffs and chords. The only accommodation to the English-speaking audience is a translation projected in surtitles on a screen above the stage.
Yet though this might sound boring it was anything but. The performances were incredible; the static mask faces a tool for the actors’ emotions rather than a hindrance. The language, though incomprehensible (to me at least), was thoroughly imbued with meaning in tone and inflexion. This was no recitation of a dead language, the words were brought alive. To hear such emotion and meaning being conveyed so powerfully in a language that was not the players’ first language was amazing. The chorus was brilliant, singing the words in a mournful chant as the dancers gave a visual representation of the tragic words.
The plot was simple enough but plot is secondary to this play. The importance is the argument of the play, with its central themes of piety, fate and justice. Impiety to the gods and the natural laws is revenged, justice cannot be escaped, fate is inexorable. We find that a curse has been laid on Agamemnon’s house, of blood feuds and kin killing kin. This is a central theme throughout Greek tragedy is brilliantly portrayed in this play. It is a delight to see such strong performances. I will warn that it may put some people off that there is very little action, the chorus dancing is slow, ponderous and measured and the speeches are proclaimed from almost stationary positions with very little direct interaction between the characters. Yet this feels right for the style of play and it was a very interesting experience; one I would strongly recommend.