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Above left: Richard Pyros and Zindzi Okenyo

Above right: Cameron Goodall, Tahki Saul and Brett Stiller

All photos: © Brett Boardman 2010

Zindzi Okenyo

Brett Stiller

Richard Pyros, Sophie Ross and Zindzi Okenyo

Sophie Ross and Brett Stiller

POSTED: 08 JUNE 2010

Oresteia, by Aeschylus, with a new adaptation by Tom Wright

Sydney Theatre Company, Wharf 1, Walsh Bay, Sydney | Until 4 July

Oresteia is the archetypal ancient Greek soap opera, crowded with grisly murders, impassioned affairs, brutal revenge and old-fashioned domestic hatred. It is Aeschylus’s fifth-century BC trio of tragedies: Agamemnon, The Choephori and The Eumenides, which dramatises the curse and fall of the house of Atreus and is one of the most chilling dramas in the annals of literature.

The plays form the only existing example of an ancient Greek trilogy, and Sydney Theatre Company’s permanent ensemble of actors — The Residents — distill them into a consecutive, three-hour, new adaptation by Tom Wright, illustrating the ambition we have come to expect of this company’s productions.

The plot involves an extremely passionate cycle of familial blood-letting instigated by Agamemnon, King of Argos, and proliferated by his wife Clytemnestra and their exiled son Orestes.

The action begins when Agamemnon is faced with the choice of killing his first-born daughter, Iphigenia, or losing the decade-long Trojan war. Motivated by individual ambition, he viciously murders his child and, in doing so, unleashes a sequence of retribution that slashes through his family and the community of Argos.

The scenes in which Clytemnestra fervently awaits the return of her victorious king and husband, whilst preparing horrendous reprisals, are punctuated with commentary by the chorus — in this production, four young women _ and the language is exquisite. The assonance is given full weight by the superb diction of the chorus, coached by Charmian Gradwell. The voices are richly modulated and full of resonance, emphasising particular words, pausing momentarily, so that their meaning reverberates and gains power, before they continue.

The production is gripping, inventive and assured as it negotiates its dark and complex themes elegantly. This is a sensuously rich production where sound, lighting and design combine to evoke the dark world of vengeance. Evocative lighting and sharply defined sounds complement the words, the speeches, the mood and the ebb and flow of the story, so precisely.

Alice Babidge’s stark, yet complex, staging reflects and illuminates the interests in the play, with a triptych of elevator doors which serve to increase the tension and herald the arrival of the characters as the drama moves forward steadily to the inevitable conclusion with impressive solemnity of tone, assisted by the haunting sound design by Max Lyandvert.

Scene follows scene in an ascending scale of tragic intensity with the apprehensions of the chorus, and the hollow and hypocritical greetings between Clytemnestra and Agamemnon. In all these passages the sound of approaching calamity grows louder and louder, until at length it reaches its climax in the ravings of Cassandra, which foretell the commission of the murder.

It is hard not to be impressed by the intricacy and technical flair of this work. The ensemble's performances were uniformly solid. It is unfair, in a sense, to name names. Individuals in the world of The Residents are intentionally included into the force of a collective whole.

Tom Wright's adaptation should be applauded in its ambitious modernising of the trilogy, although it feels uneven and overlong at several points. The underlying interpretation is derived from the generally accepted perception regarding Oresteia as a conflict between matriarchy and patriarchy, a fight between the old and the new gods. In this way, the positive attitude on the revolution of society developing from ancient initial stages to a higher level of civilisation is emphasised. Mankind cannot hope to build a progressive society if there is a constant need for revenge.

Although this production speaks more to the intellect than to the heart, the complex psychological resonances compensate. It negotiates its dark themes elegantly and its clear-sighted commitment to a text obsessed with family as an “incubator of pain” offers us fresh insight into the play.

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