The Oresteia

[jbird5]

Posted: 7/17/22 at 5:38am

Get thee to the Armory indeed.  This is even more worthy of 4 hours of your time than Hamlet.  
 

Robert Icke has added a 70 minute prologue that details the events leads to The Oresteia.  Its very poignant in a post Roe vs Wade world.  Agamemnon does the unthinkable but it’s his faith and sense of duty that drives him to it.  It’s logical and cold-blooded, but a nonbeliever might find his logic to be BS.

Angus King anchors the production like a taller, lankier Sir Patrick Stewart.  Also tall and lanky Anastasia Hille matches him as Clytemnestra (Jennifer Ehle does not appear in this production).  The two children playing Orestes and especially Iphigenia nearly steel the show.

After an intermission we get to Aeschylus, I think.  There are some modern touches that make me think there are more additions.  At this performance Imani Jade Powers played Electra and was stunning.  I don’t know if she’s permanent in the role.  Eboni Booth is listed as the regular.  Hara Yannas just screams jibberish as Cassandra for the short time she’s on stage.  This girl just had the worst luck of anyone ever.  I didn’t connect with Luke Treadaway’s Orestes.  It would have served both productions to have switched him with Alex Lawther.  Lawther’s sniveling would have worked better here.

The ending has been reworked for a more woke age but the result is still the same showing things have not really changed.

I thought they would have let the kids go after Act I but I guess they had to stick around for the curtain call.

[Dancingthrulife2]

Posted: 7/17/22 at 12:04pm

Seeing this on Monday. Not a big fan of this Hamlet production though as it felt as it the production is constantly wrestling with the text and not in a good way. The musicality of Bard’s language is mostly lost as all but a few of the characters rush through their lines sans a few monologues. Maybe a translated text in contemporary English like The Oresteria fits it better?

[TotallyEffed]

Posted: 7/17/22 at 12:10pm

How accessible is the production? Wondering how much I need to brush up before seeing it.

[jbird5]

Posted: 7/17/22 at 2:48pm

It’s subtitled “After Aeschylus” like Yerma was “After Lorca”.  It seems to be a very loose interpretation of the original.  As I mentioned there is a prologue that didn’t exist and runs over an hour.  It’s certainly in no way a faithful recreation of the original.  There are lots of modern touches including BBC like television sit downs and forensic psychiatrist.  And the ending is staged like a trial at the Old Bailey.

If you are familiar with the story of the Trojan War and the main characters:  Agamemnon, Clytemnestra, Orestes, etc. you don’t need any  background.  Even if you are not it’s still accessible to a modern audience.  It’s an ice-blue terrifying play about a family. (Credit to Al Ruddy producer of The Godfather)

[TotallyEffed]

Posted: 7/27/22 at 11:04pm

I thought this was quite excellent. The audience started to fidget in the last 25 minutes or so but it is well worth seeing. The set and performances are spectacular.

[Square Peg2]

Posted: 7/28/22 at 5:33am

Having never been to Armory, is anyone able to comment on the quality of Zone B tickets? They're all I'm able to afford at the moment and Today Tix doesn't mark on the map where they are. Is this the kind of theatre where it doesn't matter too much where you sit?

[spicemonkey]

Posted: 7/28/22 at 7:59am

Square Peg2 said: "Having never been to Armory, is anyone able to comment on the quality of Zone B tickets? They're all I'm able to afford at the moment and Today Tix doesn't mark on the map where they are. Is this the kind of theatre where it doesn't matter too much where you sit?"

The stage is quite big and wide.

I think it does not really matter that much even if you sit on the side far left or right, There are some moments when actors are performing on stage left, but they are basically just talking. 

 

It's a great production, well worth seeing.

[Harriet Craig]

Posted: 7/28/22 at 9:16am

There’s a map on the Armory’s website showing where the different zones are:

https://armoryonpark.org/images/content_images/22.04.14_Hamlet_Oresteia_Map_Web.png

If that link doesn’t work, I’ll try to summarize. Zone B is Rows R through U, center section and all but the last four seats in each of the side sections. Also Rows P and Q, the fifth and eighth seats in each of the side sections.

It annoys me that the Armory won’t let you select your seats when you order tickets. When I ordered a ticket in Zone A for Hamlet, it kept offering me a seat at the far end of Row A or B instead of one in the center section of Row N, which I would have preferred. They must use an algorithm that assumes closer is better than farther away, but a front-row seat way off to the side would never be my first choice. 

[rg7759]

Posted: 7/28/22 at 10:45pm

In hindsight I would have seen only this and not hamlet. This was phenomenal 

[jbird5]

Posted: 7/28/22 at 11:03pm

Square Peg2 said: "Having never been to Armory, is anyone able to comment on the quality of Zone B tickets? They're all I'm able to afford at the moment and Today Tix doesn't mark on the map where they are. Is this the kind of theatre where it doesn't matter too much where you sit?"

I got a rush ticket for Hamlet for $30.  The seat was perfect- dead center of the orchestra row M.  Since you are on Today Tix try the rush.
 

My $49 Zone B  for Oresteia ticket was only slightly worse (Row N a few seats closer to the aisle).  I think if you pay more you would be wasting money.

Edit - Both times I didn’t get the email from Today Tix and went to the box office and they printed my ticket.  Maybe the key to getting a good ticket?  I definitely try the rush. 

Agree.  This was superior to Hamlet.

 

Updated On: 7/28/22 at 11:03 PM

[CoffeeBreak]

Posted: 8/7/22 at 11:32am

Agree that this was surprisingly fantastic.   We also enjoyed it more than Hamlet.

[TotallyEffed]

Posted: 8/7/22 at 11:52am

The taste of the European designers and directors continues to impress me. The set for these two productions was so nice. Excited to see what Van Hove does with A Little Life.

[ColorTheHours048]

Posted: 8/7/22 at 11:53am

I really struggled watching this last night. I thought the first hour, and some pockets prior to the final act, was mostly thrilling. The whole Iphigenia plot reframed as a domestic drama was really well done and implied a much more explosive evening than we got. But other than a dragged body or a primal scream here and there, I thought the pacing dragged horribly. After the second intermission, any time they announced a pause, I wanted to yell “Get on with it!”

I wish I had time to see Hamlet, if only to experience this space with a more exciting play. I usually am fond of Robert Icke’s work, but this did absolutely nothing for me.