A New Staging At The Bridge Theatre

Succeeding Into the Woods this summer, The Bridge Theatre swaps fairytales for Greek Mythology in this new production of Aeschylus' dramatic tale of familial strife after the return of patriarch Agamemnon after the Greek conquest at Troy.

Writing and directing, Simon Stone returns to the venue following The Lady From the Sea last year, promising to add his radical vision to the ages-old text, as he moves the action to the present day, commenting: "as long as humankind wages wars and as long as families tear themselves apart, this story will remain painfully, cathartically relevant."

What is the Story of The Oresteia?

First staged in 458 B.C.E, The Oresteia sees the return of  Agamemnon, triumphant after a decade-long war against the Trojans, yet he is not welcomed with open arms by his wife Clytemnestra, who is bereft that he sacrificed their daughter to secure his victory. When  Clytemnestra commits the ultimate act of revenge, their son, Orestes, must decide whether to avenge his father's death, but murdering a parent carries a curse that he must carry for years afterwards in the form of The Furies, who plague his every movement. Can justice ever truly be served when the cycle of violence is ever-continuing?