The Oresteia
What traces does a war leave once it's officially over? The Oresteia is the story of a return to a home where nothing is the same as it was before. A home where it's difficult to distinguish justice from revenge, and victim from perpetrator.
Luk Perceval, one of the most important artists active in European theatre today, in his first work for the National Theatre, returns to the oldest surviving tragic trilogy - not just to retell an ancient story for the umpteenth time. He is interested in the mechanism that ensures violence fails to cease with the end of a war. On the contrary – it moves into our homes, into memory, language, and the relationships between people. Seen thus in today's reality, The Oresteia is the story of a family that becomes a battlefield. Of a society trying to reestablish order after experiencing chaos. Above all, however, it is about the price that must be paid to stop meeting violence with violence.
What do the echoes of ancient tragedy tell us about our fears, our guilt, our hopes, and our homes? Are we really so far removed from those people who lived in the shadow of that most famous of ancient wars?
Written and Directed by Luk Perceval
Set and Costume Designer: Annelies Vanlaere
Lighting Designer: Mark Van Denesse
Music: Karol Nepelski
Body Language: Ted Stoffer
Dramaturgy, Director's Assistant: Maja Wisła-Szopińska
Set and Costume Designer's Assistant: Saskia Hellmann
Stage Manager: Krzysztof Kuszczyk
Cast
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Ewa Bukała
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Aleksandra Justa
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Danuta Stenka
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Hanna Wojtóściszyn
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Robert Czerwiński
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[Jan Frycz]
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Cezary Kosiński
with Karolina Staniec as guest actor
Production Team
- Lighting Technicians: Bartłomiej Kaczalski, Krzysztof Łukasz Stefan, Zbigniew Szulim
- Sound Technicians: Hubert Majewski, Mariusz Maszewski, Marek Szymański