{"id":535,"date":"2004-02-12T09:14:38","date_gmt":"2004-02-12T17:14:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp\/2004\/02\/still_playing_2500_years_later\/"},"modified":"2004-02-12T09:14:38","modified_gmt":"2004-02-12T17:14:38","slug":"still_playing_2500_years_later","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/2004\/02\/still_playing_2500_years_later.html","title":{"rendered":"STILL PLAYING 2,500 YEARS LATER"},"content":{"rendered":"

Postmodern stagings of ancient Greek plays have their work cut out for them. Consider the
\n“Agamemnon” presented by New York’s Aquila Theatre
\nCompany<\/FONT><\/EM><\/B><\/A>, starring Olympia
\nDukakis<\/FONT><\/EM><\/B><\/A>. It opens tonight. In trenchcoats and snap-brim fedoras, the
\nchorus of Argos elders looks like it stepped out of a Raymond Chandler novel. Seven variations
\non Philip Marlow mill about at the entrance to the House of Atreus and bring us up to speed:<\/P>
\n

It has been ten years since
the great prosecutor of Priam,
Menelaus, and King
\nAgamemnon,
the sons of Atreus,
twinned in throne and scepter
and yoked
\ntogether by Zeus-given power,
launched from this land
a thousand Argive ships,
\n
a force to vindicate our honor.<\/I><\/P>
\n

Agamemnon<\/FONT><\/EM><\/B><\/A> returns victorious from the Trojan war,
\nhaving avenged the kidnapping of Helen, the wife of his brother Menelaus. Apparently, the
\nbeautiful face that launched a thousand ships also launched a thousand U.S. Army surplus jeeps.
\nWhen Agamemnon enters stage left in his “war chariot,” there’s this to be said for it: At least it’s
\nnot a Humvee.<\/P>
\n

Dukakis brings nobility and restraint to Queen Clytemnestra<\/FONT><\/EM><\/B><\/A>, though not much emotional range,
\nwhich minimizes our pity for her anguish over the death of daughter Iphigenia (reluctantly
\nsacrificed to the gods by Agamemnon to save the Argive fleet from some really nasty weather).
\n“For all he cared he might as well have been killing an animal,” Clytemnestra says, after stabbing
\nher husband to death in retribution. Her powerful lines to justify the regicide drip with years of
\npent-up bitterness and anger. I would have appreciated less Olympian restraint.<\/P>
\n

Louis Zorich (Dukakis’ real-life husband) is a well-spoken Agamemnon, though not as virile
\nas he perhaps ought to be. Marco Barricelli has more than enough virility for both of
\nthem as Aegisthus, Clytemnestra’s conspirator and lover. As Cassandra, the
\nportentous war prize brought back from Troy, Miriam Laube is persuasive and fiery.<\/P>
\n

I also liked Aquila artistic director Peter W. Meineck’s translation for its straightforward
\ncolloquial language, his and Robert Richmond’s direction for its lack of fussiness, and —
\npostmodern shortcomings notwithstanding — the production’s overall aura of primitive grandeur.
\nWere Aeschylus<\/FONT><\/EM><\/B><\/A> alive today, he might appreciate that his
\n2,500-year-old tragedy is still running.<\/P>
\n

“Agamemnon” is at the John Jay Theatre, 899 Tenth Avenue, across from Lincoln Center,
\nthrough Feb. 22. Tickets may be purchased at Telecharge.com<\/FONT><\/EM><\/B><\/A> or by phone (212) 239-6200.
\nSubscriptions for Aquila’s 2004 season (three plays for $90, including “Othello” and “The Man
\nWho Would Be King”) are available by phone at (212) 998-8017 or online here<\/FONT><\/EM><\/B><\/A>.<\/I><\/P><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Postmodern stagings of ancient Greek plays have their work cut out for them. Consider the “Agamemnon” presented by New York’s Aquila Theatre Company, starring Olympia Dukakis. It opens tonight. In trenchcoats and snap-brim fedoras, the chorus of Argos elders looks like it stepped out of a Raymond Chandler novel. Seven variations on Philip Marlow mill about […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-535","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-main","7":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbvgEs-8D","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=535"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}