THE ORESTEIAPearl Theatre, 80 St. Marks Place. Through May 28. (212) 598-9802.
THE first great drama in the world is Aeschylus’ “The Oresteia.”Written in Athens in 458 B.C., it is comprised of three plays – “Agamemnon,” “Libation Bearers” and “Furies” – and tells the story of the return of Agamemnon, King of Argos, to his home after the Trojan War and the events that homecoming inspired.
It’s being done – all three plays, slightly abbreviated – by the Pearl Theatre under the direction of Shepard Sobel in a modern, speakable translation by Peter Meineck. Sobel keeps things simple and clear and moving.
All three plays have rigidly demarcated spaces: There is a downstage playing area where the newly arrived or the oppressed gather and an upstage brightly lit raised space where those in power – gods or tyrants or the liberated – hold forth.
What may be called abstract sculptures (set by Beowulf Boritt) hover between the two places. The chorus consists of three people – in various plays, Argive soldiers, slave women and the Furies – who twirl about in frenzies of uncertainty and doubt.
In the first play, a watchman on the palace roof (an excellent Dominic Cuskern) awaits the arrival of Agamemnon; later, Clytemnestra, wife of Agamemnon (a ferocious, compelling Joanne Camp), announces the arrival.
Agamemnon (a sinful but sympathetic Dan Daily) rejects a hybristic entry into the palace and, after his modest entry, leaves his Trojan concubine, Cassandra, outside to prophesy the deaths to come.
Clytemnestra then appears upstage, surrounded by the bodies of Agamemnon and Cassandra and pleads that the killing cease. (No way!) Her lover Aegisthus (a superbly sleazy Jay Russell) climbs up to share the rule.
In the next play, set at Agamemnon’s tomb, Orestes, his newly arrived son, and Electra, his daughter, recognize each other and make plans to avenge their father by slaying their mother and her lover.
Orestes enters to do the deed and appears upstage surrounded by the bodies of Clytemnestra and Aegisthus.
But all is not over: In play three, the monstrous Furies, avengers of blood, pursue Orestes to Athens, where he will have the first trial.
Apollo will defend him, the Furies prosecute him, Athena and the citizens of Athens judge. Athena appears upstage in the brightly lit space to announce the verdict.
It is a thrilling finale to a bold rethinking of the story.