Theatre Review (LA): Agamemnon by Aeschylus

Every year Los Angeles is treated to a play in the Greek or Roman tradition in the magnificent outdoor amphitheatre at the Getty Villa in Malibu. This year we get the first installment of one of the most famous trilogies of all time, the Orestia cycle by Aeschylus.

Agamemnon was first presented in the 5th century B.C. as part of the annual dramatic competition during the Festival of Dionysus. It won first prize and returned the next year to become the first revival in the history of Western theatre. Judging from the current revival directed by Stephen Wadsworth and starring Delroy Lindo and Tyne Daly, you can understand the play's popularity. This is one powerful production.

The success of this production is largely due to Wadsworth's direction and the beautiful translation by the late Robert Fagles. Fagles’ take on the material is modern without losing its classical feel. Some translators go so far in the modern direction that what is left is little more than your afternoon soap opera. What Fagles gives us is a riveting tale of vengeance and betrayal in a family cursed by the gods, a family that must nonetheless deal with the outcome in earthly terms of sorrow, murder, and pain.

Wadsworth directs his actors to be bigger than life yet true to a realistic emotional approach. The effects are devastating. Sometimes he accomplishes this by using a deliberately slow pace in the delivery of the lines. This technique draws us into the story and doesn’t let us go.

Of course none of this would have worked without a cast worthy of the challenge. He has found such a cast. Delroy Lindo plays the hero Agamemnon with pathos and a sense of war-weary reality. He has a natural presence on stage, and his powerful good looks give him the aura of a hero. Tyne Daly, the great Tyne Daly, plays his aggrieved wife Clytemnestra (in this production spelled Clytaemnestra). Ms. Daly manages to make one of the most famous villainesses of all time understandable and even sympathetic. It has always been her strength to play conflicting emotions within the same person. Still, after all her plaudits, it is brave and laudable for her to attempt this iconic role, and she succeeds mightily.

Article Author: Robert Machray

ROBERT MACHRAY has appeared in over 150 plays and has worked at 14 Tony Award-winning theatres. He has been nominated for and won numerous awards. Robert has a B.A. from Yale and an M.F.A. from USC. He has taught at USC, UCLA, UCSB, and Pasadena City College. …

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