Klytaimnḗstra

TOUR FOR THEATERS 2024:

18—24 APRIL, BOURLASCHOUWBURG, ANTWERP, BE
26—27 APRIL, NT GENT, GHENT, BE
30 APRIL, CC BRUGGE, BRUGES, BE
02 MAY, CULTURAL CENTER DE WARANDE, TURNHOUT, BE
08—09 MAY, KVS, BRUSSELS, BE
12 MAY, ALL GREEKS FESTIVAL, GHENT, BE
14 MAY, CC HASSELT, HASSELT, BE
17—18, INTERNATIONAL THEATER, AMSTERDAM, NL

“If evil is in this wind, let it blow over.” 

We read this in the translation of the Oresteia by Ted Hughes. The first part of the trilogy by the Greek tragedian Aeschylus focuses on the story of King Agamemnon and his wife Clytemnemnon. The king decides to sacrifice their daughter Iphigenia in exchange for a favorable wind to carry his ships to Troy. When Agamemnon eventually wins the Trojan War, he returns home, where a confrontation with Clytemnemnon awaits him. 

STAN turned that first part into an open-air performance in Elefsina (Greece), the birthplace of Aeschylus, in the summer of 2022, entitled ' Klytaimnḗstra '. In 2024, they will adapt it for theatres together with Olympique Dramatique. The performance brings together three versions of the famous Greek tragedy: the original text by Aeschylus, the masterful English translation by Ted Hughes and the raw interpretation 'Bloodbath' by Gustav Ernst. By juxtaposing these three readings of the mythical text, the unbridled belligerence and toxic lust for power come to the surface and the character of Klytaimnḗstra is placed in a new light.

Gustav Ernst brings the unbridled war-mongering and expansionism to the fore with razor-sharp clarity. Rape and murder are rampant in this story. As viewers, we are confronted with the indifference with which we endure such brutality. The contemporary relevance of this story is painfully clear. Even today, we are surrounded by a lust for power, violence and war; the horror did not end with the Greeks. 

Clytaimnḗstra has a role as both a woman and an outsider: unlike her husband and subjects, she is not from Mycenae, but from Sparta. She refuses to accept the situation as it is and consciously chooses to fight violence with violence because it is the only way to fight the injustice against women and innocents.

The cast consists of a group of Belgian and Greek actors and a Brazilian and Norwegian performer. With a polyphonic ensemble, a dissection is made of misogyny, lust for power and violence, which clearly builds a bridge to today.

Dutch, English, Greek and Portuguese spoken
Dutch subtitled

www.stan.be

Video with sound  

Reviews:

“De Keersmaeker uses all the means thoughtfully. Glowing, golden yellow light, a gigantic blood-red sheet and a beautiful bathtub filled with brown broth in which Agamemnon can bathe. In the midst of all this, the actors – with Skoula and Van Opstal as absolute standouts – each play in a different language. That does not matter. Because the sophisticated direction and the passion with which both actors throw themselves into their play, makes their duel overwhelming. That duel was written centuries ago. But it lost none of its recognizability: a man and a woman try to understand each other and explain their decisions to each other with arguments that the other party can hardly understand.”

Els Van Steenberghe, Knack Focus, 16/05/2024

“Agamemnon is no longer the Greek hero here, but a pitiful oaf, a grumbling man who spouts misogynistic language amidst his own turds and blood. It illustrates De Keersmaeker’s vision of this usually male-dominated drama.”

Hein Janssen, de Volkskrant, 13/05/2024

“In terms of content, this 'Klytaimnestra' links the Greek tragedies to contemporary developments in a stunningly self-evident way. Without naming a single concrete situation, you can recognize in Stijn Van Opstal's Agamemnon all the 'Agamemnons' who today seize on some triviality - such as the theft of Helen - to secure their 'interest' in a gruesome way.”

Pieter T'Jonck, Pzazz, 24/04/2024

“In 'Clytemnestra' Agamemnon is pushed from his heroic pedestal. Here Clytemnestra gets the voice she never had before. Not one-sidedly that of hysterical fury (although that remains present), but also that of a self-confident power woman, strongly played by Maria Skoula.”

Nina Dillen, The Time, 20/04/2024

“It’s hard to break pots with a Greek tragedy, but this show has bloody guts. A much-appreciated directorial debut full of blood and gore, Brutus and poetic dance.”

Charlotte De Somviele, The Standard, 20/04/2024

“But still: the Greek tragedies are not that easy to digest. The stories are often very misogynistic, says De Keersmaeker, who deliberately chose Clytemnestra as the title, and not 'Agamemnon', the name of her husband. It shows how the material of the tragedies is both elastic and resilient. In other times, they are read and shaped differently, without losing any of their expressive power.” 

Floris Baeke, The Standard, 17/04/2024

Jolente De Keersmaeker: “The story of the Trojan War is, unfortunately, very topical today. I spent the Christmas holidays adjusting the text. Gustav Ernst describes very compellingly and extensively what Agamemnon experienced in the war. That is almost a copy of the stories that are now coming from Ukraine or Gaza.”

Ewoud Ceulemans, The Morning, 18/01/2024

“He tells us, sometimes in Greek and sometimes in English, a very old story that at the same time seems terribly contemporary. It is a story that is repeated all over the world, in every age, in every male-dominated society, about every force that is bent on the immoral, aggressive usurpation of helpless human beings.”

LiFo, Christos Paridis, 24/07/2022

“I believe that theatre should always say something about the world today. The world that Aeschylus described did not end with him, but still influences the way we deal with power, war and revenge. For me it is important not to re-enact history as it was, but to highlight the relationship of that history to the present time. Theatre is not an elitist art, but a critical reflection on our way of life.”

Athinorama, Maria Kryou, 21/07/2022

“Today, Clytemnestra symbolizes what she has meant for centuries. After all, human history is not a linear evolution towards progressiveness, but a constant pendulum between light and darkness. The Clytemnestra we want to show is the Clytemnestra as a force that does not destroy but creates, that is inclusive and not exclusive, that fights misogyny, racism and colonialism. A Clytemnestra that constantly takes a new position in the face of violence.”

theater mag, Marilena Theodorakou, 20/07/2022

“Meeting people who have not grown up with Greek myths gives you new perspectives. We have to rethink what we take for granted, what we ‘expect’ from classical tragedy and (re)realize that these texts are still important today. Especially in Gustav Ernst’s text, which will be performed for the first time in Greece, the story of Clytemnestra and Agamemnon is told in a completely new way, with a raw, hard but also poetic tone. It is great to work with texts that redefine what you know, or what you think you know.”

LIFO, Argyro Bozoni, 12/07/2022

“Working with Greek actors, it became clear to me that Clytemnestra is often seen as a witch or an unfaithful wife. This is the stereotypical image of Clytemnestra that they grew up with. It was therefore also refreshing for them, perhaps even comforting, to see her in a new light. One of the actors calls the performance a call to humanity, an attempt to look at the world from a different angle.”

Euronews, George Mitropoulos, 13/07/2022

“For me, every proposal is a dialogue, a public debate. Can we grow up in patriarchy and act without personifying it? Can Clytemnestra choose not to kill, as Agamemnon would do, or is it the only language he understands and she has no other choice?”

News 24/7, Georgia Economou, 13/07/2022

“The text, the acting choices, but also the decisions are all the result of a collective process. The involvement of all the players ensures that everything is constantly questioned: the translations, the chosen passages, what serves the story we want to tell, the costumes, … Nothing is taken for granted until the last moment. It is a continuous process that liberates you and involves all participants in the final goal.”

Culture Now, Christina Manolakaki, 19/07/2022

“It’s not about Cassandra’s role as Agamemnon’s slave and mistress, except that it’s an example of how the conquering male behaves towards women. “I want to have a dialogue about how Clytemnestra reacts to the character of Agamemnon. She doesn’t just want revenge, she wants to show what’s wrong with his behavior and his existence as a man.”

Efsyn, Ioanna Satirchou, 23/07/2022