Stage review: Tragedy and togas

Classics in the Quad performance starts slow but ends with a bang

Meriha Beaton, Staff Contributor

It was a sea of blankets and tea-filled jam jars, as students and faculty huddled close together last Thursday in front of the King’s College library steps for its annual Classics in the Quad performance.

For this 80th anniversary production, the King’s Theatrical Society presented the tragedy Agamemnon, by Greek playwright Aeschylus.

The play tells the story of Clytemnestra, the wife of Agamemnon, who is waiting for her husband’s return from Troy. Angry with him for sacrificing their daughter, she wants to kill him. Bringing a mistress with him, upon his return, an enraged Clytemnestra kills them both. After, she reveals her new lover, Agamemnon’s cousin, Aegisthus, who usurps his throne.

The play requires a heavy focus on the chorus as the majority of the story is told through them. Therefore, the actors in the chorus had the most important roles. The first two-thirds of the play became very dull because of this. The actors themselves were wonderful, but the play consisted more of monologues directed at the audience than interaction between the actors. This made the beginning of the play very stagnant and slow moving.

The play was revitalized, however, when Agamemnon entered. The actor demanded attention, especially in his scenes with the actress playing Clytemnestra. The two bordered a line between love and hate, perfectly portraying old lovers with a lot of animosity between each other, but still plenty of passion.  At several points during their scene, they made the audience unsure of whether they were going slap each other or rip one another’s togas off.

The production closed with a bang, as the chorus sang an eerie song while Clytemnestra and Aegisthus stood over the dead bodies of Agamemnon and his lover. The addition of the song put an interesting twist on the play, making it memorable. The audience left with the feeling that the destiny of the characters was more daunting than hopeful.

Gazette Opinions Editor Katie Toth was an actor in this performance.