ORESTEIA I-IV

• Theatre

after Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides / directed by Nicolas Stemann / in coproduction with Salzburger Festspiele 2024

How can you show war on stage? Isn’t war something that defies presentability?

The plays of the Oresteia do not show military action, they are not set in regions where fighting occurs, instead, their stories unfold in those parts of the country that are seemingly spared – and on the side of the victors. Here, we see the fallout of war. Here, we see its devastation. Even for the winners of the conflict, war does not seem worthwhile. The cost is too high, the consequences too terrible.

“This trilogy, 2500 years old, describes a basic psychological structure that leads men and women into war: The conviction of being in the right. Fighting, killing, murder signifies bringing back the formerly correct state of things. However, the trilogy also demonstrates that this does not work. Just one more violent death – and everything will be fine. The Oresteia shows the plausibility of turning oneself into a murderer – and then describes how the act overwhelms the perpetrator. Murder does not lead to salvation. Instead, murder spawns new killings. The self-perpetuation of revenge and retaliation is a merciless fact in these plays, while suffering and sorrow are never atoned. There seems to be no way out. Are humans even capable of escaping this absurd cycle of action?” Nicolas Stemann

Nicolas Stemann’s new interpretation of classical themes finds its backdrop in our contemporary awareness of the impact and the impotence of war. With his production, Stemann, a defining figure during our first seasons in Hamburg, will be returning to Thalia Theater.

Premiere 30th October 2024, Thalia Theater

in coproduction with Salzburger Festspiele 2024